Showing posts with label Bobby Smith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bobby Smith. Show all posts

Thursday, May 5, 2011

6 May 1961 - Spurs Do The Double

On 6 May 1961, Tottenham Hotspur completed their Double by winning the FA Cup with a 2-0 victory over Leicester City. Spurs were the first team to win the FA Cup and the League in the same season since Aston Villa did it in 1897.

Tottenham had already won the league in a season that saw them hold onto the top spot from the first week to the last. They had endured only seven losses all season, but one of those came at the hands of Leicester City, who won 2-3 at White Hart Lane in the first week of February.

Playing before a crowd of 100,000 at Wembley, Leicester suffered an early setback with an injury to right back Len Chalmers (who remained on the pitch in diminished capacity until the 80th minute). They nonetheless maintained their composure and held the dynamic Spurs attack in check for 65 minutes. Then, in the 66th minute, Spurs winger Terry Dyson sent the ball in for forward Bobby Smith, who powered the ball past keeper Gordon Banks. Nine minutes later, the pair connected again, with Smith providing the assist for Dyson's header.

It was the third FA Cup for Tottenham, who went on to win it again the following season, then four more times for a total of seven.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

3 February 1960 - Spurs Cruise Over Crewe

On 3 February 1960, Tottenham Hotspur secured their record win, a 13-2 victory over Crewe Alexandra in a Fourth Round FA Cup replay. It is also Crewe's record loss.

The fact that the tie had gone to a replay was surprising, since, at the time of the original match, Crewe were sitting 16th in Division Four--83 places below Spurs, who were at the top of the First Division. But Crewe managed to hold the league leaders to a 2-2 draw on 30 January, forcing a replay at White Hart Lane.

There, the hosts wasted no time in establishing their dominance. By the 30th minute, Spurs had a 6-1 lead which they extended to 10-1 by the break en route to the final score of 13-2. Inside forward Les Allen had the day's highest tally with 5, followed by center forward Bobby Smith (4), winger Cliff Jones (3), and inside forward Tommy Harmer (1).

Unfortunately, Spurs were not as prolific in the next round where they lost to Blackburn, 1-3. They got their reward the following season, however, winning a league and FA Cup double (including another Fourth Round victory over Crewe in the FA Cup by the relatively modest score of 5-1).

Thursday, August 19, 2010

20 August 1960 - Spurs' Journey Of A Thousand Miles Starts Here

On 20 August 1960, Tottenham Hotspur opened their season with a 2-0 win over Everton, starting the journey that would end with a League and FA Cup double.



Playing before a home crowd of 50,393 at White Hart Lane, Spurs - who had finished the previous season in third place, only two points behind League winners Burnley - created a handful of early chances, but were denied by Everton's goalkeeper, Albert Dunlop. The teams were evenly matched and appeared to be headed for a draw when Spurs center forward Bobby Smith was brought down in the Everton box. The referee played the advantage, however, as Tottenham inside forward Les Allen was in a scoring position and his ensuing shot put the hosts up, 1-0.



Two minutes later, Smith doubled the lead with a low header and the game ended 2-0. The win sent Spurs to the top of the table, where they remained for the rest of the season to claim their second League title, ten years after their first. They capped the season with a 2-0 win over Leicester in the FA Cup Final at Wembley.