CHELSEA v TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

Date : -  Saturday 20th May 1967

Venue : -  Wembley Stadium

Crowd : -  100,000

Weather : -  Sunny to start, but heavy rain in the second half

Referee : -  K. Dagnall (Bolton)

Score : -

Goalscorers : -        

Chelsea : -  Peter Bonetti; Allan Harris, Eddie McCreadie; John Hollins, Marvin Hinton, Ron Harris; Charlie Cooke, Tony Hateley, Tommy Baldwin, Bobby Tambling, John Boyle.
Sub. not used : - Eddie Kirkup

Tottenham Hotspur : -  Pat Jennings, Joe Kinnear, Cyril Knowles, Alan Mullery, Mike England, Dave Mackay, Terry Venables, Jimmy Robertson, Alan Gilzean, Jimmy Greaves, Frank Saul.
Sub. not used : - Cliff Jones

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.  Spurs were in complete control of the game at almost all times; even when Chelsea got a late goal back to make it 2-1.  Spurs had a variety of attacking options that kept Chelsea on the back foot and using the space on the pitch on the wings, Tottenham sought to open up the Blues to put crosses onto Alan Gilzean's head or to pass through the defence for Jimmy Greaves to run onto.

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.  The tricky Scottish winger was kept in check by Bill Nicholson's tactical switch of moving Dave Mackay back to help out Cyril Knowles, while Alan Mullery was given free rein to move forward.  This left the West Londoners were restricted to aiming long balls towards the head of Tony Hateley, who was tightly marked by centre-half Mike England.  At the other end of the pitch, Alan Gilzean won most passes up to him against defender Marvin Hinton and Mullery's presence in the last third gave Joe Kinnear room outside him to get down the line. 

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 goal-wards 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 by Mullery, after a surging run, was blocked by Ron Harris 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 throw-in was earned by Cyril Knowles' run up the right wing.  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 high and Tambling got in front of Jennings hesitant approach and knocked the ball 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