Matches – 3 March 1972

Matches – 3 March 1972 – Cardiff City 0 Leeds United 2 First Division – Elland Road – 34,275 Scorers: Clarke2, Lorimer 3, Charlton, Jones Leeds United: Sprake, Reaney, Madeley, Bremner, Charlton, Hunter, Lorimer, Clarke, Jones, Giles, E Gray Southampton: Martin, McCarthy, Fry, Stokes, Gabriel, Steele, Paine (Byrne), Channon, Davies, O‟Neill, Jenkins Once in a while, a match comes along that achieves legendary status, either for an emphatic win, or as an example of a famous team at the peak of its powers or for some other reason representing a key occasion. One such game took place at the beginning of March 1972, when Don Revie‟s Leeds United side gave a performance that would be cited forever as their coup de grace. It provided the cornerstone of possibly the most memorable edition of BBC‟s long running Match of the Day programme. The fixture was also categorically the lowest point in the career of Southampton‟s Scottish goalkeeper, Eric Martin; the television coverage made it even more disastrous for him than the 8-0 defeat the Saints suffered the previous November at Everton‟s Goodison Park. When the Beeb decided to cover Southampton‟s visit to Elland Road on 4 March, they were taking no significant risk. Two weeks earlier, the cameras had been present at the same ground when Leeds annihilated Manchester United 5-1. The Yorkshiremen‟s form that day had been phenomenal, easily enough to sweep the Reds aside; the Whites‟ style and finesse The Goodison scoreboard in November 1971 tells the delighted the watching television audience. story of a debacle for Saints keeper Eric Martin Ted Bates‟ Saints team were struggling badly at the time of their visit to the West Riding and were generally considered to be little more than cannon fodder for Revie‟s Leeds, who had been beaten only once since losing 2-1 to the same Southampton side at the Dell on 13 November. The Saints had managed a mere seven points from their twelve games since then. In the same period, United had dropped six points, scoring 20 goals and conceding five. That afternoon the Yorkshiremen were even better than those statistics suggested. With Terry Cooper unavailable because of an injury to his knee, Don Revie gave Paul Reaney his first start in three weeks. In fact, it was only the sixth time Reaney had been in Leeds‟ starting www.mightyleeds.co.uk - Matches – 3 March 1972, Leeds United 7 Southampton 0 1 eleven in seventeen games. Otherwise, United were at full strength, with every member of the team a full international. Southampton, desperate for points to ease their relegation worries, welcomed back midfield man Brian O‟Neil after fourteen weeks‟ absence through suspension and injury; also recalled was £60,000 winger Tom Jenkins, who had missed the previous three games. They had their favoured strike pairing of Ron Davies and Mike Channon on show, together with veteran winger Terry Paine, a member of England‟s 1966 World Cup squad. It was Channon who got in the first shot of the game, a speculative effort from 20 yards that was easily fielded by Gary Sprake, and from that moment on Leeds dominated the proceedings. Allan Clarke and Paul Madeley combined to put Eddie Gray free on the left flank and the Scottish winger showed Southampton full-back Bob McCarthy a clean pair of heels. Having found space, Gray floated the ball across the area, but Mick Jones‟ header soared over the bar. Shortly afterwards, centre-back Jim Steele was called on to head away a dangerous centre from Peter Lorimer and then Jones was close with another good header after smart build up play by Billy Bremner. Former Dundee defender Steele had been the subject of interest from Don Revie before Christmas with strong rumours of a forthcoming bid, but nothing ever came of the speculation. Steele had been thought of as a potential successor to the veteran Jack Charlton. It was the same Charlton, playing his 599th League game for Leeds, who ended a promising run by Channon; he then delighted the Elland Road fans by embarking on a forward run before being felled by a tough challenge from O‟Neil, who received a lecture from referee Dennis Corbett for the foul. With 17 minutes gone, Leeds came close to an opening goal. Bremner took a free kick and fed midfield partner Johnny Giles; the Irishman hammered a shot narrowly wide from the edge of the box with Saints goalkeeper Martin hopelessly beaten. The two diminutive schemers took firm control of the middle of the park, keeping Southampton penned in their own half. Their statement of intent was underlined by Sprake having only one shot to save in the first half hour, and a harmless one at that. The only element missing from United‟s performance was goals and they were not much longer in arriving. With eight minutes of the first period remaining, United achieved the breakthrough their dominance merited. Skipper Bremner had the ball in the centre circle and, with Eddie Gray haring past him at pace down the centre, Bremner laid it Allan Clarke (on the right) opens the scoring against Southampton with Lorimer and Jones ready to make sure if needs be www.mightyleeds.co.uk - Matches – 3 March 1972, Leeds United 7 Southampton 0 2 perfectly into his path. Gray prodded it forward to Mick Jones, stood on the edge of the area with his back to goal. Jones laid the return pass back to Gray, who hurdled a despairing tackle before finding Allan Clarke on the left hand corner of the area with a slide rule pass. The England striker flew into the space created by the killer ball, took it on one step into an acute angle and slammed his shot left-footed into the opposite corner. A slickly fashioned and brilliantly finished move gave Leeds a merited lead and their advantage was doubled within five minutes. Coming forward again in yards of space down the middle, Gray fed Lorimer as the Scot was breaking through the right channel. He was already clear inside defender Roger Fry and took the ball in his stride to hammer a shot past goalkeeper Martin and into the far corner. Don Revie‟s half time team talk could easily have been limited to “Steady as you go, and the goals will come,” so absolute was Peter Lorimer fires past Martin to make it 2-0 with Billy Bremner looking on United‟s dominance. Southampton were starting to look dispirited and desperate for the final whistle. There was no respite for them after the resumption with Leeds instantly onto the offensive. Both Gray and Bremner tested Martin in the first few minutes, and then the keeper just beat Jones to Madeley‟s through ball. Gray, Lorimer and Clarke were constant thorns in Southampton flesh, refusing to give them a moment‟s peace. Lorimer headed wide from a Giles cross and then Gray cleared the bar from inside the six-yard box with the goalkeeper helpless. It could hardly be termed the calm before the storm, but certainly a tempest blew Southampton away in the eighteen minutes following the hour mark. In the 60th minute, Giles had possession inside the centre circle and passed short to Bremner to his right. The Scot held it up long enough for Giles to make his break beyond him into space and then fed him with pinpoint accuracy. The Irishman took it on a couple of strides and then coolly slipped the ball through the Southampton defence for Clarke‟s cleverly timed run. The striker picked the ball up, cut across a defender, shifted the ball out from under his feet and passed it home left-footed for 3-0. Reaney‟s 25-yard shot brought Martin to his knees before Leeds increased their lead to four goals after 64 minutes. United were awarded a free kick out wide on the right, but instead of lofting it across the box, www.mightyleeds.co.uk - Matches – 3 March 1972, Leeds United 7 Southampton 0 3 Bremner slipped it short to Lorimer, who powered in a shot from the corner of the penalty area. The ball was blocked by a Saints defender deep inside the goal area and then cleared out to the left by O‟Neil. As Jenkins sought to come away with it, Bremner was too quick and determined for him, and from behind lunged across the winger to win the ball for Giles. The playmaker was fouled by Stokes as he looked to make ground. Advantage was given and the ball ran on for Lorimer to pick up, dance past his marker and fire home from 20 yards. It flew into the net despite McCarthy‟s efforts to clear it. Four minutes later it was the Scot again with a carbon copy strike. Fry tried to clear the ball, but Lorimer intercepted and burst through the defence to complete his hat trick. The sixth goal, after 73 minutes, was the most remarkable score of the afternoon. United‟s centre- backs had grown bored with confinement in their own half and both men moved forward. Norman Hunter danced out wide to the left byline and, like a natural winger, stood an inviting lobbed cross up to the back post. Hunter‟s partner, Jack Charlton, had drifted up into the area and rose above everyone to nod the Jack Charlton rises to head home a remarkable goal, the sixth against Southampton ball home. The goal got a special cheer from the Elland Road faithful as Big Jack loped back into his defensive position sporting a grin as wide as the Yorkshire moors.

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