|
|
April 1966: Billy's party-piece - the bicycle kick. On this occasion the ball finished in the net, but Chelsea's Marvin Hinton was the one debited with an own goal ! |
|
The situation in Division One was that Liverpool were striding towards the title, which they eventually won by a six point margin, but when Leeds went to Anfield at Christmas 1965, Peter Lorimer scored an early goal that was enough to inflict a very rare defeat on the Merseysiders in their own stronghold. In the League Cup, United comfortably defeated Fourth Division Hartlepools United, before fielding a below strength side against First Division West Bromwich Albion and consequently going out of the competition - both matches having the same 4-2 scoreline. The F.A. Cup provided Leeds with their biggest win of the season when Second Division Bury were thrashed by six goals, which meant a trip to Stamford Bridge to face one of the First Division's strongest teams, and the pride of London - Chelsea - in round four. In front of 57,847 United faced an uphill task from the eighth minute of the match when Chelsea went ahead, but from then on it was Leeds United, the side with a reputation for dull, defensive football, who did almost all the attacking and the home team had to thank their goalkeeper Peter Bonetti for a string of marvellous saves and glue-like catching of the ball, which denied Leeds the victory that their fine football deserved. United had finished as runners-up in the First Division, but Liverpool had always appeared to have the situation under control, so leaving the Fairs' Cup as the most likely avenue leading to a trophy, which reflected great credit on the team's efforts in their first crack at the competition. Real Zaragoza presented formidable opposition as they were renowned for the scoring power of their forward-line, nicknamed 'the magnificent five', but Leeds held them to a single goal - and that a penalty - in the first leg of the semi-final in Spain. Before a 45,000 crowd at Elland Road, Albert Johanneson scored to level on aggregate before Canario blasted a shot into United's goal bringing an immediate response from Jack Charlton who headed a fine goal to win the match 2-1 and so necessitate a play-off. Although this was at Elland Road the Spaniards really hit top form on the night and the game was as good as over in just 14 minutes, as they ran in three goals in that time, and gallantly as Leeds tried they could only pull back one and the outcome was never in any doubt. |