| Match Report
: - The first ever all-London Cup Final did not really set
the world alight and much of the interest was confined to London with
Leeds United and Nottingham Forest being knocked out at the semi-final
stage.
The game was a little too easy for
Tottenham, having come into the game brimful of confidence - undefeated
since January of that year and the young Chelsea side being a bit
over-awed by the occasion.
The first action of the game saw Mike
England clearing away a low ball into the six yard box as Tommy Baldwin
closed in. It was an attacking Spurs team that Bill Nicholson had
put out, with Joe Kinnear pushing forward very readily, while the
midfield and defence worked hard to shut out Chelsea's danger man
Charlie Cooke.
Alan Gilzean lead the line well and it
was his back header from Mullery's cross that created the first chance
of the match for Tottenham. Saul hit the shot goalwards from 12
yards out, but it was blocked by the body of Allan Harris (later to be
assistant manager at White Hart Lane under Terry Venables).
Bonetti was called into action when a long free-kick was headed out and
Jimmy Robertson hit a low shot that brought a good diving save, but the
referee had whistled for a foul.
After 15 minutes, Robertson raced away
down the right wing and put in a cross to the near post, where Frank
Saul met it with his head, but the ball sailed over the bar.
Shortly after, a Chelsea attack saw John Hollins strike a low shot from
outside the box, which Pat Jennings dived at full-length to turn
wide. With the atmosphere quiet subdues and the player's shouts
clearly audible, Jimmy Greaves took a long pass and with a doubt about
whether he was offside, he raced away, but fired his effort over the
top. Greaves also hit a 20 yard free-kick just over the top, with
Bonetti left stranded.
Spurs were pressing forward onto the
Chelsea defence more and more, leading to a half-cleared high ball
dropping to Robertson, who hooked his shot over the goal from the edge
of the penalty area. Then it was the Pensioners turn, with Cooke
going on a mazy 20 yard run before hitting a shot from 20 yards out that
forced Jennings into a fine save to tip it over the bar. But
following that attack, the West London side lost their control and
started flying into tackles, conceding free-kicks as they did so.
One of these on the right wing for a foul on Mullery, saw the ball
floated into the area. A shot was blocked and the ball landed at
the feet of Jimmy Robertson on the 18 yard line, from where he hit a low
volley past Bonetti's dive to give Tottenham the lead just before
half-time. There was just time for Kinnear to hit a 25 yard shot
over the bar before the referee blew for the break.
The second half was more of the same
really. With 68 minutes past, a long Dave Mackay throw was headed
out to Robertson on the edge of the area and he headed it on to Frank
Saul near the penalty spot. Saul swivelled to shoot into the
bottom right hand corner of the net to double the Spurs lead. It
was an instinctive finish and seemed to have put the game out of
Chelsea's reach. Cooke did start to run at the Tottenham side and
drew a foul, earning a free-kick from which Spurs had to clear
hurriedly. The tension must have been getting to both sides, as
they committed foul throws and the passing was a bit more off-target as
the rain started to fall.
A great move along the right wing saw
Terry Venables pass to Greaves, who then played the ball onto Joe
Kinnear as he entered the area. The full back's low ball into the
area was inviting, but was missed at the near post by Saul. A long
range Chelsea shot went wide, then Hateley had a hopeful shot from a
narrow angle that ended up in the side-netting punctuated only by
Greaves' low shot that made Bonetti dive to save.
Cramp was starting to hit the Tottenham
players who had run so far and this made them sit a little deeper,
inviting Chelsea onto them. Boyle played the ball down the line to
Baldwin, who crossed to Hateley and even though the ball was just behind
him, his header went just too high. But in their next
attack, Chelsea did get a goal back five
minutes from the end,
as a result of a slight mis-judgment by Pat Jennings, but it was
nothing more than a consolation. The ball went out to the left,
where Boyle crossed and Tambling got in front of Jennings hesitant
approach and headed home to pull it back to 2-1.
As Chelsea strove for an equaliser in the
last five minutes, they lacked the quality of pass that Tottenham had
exhibited earlier and the Spurs players were happy enough to play
keep-ball to run out time and were happy to hear the final whistle that
meant they were the FA Cup winners for the fifth time.
Spurs had won all the vital battles.
Mike England mastered the "head" master Tony Hateley and Joe
Kinnear was free to rampage up the right wing after dealing with Charlie
Cooke. Perhaps the most important player was Frank Saul on the
day. He had scored the winning goal in the semi-final and was
having his best spell in the Tottenham team.
Most of all, Bill Nicholson had a perfect
match plan with the denial of space for Cooke to run into and the
quashing of the aerial threat from Hateley by England's dominance.
The team made best use of the ball and without Bonetti in goal, Chelsea
could well have suffered a heavier defeat.
MEHSTG TOP MAN : FRANK SAUL
|
