Matches – 28 April 1969 – Liverpool 0 Leeds United 0
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Matches – 28 April 1969 – Liverpool 0 Leeds United 0 First Division – Anfield – 53,750 Scorers: None Liverpool: Lawrence, Lawler, Strong, Smith, Yeats, Hughes, Callaghan, Graham, Evans, St John, Thompson Leeds United: Sprake, Reaney, Cooper, Bremner, Charlton, Hunter, O‟Grady, Madeley, Jones, Giles, Gray April 1969 … Don Reviehad spent eight eventful years building Leeds United into a team that could challenge for the game‟s highest honours … now the moment of truth was upon them as they faced Liverpool in a League championship showdown which would decide the destination of the trophy. The match had originally been scheduled for 22 March, but a twist of fate saw to it that the top two sides would face each other at Anfield as the season reached its final knockings. The original fixture was postponed because of a flu epidemic at Elland Road. Eight first team players were laid low, while two others were out injured. The Football League agreed to a request made by United assistant manager Maurice Lindley as Leeds flew home after losing to Ujpest Dozsa in the Fairs Cup. The decision was a controversial one; The Yorkshire Evening Post of 20 March 1969 carries the news that particularly as United had also previously United's game at Anfield has been postponed been given leave to bring forward some of their Easter fixtures. Liverpool were furious at the decision, with hinted accusations of conspiracy, though in public Reds manager Bill Shankly would only mutter tersely, “This is terrible … a great disappointment.” At the original time of the fixture, Liverpool lagged six points behind United with a game in hand, and their title challenge was being frustrated by the weather. They had played just once since 22 February, winning 2-0 at Sunderland. Being forced to kick their heels for the best part of a month while Leeds were winning three straight games, against Nottingham Forest, Southampton and Stoke City, handed the momentum to the Whites. By the time the rearranged fixture came around, Leeds‟ lead was five points. United had only Liverpool and Nottingham Forest to face, while the Reds had three games left. www.mightyleeds.co.uk - Matches – 28 April 1969, Liverpool 0 Leeds United 0 1 The title rivals each played out goalless draws away from home on 22 April, United defying third- placed Everton at Goodison while Liverpool surprisingly dropped a point at relegation-threatened Coventry. Those results left the advantage with Leeds. Both teams sat out the following Saturday, FA Cup final day; the waiting was easier for United than it was for Liverpool. The equation was simple: if Leeds drew or won at Anfield, the League championship was theirs; if Liverpool were victorious, then United could still secure the title by beating Forest at home two days later. However, manager Don Revie had suffered too many disappointments in previous seasons to take anything for granted. He refused to count any chickens until the necessary points were in the bag. Phil Brown wrote in the Yorkshire Evening Post on the day of the game: “The side is buoyant with hope and the right sort of confidence as it rests this afternoon in its The Yorkshire Post of 29 April 1969 carries pictures from United's vital Liverpool hotel, and the manager is of the draw at Anfield same mood too, I fancy, although all Don Revie will say in the last words style is, „We have a chance, and I hope we can take it.‟ “But United are never more determined than when facing odds – the side‟s tenacity of purpose is unbreakable, which is just as well. Liverpool at Anfield are hardly the side you would choose to have to play for all the League title means. The Anfield Kop is nearly worth a home goal to start with.” Leeds went into the game in marginally the better form – they were undefeated in the League since losing 5-1 at Burnley in October, and had conceded just 2 goals in the previous 7 games. Liverpool themselves had not lost since 15 February, when struggling Nottingham Forest had surprisingly won 2-0 at Anfield, but they had drawn too many games. The points difference between the two had remained stubbornly at four or more for eight weeks. Don Revie was able to select from strength; his only change from the draw at Everton was to recall the fit again Mick Jones at centre-forward, with Peter Lorimer dropping to the bench. Liverpool were unchanged, though this meant they would continue without World Cup winner Roger Hunt, who had not played since dislocating a collar bone at Stoke on Easter Monday. This was two days after he scored his three hundredth goal for the Reds. Alun Evans, who became Britain‟s first £100,000 teenager when he arrived from Wolves earlier in the season, would continue to lead the attack. This was despite his dismissal the week before along with Coventry centre-half Maurice Setters for fighting. Don Revie hinted before the game that United would attack whenever they had the chance. Few who had seen them play over the previous five years gave much credence to those claims and it was clear from the off that Leeds would be content with a clean sheet. There were 53,750 passionate football followers in the stadium, but hundreds more were locked outside when the gates were closed five minutes before the off. www.mightyleeds.co.uk - Matches – 28 April 1969, Liverpool 0 Leeds United 0 2 Billy Bremner won the toss and chose to make Liverpool play towards the Kop in the first half. It was a calculated risk, leaving Leeds to weather a fearsome opening burst. As Bremner later told Phil Brown of the Yorkshire Evening Post, “The team was unusually nervous when it went out. I have never known them like they were tonight. It was worse than our FA Cup final. I was nervous. I couldn‟t sleep the night before, and that isn‟t me. I even got up out of bed at four o‟clock in the morning and smoked a cigarette to try and stop thinking about the game. There was such a lot at stake, of course, and it nearly beat us.” Sure enough, the opening was frenetic, described as “Liverpool‟s nearly wolf like first 15 minutes” by Phil Brown. At first, United could not hide their anxiety, rushing everything they did and making some rash challenges. Liverpool were just as wound up by the occasion, and there were some fierce opening exchanges. United committed two fouls in five minutes and Liverpool retorted with four in five, all six driven by nerves. In that period Tommy Smith, Tommy Lawrence, Terry Cooper, Gary Sprake and Mick Jones all required treatment after ferocious clashes, provoking even fiercer reactions from a passionate crowd. Liverpool's Tommy Smith slides in to tackle Mick Jones But after the initial storm started to subside a little, Leeds established a calm rhythm and shape that Liverpool found difficult to fathom, let alone pierce. The Reds were too keyed up to take a considered approach and continually tried to force the pace. Cooler heads might have made them more effective, but they were all set on overpowering the champions elect. United, in contrast, kept their cool and stuck rigidly to Don Revie‟s blueprint for the game. Rob Bagchi and Paul Rogerson in The Unforgiven: “Madeley dropped deep to help out his beleaguered colleagues at every opportunity, frustrating Liverpool‟s forwards with a grim display of organised obduracy. Reaney and Cooper had been detailed to sit tight on Callaghan and Thompson, Liverpool‟s two wingers, forcing the main thrusts to go through the middle where there were massed ranks of white shirts.” Jack Charlton‟s aerial dominance, the assured tackling and covering of Norman Hunter and a faultless performance by Gary Sprake made the United spine a particularly tough one to best. In front of the rearguard, United had O‟Grady, Bremner, Giles and Gray splayed across midfield to deny the Reds space, with Mick Jones defending from the front. It was an approach that had worked for Leeds hundreds of times before – they were past masters at the art of smothering, blanket defence, having perfected the game during their regular European forays. Despite sustained Liverpool pressure, there were few early moments of real anxiety apart from once when Madeley had to hurriedly head away with goalkeeper Sprake caught out of position. United responded with a deflected shot from Bremner which almost beat the scrambling Lawrence. www.mightyleeds.co.uk - Matches – 28 April 1969, Liverpool 0 Leeds United 0 3 It was 26 minutes before an attempt at goal worthy of the name. Callaghan fired wide with an ambitious 25-yard effort, but the chance marked the start of a second wind for Liverpool. They pressed hard and came close to breaking the deadlock in the 35th minute. Bobby Graham for once evaded United‟s all consuming defensive net to get in a cross for Alun Evans, 14 yards out. In his eagerness the young striker snatched at the chance and fired it high and wide. Derek Wallis in the Mirror: “Liverpool needed that goal, because the pattern of the first half indicated they might not get many more chances. There was little sign of the attacking play that Leeds manager Don Revie had promised, but neither was there much hint that Liverpool might improve on first half methods that carried more power than imagination.” There were few other chances in the first half and when the break came the job was half done.