So after a 65-year wait, Chelsea have finally won the FA Cup! Congratulations to them, and commiserations to Leeds, for whom a 51-year quest goes on. Thanks for reading this retro As It Happened minute-by-minute report; comments are open below for your leisure and pleasure. Fingers crossed that the knee injury suffered by Peter Bonetti (he’ll have treatment tomorrow) won’t keep him out of the World Cup in Mexico, eh readers?
Please join us again on Tuesday evening at 7.45pm GMT for Rob Smyth’s blow-by-blow account of the Euro 96 semi between France and the Czech Republic England and Germany.
Eric Todd’s match report has landed. Here’s how it looks.
By way of contrast, here’s the delighted winning manager Dave Sexton! “I am very happy and very proud. We didn’t get in the game in a footballing sense for a long time, but we held on as we did at Wembley. I am sure the trouble was nerves, but towards the end we began to show our worth and I thought we were value for our win. We return on the 10 o’clock train tomorrow and should be at the station at 12.40pm. I hope quite a number of people will be interested.” Chelsea fans: be sure to get down to Euston to welcome home your returning heroes, y’all.
Poor Don Revie, his hopes punctured for the third and final time at the end of an epic season of missed opportunity, is a study in misery and frustration. “I’m very sick and very disappointed. Here we are at the end of a hard season without anything to show for it. I’m sorry for my players more than for myself. They’re all absolutely dejected. You must be after going so close in three major tournaments. But they’ve got great character and they’ll be back on top next season.” He’s convinced his team should have had a penalty for McCreadie’s high-kick on Bremner. “It must have been a penalty. Billy was going for the ball with his head and was kicked on the back of the head, so I don’t see how it could have been anything else but dangerous kicking and a penalty for us. But I can’t take anything away from Chelsea. They came back very well.”
Baldwin and McCreadie take a handle each and romp down towards the Stretford End. Chelsea fans bob up and down in sequence, their scarves forming a rolling blue-and-white river, the banks momentarily threatening to burst over the advertising hoardings. But it all calms down quickly enough. A constant white noise of celebration rustles around Old Trafford. These are such glorious scenes! Chelsea romp along the touchline on their lap of honour. As they reach the opposite end of the stadium, where some Leeds fans remain, hero-of-the-hour Webb shrugs his shoulders, palms pointing upwards, and shakes his head theatrically. Sorry, guys, I had to do it!
Chelsea captain Ron Harris goes up to receive the cup, star keeper Peter Bonetti the base. Harris raises the shiny prize with palpable glee. A total lack of pomp and ceremony, and the moment’s so much more moving for it. Cheers of joy ring around Old Trafford. Imagine if all this sensational fan-generated emotion was being drowned out by loud music! Just imagine. Hutchinson, wearing Hunter’s white Leeds shirt, does the trying-on-lid-as-hat thing. It fits, as it always does in these situations. Looks good on him, too.
FULL TIME: Chelsea 2-1 Leeds United (aet; 1-1 after 90 mins)
CHELSEA HAVE WON THE 1970 FA CUP!!! Three peeps of the referee’s pea, and that’s it! Webb and Harris embrace. Clarke gets caught up awkwardly in the middle, but offers friendly congratulations nonetheless. Chelsea have finally done it ... but Leeds United’s wait goes on. After a hell of a battle, all’s fair in love and war, and there are plenty of handshakes and swapped shirts. Joyous scenes for Chelsea; a bitter denouement to the season for their opponents.
ET 30 min +1: The last chance for Leeds, as Gray meets a poor Dempsey clearing header, but blooters his volley miles over the bar.
ET 30 min: Cooke dances up and down the right in a marvellous display of efficient clock management. Hunter gives him a kick for his trouble ... but then the pair exchange a wink and a smile. A lovely warm sporting moment at the end of a fractious affair.
ET 29 min: Gray floats one into the mixer from deep. It’s easy for Bonetti. Leeds are pressing and pressing, but to no avail. Giles tries a shot from 20 yards but it’s blocked at source. Leeds fully desperate now.
ET 28 min: Jones and Bremner combine down the inside-left channel and force a corner. Charlton hangs about on the goalline. The normally reliable Giles hooks the set piece straight over the bar. Charlton is beyond furious, exploring new realms of anger.
ET 27 min: Chelease take their own sweet time over the goal kick. Meanwhile Rob Ainsley is back, and his grandpa isn’t happy. “Grumbling from grandad about Leeds being ‘complacent’, a word I’m intrigued to learn. I’ve only been half-watching to be honest, but being nine years old, it’s been a good excuse to stay up late. I must remember to write about tonight in my Penguin diary so that when I’m grown up I can remember what I was doing.”
ET 26 min: It’s a free kick to Leeds, won by Lorimer down the left. It’s taken quickly and Lorimer sends a dismal effort dribbling well wide left. What a waste. Leeds lost their cool just as they needed to keep their heads.
ET 25 min: From a throw deep in Chelsea territory, Lorimer finds some space on the byline to the left of goal. Hollins is forced to head his low cross behind for a corner. Before the set piece can be taken, Webb slyly kicks the ball further behind the goal to waste a little bit of time. The corner is only half cleared by Cooke. Gray - who has been awfully quiet since being whacked towards the end of the first half - shoots from the left of the D. Clarke flicks it towards the bottom left, and it’s heading in, but Webb hacks clear marvellously!
ET 24 min: Webb slides in on Cooper. Had he connected, Cooper’s bones were clattering back over the Pennines to the sound of a fast xylophone trill. Fortunately for all involved, Webb was so spectacularly late, he missed the player altogether, by several yards and seconds to boot. On an evening of wild challenges, that was by far the silliest.
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ET 23 min: Hinton replaces Osgood, a defensive move by Chelsea. So much for attack being the best form of defence. The sub was made without ceremony; blink and you’d have missed it. No histrionics from the sacrificed Osgood, who has been instrumental in Chelsea’s turnaround but takes to the bench, a fine evening’s work complete.
ET 22 min: On the touchline, Sexton prepares to send on Hinton. Leeds launch a rare attack, but once again Bremner ties himself in knots on the edge of the Chelsea box. “I’m wearing my original blue Umbro shirt with badge and number sown on by my mum,” announces young Chris Taylor proudly. “My brother being older had first choice and picked Osgood (9). My second choice was Hutchinson (10) but I wasn’t allowed two numbers and so I finally settled for Hollins (4) who has had an impact tonight. Oh happy days, with people throwing bog rolls at each other just for the fun of it!”
ET 21 min: Hollins crosses for Hutchinson, who can’t plant a head on it, ten yards out. Chelsea have clearly decided that attack is the best way to defend their lead. And it’s working. They’re utterly bossing proceedings now.
ET 20 min: Osgood sashays down the left nonchalantly. He’s been superb. He lays off to Cooke, who in turn finds Houseman down the wing. Houseman crosses for Hutchinson, who pops ahead of Harvey at the near post and nearly rounds him. But the flag goes up for offside again. Had Hutchinson been blessed with a more patient disposition, this final would surely be over.
ET 19 min: Chelsea find the net again! But this one won’t count. Osgood runs the length of the pitch, a straight-line dribble down the middle. Leeds are light at the back, Charlton out of position having been thrown up front. Only Madeley and Hunter are on point. Osgood drifts a little to the left, drawing Madeley and slipping a diagonal pass between the split defenders to Hutchinson, who taps home. But Hutchinson had carelessly drifted offside, way too eager, and the flag correctly pops up, fluttering in the breeze. Hutchinson explodes into a fit of wild rage, and briefly tries to start a barney with Harvey, but really, he’s only cross with himself for going off too early. That should have set the seal on it.
ET 18 min: “We’re gonna win the cup!” Now it’s Chelsea’s turn to rattle the rafters. This second period of extra time hasn’t really got going yet. Chelsea won’t care a jot. They’re just over ten minutes away. In the dugout, Revie looks on nervously. Is it to be more extra-time pain after their last-gasp defeat to Liverpool in the final of 1965?
ET 17 min: The Stretford End sways with Chelsea blue and white. Strange times we’re living in.
And we’re off again! After a very quick turnaround, Chelsea restart the match. They’re 15 minutes away from their first FA Cup! Leeds go on the immediate hunt in search of an equaliser, but Bremner’s hustle on the edge of the box results in a free kick to Chelsea. He considers starting an argument, but thinks better of it.
EXTRA TIME, HALF TIME: Chelsea 2-1 Leeds United
And that’s the end of the first 15 extra minutes. Leeds are in danger of suffering treble heartbreak. Chelsea are so close to only the third piece of major silverware in their history, after the 1954-55 First Division championship and the League Cup won ten years later!
ET 15 min: That was as simple as it comes. Leeds hadn’t switched back on since the injury restart. Bremner tries to raise his team with a sortie down the inside right. Cooke dangles out a leg. Bremner goes over it, then springs up and switches into Radge Mode. The situation’s easily defused, though. From the free kick, there’s an almighty scramble in the box, Jones the epicentre of the blast, but Chelsea hack clear.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-1 Leeds United (Webb 104)
Hutchinson flings long. Super long! The ball drops towards Osgood, on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box. He flicks on, beating Charlton in the jump. At the far post, Webb rises over Gray and Lorimer and rams a header into the net from close range! Chelsea are in the lead for the first time in this entire tie. Webb runs and punches the air in delight. Chelsea are 16 minutes away from glory!
ET 14 min: Osgood is down on the turf too, taking a breather as Hunter continues to receive treatment. And then, from the restart, Leeds lose all momentum, perhaps fatally so. A Hutchinson long throw from the left, intended for Houseman, is headed out by Charlton. Hutchinson tries again, and this time ...
ET 13 min: Hunter is in the wars again, having been clattered from behind by Houseman. No foul, naturally. Once again, the cramp sets in, and on trots Les with his Stylo Matchmakers selection.
ET 12 min: And now Chelsea come close! Houseman barges in from the left and curls a ball over the Leeds back line. It drops to Osgood on the penalty spot. He takes a touch to his left to get Cooper out of the road, but then blazes wildly over. Such a good opportunity squandered. Gaps are suddenly appearing at each end, though. And no wonder: Hunter is down with cramp, while Charlton is rubbing the leg injured towards the end of regulation time.
ET 10 min: Cooper dances down the inside-left channel and is unceremoniously upended by Baldwin. Giles curls the free kick to the far post. Dempsey and Harris ping-ping clearing headers, but the ball drops to Lorimer, just to the right of the D. He flicks the ball up a little before meeting it as it drops, sending a rising whipcracker towards the top right. Bonetti does extremely well to read the danger, get across, parry, then gather. Lorimer’s exquisite skill so close to giving Leeds the lead in this final for the fourth time!
ET 9 min: Cooke runs the ball straight out of play on the right. This has been a great replay, just as the final itself was gripping from start to finish, but extra time is a hard watch right now. Both defences are well on top, neither team seems willing to commit too many men into attack. So close yet so far, with so much to lose.
ET 7 min: Giles slips Hunter away down the left, but the big defender can only shank a cross onto the top of the goal net. This is all a bit scrappy since the restart, both sides beginning to tire after putting in so much effort on another appalling pitch. Not sure they’d risk holding the Horse of the Year show on this.
ET 5 min: Giles has a go from distance this time, but his left-foot dribbler from 25 yards is easy meat for Bonetti, cut-up turf notwithstanding.
ET 4 min: Giles considers shooting from 25 yards, but elects to float a pass towards Lorimer down the inside right instead. Wrong decision; Lorimer is caught well offside.
ET 3 min: Baldwin crosses from the right. Osgood rises high at the far post but is denied by Harvey. The pair tangle in not particularly friendly fashion as they fall in a heap, but, somewhat surprisingly given what’s gone previously, it doesn’t rapidly escalate.
And we’re off again! Neither of the subs have come on. Leeds are once again attacking the Stretty, as they did in the first half of normal time. They kick off, but Chelsea soon gain possession and attack. Hollins’ long diagonal ball, meant for Hutchinson on the right, sails out for a goal kick, but the very early signs suggest Chelsea seem fresher, in mind if not necessarily in body, having once again snatched the cup out of Leeds hands with a late equaliser.
Announcement by Thames Television: As a result of extra time, Callan (9.20pm) will now be shown at a later date.
FULL TIME: Chelsea 1-1 Leeds United
Three peeps of the ref’s whistle – there is a pea, after all! – and we’re heading into extra time. No flicking over to Pete and Dud on BBC2 for us. Poets Cornered will have to wait another day. The Beeb will have taped it, no need to worry. Leeds, who were 12 minutes from the cup, look irritated at the prospect of playing another half hour, and will be wondering how they aren’t the champions already. They were much the better team in the first half, and had chances to secure victory in the second. But Chelsea held firm and came back into the game well, the increasingly dangerous Peter Osgood finally grooving himself into the match. Now there’s no way of predicting which way this one is going to go. Stay tuned!
90 min +1: Lorimer crosses from deep, out on the right. Jones bombs in from the other flank but can only send the ball well over the bar. “I’ll send you two, no three, bog rolls if you make Leeds win,” promises Neil Clough. I don’t get it. Are they for throwing onto the pitch when someone scores?
90 min: Gray dribbles down the middle, gliding softly left to right, before floating a chip over the bar from the edge of the box. So close to a dramatic last-gasp winner! Leeds were inches away from their first FA Cup!
89 min: Leeds, having gathered themselves after the shock of conceding, are pushing for the late winner that would retrieve the situation and with it their season. Giles flicks down the middle into the Chelsea box. Bremner tries to control on the spot but is barged over, sandwiched by Webb from behind and Hollins in front. That could easily have been a penalty for either challenge, or possibly both at once. But again, nothing’s given. Leeds will wonder whether the referee has lost the pea from his whistle.
87 min: Aye. Bremner is on a rolling boil, understandably given the discourtesy recently brought upon his noggin. He dribbles down the inside-left channel and is clipped by Hutchinson, who takes another snide stomp as Bremner falls. Powered solely by fume, Bremner immediately pirouettes in mid-air in the hope of lashing Hutchinson’s calves. He then springs up to discuss terms and conditions with Hutchinson, the ref getting in between the pair just in time. Hutchinson, right up in Bremner’s grille, does the glove-puppet yap-yap-yap gesture with his hand. Bremner, despite being provoked to the limits of his never-long fuse, does extremely well to keep his counsel and not respond with windmilling fists. Anyway, from the resulting free kick, Lorimer screeches a shot over the bar from 20 yards. We play on.
86 min: Bremner is down getting treatment. He’s up and about after a fashion, though he’s grimacing and holding his left lug. A brave prediction: he’s not going to let this slide without further comment or action.
85 min: Ooyah! Oof! Cooper crosses from the left. Jones can’t control on the penalty spot. The ball loops towards Bremner, who is preparing to head goalwards when McCreadie launches a kung-fu high-kick towards his head! McCreadie immediately makes a big show of checking whether Bremner, rolling around grasping his sore neep, is OK. But that must be a penalty, he’s surely not going to get away with ... hold on! The ref waves play on! This is absurd! Chelsea break upfield. Osgood bombs down the middle and flicks right for Hutchinson, who bashes a rising shot into the side netting. He should have done better. He probably should have scored, though had he done so, Leeds would have gone mad ... and they’d have had every right to go mad.
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84 min: It’s all a bit scrappy now as extra time looms, and the teams realise everything is on the line. The tension crackling in the cold Manchester air.
82 min: Leeds win a corner on the right. Charlton comes up, ready to do battle. Jones, at the far post, eyebrows a fine header towards the top left. Harris heads off the line, though Bremner had been in the middle of it all causing bother, so the whistle goes for a free kick anyway.
81 min: Baldwin clips Hunter then Lorimer in quick succession, just because. It’s how everyone’s rolling. “Revie has done a lot at Leeds but has he taken them as far as he can?” wonders Gareth Neville. “Perhaps a younger manager with fresh ideas could get more from the players. Someone like Brian Clough at Derby could do wonders for them.”
80 min: Hutchinson dribbles down the left, and is clipped by Madeley. He’s down with what looks like a bit of cramp. In the dugout, Sexton is impenetrable. Chelsea fans are finally giving it plenty, though; the Leeds faithful are suddenly not so vocal.
79 min: That fine goal means Peter Osgood has scored in every round of this year’s FA Cup. He’s the ninth player to achieve such a feat, two years after West Bromwich Albion’s Jeff Astle became number eight.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-1 Leeds United (Osgood 78)
Oh Grandpa Ainsley! From the resulting goal kick. Chelsea come straight back at Leeds and equalise! Hollins drives past the centre circle. He offloads to Osgood, who is facing the play so lays off for Hutchinson. He cuts in from the right, then leaves it to Cooke, who criss-crosses back to the right a little before floating a gorgeous diagonal ball over a static Leeds back line. Osgood, who had turned and kept on running, ghosts in and flicks a fine diving header past the outrushing Harvey and into the bottom left! Some loo roll comes flying on to the field, incongruously so, because that fine team goal smells of roses. Delightful move!
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77 min: Bremner and Cooke battle hard down the Leeds right. The ball breaks off Cooke and should be a corner, but Chelsea get the goal kick instead. They go straight up the other end and nearly score what would, as a result, have been a highly controversial equaliser. Osgood and Hutchinson combine well down the inside right to set up Hollins for a long-distance shot. He aims for the top right but gets it all wrong. Miles wide right. “My grandad is telling methat Terry Cooper looks like James Bolam, off the Likely Lads,” writes Rob Ainsley (9). “I’ve never heard of the Likely Lads. He reckons Leeds have this sewn up.”
76 min: The resulting corner is a bit of a non-event, leading to a goal kick. But Charlton has taken a whack, having made a nuisance of himself on the goalline. On comes Les Cocker, gripping the handles of his jet-black plastic Stylo Matchmakers holdall. Eventually the big defender gets up, but he’s limping, shades of the England-Scotland stramash in 1967. “We’re gonna win the cup,” trill the Leeds faithful yet again, despite the worrying injury suffered by their defensive hero.
75 min: Leeds slow the game down, with the finishing line in sight. Chelsea are getting a little irritated as time runs out. Bonetti tries to force it by bowling out to Baldwin on the right. Baldwin’s loose chest down allows Cooper to steal away and rasp a shot towards the bottom left. Bonetti somehow bundles it around the post for a corner.
74 min: Cooke whips Gray into the air like an old sock. A wild and utterly pointless challenge in midfield, seemingly made simply to annoy. Chelsea have certainly kept Gray quiet, through both fair means and foul.
72 min: Gray scampers in from the left and takes a whack with his right foot. Shank! The ball flies away to the other wing. Lorimar dances along it and draws a foul from Houseman. Lorimer takes the free kick himself, by the corner flag, and sends it long. Jones tries to meet it at the far post, but succeeds only in tripping over a line of photographers congregated just off the field of play. A kindly bobby emerges from the crowd to help him up. Where’s a policeman when you need one? There he is!
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70 min: A poor Charlton header allows Osgood to drive at Leeds. He slips the ball left for Houseman, who stands one up into the box. It’s easy pickings for Harvey but Chelsea are creeping back into this match, slowly but surely. A while ago they couldn’t get out of their own final third; now most of the game is being played in the Leeds half. And Osgood, quiet for so long, is finally beginning to impose his presence.
69 min: Hollins sends a free kick in from the left. It’s punched away by Harvey. Lorimer strokes a long pass upfield and nearly sets Jones clear, but McCreadie copes well under a bouncing ball. As the last Chelsea defender, he was also under plenty of pressure. Calm as you like.
67 min: Cooper blazes down the inside left and unleashes a low screamer from distance. It’s parried well by Bonetti. Not sure how this is still only 1-0.
66 min: Bremner remains down, getting some treatment. Out comes Les Cocker’s magic sponge. Meanwhile Hutchinson shares a joke with Hunter, who crosses his arms in mock annoyance, like a teacher finding the antics of the class irritant amusing and trying very, very hard not to smile.
65 min: Bremner and Osgood tangle. Bremner, on the floor, is quite happy to weave his leg between Osgood’s boots and bring him down too. Bremner then gets up, only for Osgood to attempt to haul him back into a brawl situation. Before anyone can throw hands, Hutchinson enters from stage left and shoves Bremner to the floor with some force. Hutchinson then makes the swimming-dive gesture, a textbook study in chutzpah. And that’s a booking at last! Hutchinson goes in the referee’s notepad.
64 min: Webb and Lorimer come together at 100mph, a physics experiment with no ball. Lorimer takes Webb’s standing leg away. Everyone acts as if this was an everyday occurrence, which to be fair in the context of this match it is. No whistle, no foul, no complaints, everyone gets on with it. Hollins sends a ball in from the left. Osgood heads down for Baldwin, who tries to steer the ball past Harvey at the left-hand post, but the keeper claims well. Much better from Chelsea, though. At long last.
63 min: Lorimer zips down the inside left but can’t get a shot away. The ball’s worked back to Gray, who whistles a dipper over the bar from the best part of 30 yards out on the flank. It’s always heading over, but only just, and it’s not 100 percent clear that Bonetti had it covered. Goal kick, though.
62 min: Jones goes on a solo barge down the right and aims for the top-right corner from a tight angle. It’s a fine rising effort but met well by Bonetti.
61 min: More cup-winning callooh callay from the Leeds end. Chelsea can’t get anything going, and their fans are relatively quiet right now. “I’m relying on you, Scott,” whimpers Justin Kavanagh. “Just when I’d got the rabbits ears to get some half-way decent reception on the box, the damned leccy meter ran out and I can’t find a shilling coin for love nor money down the back of my paisley leather sofa. I’m down combing through the shag-pile carpet for change. Bet Georgie Best doesn’t have these problems in his chick-infested groovy pad!”
60 min: McCreadie gifts the ball to Jones, who barrels down the middle, forcing Dempsey into the concession of a cynical free kick. Giles clips it in towards Jones, to the left of goal, but Jones can’t find another white shirt with his knockdown and eventually Chelsea clear. Leeds are knocking at the door, albeit quietly.
59 min: Giles snatches onto a loose ball and has a dig from distance. The ball bobbles harmlessly wide left. Chelsea have enough to deal with already in Leeds, they don’t need to start posing more problems for themselves.
58 min: Chelsea are under the cosh a bit here. They can’t get out of their final third. “We’re gonna win the cup!” chime the Leeds fans again. It’s looking good for them right now.
57 min: Gray takes the corner from the right. Bonetti flaps. The ball drops to Charlton, who swivels and hooks a shot towards the top right. McCreadie heads off the line. The flag goes up for a foul on the keeper, which is a nonsense, a point Charlton makes to the referee with some intensity.
56 min: Bremner comes sliding in hysterically on Hutchinson, wrapping both legs around the Chelsea man’s standing leg, studs up and all. Which all sounds a little worse than it actually was, delivered with just enough force to irritate and annoy, but not enough to seriously injure. Hutchinson spins through 180 degrees on the floor and swings a wild boot at the now retreating Bremner. Play continues nonetheless, and from the resulting loose ball, Clarke is sent scampering down the right. He cuts inside but is stopped by Webb, the last man. Then there’s another phase of Leeds attack as Cooper reaches the byline on left and crosses to Jones, who tees up Giles to shoot inches wide right from the edge of the box. And breathe, after a most hectic 60 seconds. Actually that took a deflection off Dempsey, so the pressure’s not off Chelsea yet.
55 min: Hollins sends a free kick long from the centre circle. Harvey’s uncertain punch and Big Jack’s equally poor header leads to a Chelsea throw on the left. Hutchinson flings it in long. Once again, there’s some mild unease in the Leeds defence before they get their act together and clear.
53 min: Charlton Beckenbauers his way up the park, nearly sending Clarke clear down the middle, but Dempsey bodychecks him at the last minute to nix the pass. Charlton is livid, both with the cynicism of the foul and his team-mate’s perceived lack of movement. The resulting free kick comes to nought.
52 min: Osgood bombs down the inside right. Danger for Leeds! But Charlton nips in to take it off his toe. Osgood responds by scything straight through Charlton’s back. Charlton springs up and shoulder barges Osgood to the floor, then stands over him, poised for action, holding his body in the internationally recognised stance for Do You Want Some More, Lad, Eh, Well Do You? Baldwin comes racing to Osgood’s aid. The linesman gets in between the pair before a roughhouse rumble takes place. The referee brings Charlton and Osgood together, both smiling like naughty schoolboys. No booking for anyone. And while all this is going on, wolf whistles fill the night air as Les Cocker delivers a new pair of shorts to Cooper, who whips off his old breeks to reveal pristine white Y-fronts and, ladies and gentlemen, let’s not mince words, a pert badonkadonk. The new shorts are pulled on with haste, and we continue, everyone a little bit hotter under the collar, one way or another.
51 min: A free kick to Leeds out on the right, the result of McCreadie barrelling around like a galoot. Charlton clips it down the inside right, in the hope of finding Jones, but he’s put too much on the ball. Goal kick. Leeds are pressing for a second that would surely seal the deal, the way the game’s been going so far. They’ll want to convert their dominance into a bigger advantage while the going is good.
50 min: Osgood bombs down the inside left, but there are no options inside. For a second, that looked dangerous, but Leeds swarmed Chelsea’s star man. The Pensioners - apologies to Ted Drake, but some habits are hard to break - soon come back, Houseman crossing from the left, but it’s an easy take for Harvey, who hasn’t had any serious work to do yet.
49 min: Speaking of the Chelsea keeper, here he is making a fine save, tattered old footwear notwithstanding. Charlton launches long; Jones chests down. The ball drops to Giles who pearls one towards the bottom left. Bonetti stops it with safe hands and great agility, though it turns out Jones had handled in the build-up anyway.
48 min: Jones knocks a long pass down the inside right. He finds Clarke in acres, with the Chelsea back line still in the dressing room, but the flag goes up correctly for offside. Meanwhile some breaking news from Chelsea ITK Claire McConnell: “I can reliably inform you, as I have an inside source, that one of Peter Bonetti’s boots split during the first half. As he doesn’t have a spare pair, he has taped said boot up and shall continue the game with the same pair.”
47 min: Hunter sends a shot-cum-cross into the arms of the Chelsea keeper from 25 yards on the left. It’s all a bit hectic again. A constant rumble of nervous anticipation rattles around the walls of dark, cavernous, atmospheric Old Trafford.
And we’re off again! Chelsea get the second half underway, kicking towards their fans in the Stretford End. They have to improve if they’re to claw their way back into this final.
Half-time ad break:
HALF TIME: Chelsea 0-1 Leeds United
And that’s it for the first half. Well, that flew by, unless you’re a Chelsea fan. They were fairly dismal, Leeds more like their normal selves. Both sides have an injured party to patch up during the break, with Bonetti and Gray limping off.
45 min: Chelsea loop the ball into the Leeds box a couple of times, but it’s a desperate tactic, and Leeds sweep up easily enough each instance. Dave Sexton has a bit of work to do with his men at half time; they’ve been second best and are deservedly trailing.
44 min: This is absolutely outrageous! Gray, back up, hobbles down the left. He doesn’t really want a pass from Giles, but gets one anyway. He goes to hoick the ball up the wing, away from personal danger, but it’s too late: Hutchinson comes sliding in, whipping Gray into the air like a greasy pancake. Recently injured, Gray understandably takes exception to this wild lunge. Less understandably, he responds by stamping on his assailant’s leg. Hutchinson springs up and punches Gray right on the tip of his front tail. Right in the trousers! Those are two sendings off, right there, though the referee does nothing whatsoever and play goes on.
42 min: So having said that ... Gray looks to turn Harris down the left. Chopper is having absolutely none of it, taking Gray’s standing leg from under him as he turns, chipping the Leeds winger into the air like a golfer throwing up sand and ball from a deep bunker. Clarke goes up to remonstrate with Harris, who wears an expression of benign amusement. Gray is down holding his left knee, his face scrunched up in pain. As trainer Les Cocker bends Gray’s knee up and down, Bremner comes across to hold his team-mate’s hand, wearing the concerned look of a mother taking her first-born to the dentist for the first time.
41 min: Bonetti appears to have got over his knock, if the fancy flourish with which he takes a drop kick here is anything to go by. Good news. Nobody wants this encounter decided or defined by injury.
40 min: Hollins swings a long free kick into the Leeds area from the right. Cooke and Dempsey try to latch onto the ball at the far post, but the former can only guide it out of play on the left. Chelsea have offered next to nothing up front, with Osgood - who has scored in every round up until now - practically anonymous.
38 min: “We’re gonna win the cup, and they ain’t gonna believe us...” sing the Leeds faithful. It’s quite the scene behind Harvey’s goal, where they reside on the open terrace below the huge scoreboard. A sea of white. Huge foam-topped waves rising.
36 min: That goal had been coming, and was richly deserved. Cooke tries immediately to get the teams back on terms, but his long-range effort sails miles over the bar.
GOAL!!! Chelsea 0-1 Leeds United (Jones 35)
This is absolutely stunning, one of the great FA Cup final goals! And it’s got nothing whatsoever to do with Bonetti’s injury. Facing his own goal and in his own half down the left, Clarke picks the ball up and turns. He evades three tackles, making it into the Chelsea half and eventually poking the ball forward to Jones just to the left of the centre circle. The striker heads off at high speed, drifts inside past Hollins, and evades the desperate slide tackle of McCreadie as the defender bumbles back from his position on the left. Once Jones reaches the right-hand side of the D, he cocks his leg back and unleashes an unstoppable rising drive into the top left. The keeper had no chance, gammy knee or no! Nor did the five – five – Chelsea players eviscerated by a sudden turn of pace from two Leeds men. Jones races off leaping and punching the air.
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35 min: The game eventually restarts, Bonetti having washed his face with water and hobbled back to his station. And almost immediately ...
34 min: The Chelsea trainer is walking Bonetti around. Leeds and England trainer Les Cocker comes over to ask if he can help, a lovely sporting gesture amid the tumult.
33 min: The game’s still stopped. Bonetti is up, but leaning against the post and wearing a pained expression, grabbing onto Medhurst’s hand as the physio applies some magic spray. Bonetti lets his sore leg dangle like the last sausage on the string, before eventually putting some weight back on it.
31 min: A high ball into the Chelsea box from the right. Jones and Bonetti go up for it at the near post. The ball clanks away for a goal kick. Bonetti takes some time to get up, though, having turned his left knee as he fell. He looks in real pain, with trainer Harry Medhurst, a former Chelsea keeper himself, coming on to assist. Can holding Bonetti’s leg up and bending it, while he screams the house down, be accurately described as assistance? It is what it is.
29 min: Chelsea respond. Cooke and Houseman combine down the left, releasing the latter into the area. Houseman cuts inside. Madeley comes across to sweep up and is in the process of succeeding – only for Charlton to get involved. To a soundtrack of tuba and trombone, Charlton takes over, dillies and dallies with the ball at his feet, then gets in the way of Harvey who was coming to claim. The ball spills loose. Houseman immediately flashes a low cross through the Leeds area, with the net unguarded, but there’s nobody there to take advantage. That’s the first time Leeds have looked uncertain at the back, and how.
28 min: Bremner powers down the middle and absolutely welts a pass to Clarke on the left-hand edge of the area. Clarke takes the ball inside with his first touch, beats the lunging Webb to the ball with his second, taking it back to the left, and slips a delightful shot just inches wide of the left-hand post. So close to the opener. “I had to bunk off school to be at Old Trafford for this,” begins Richard Gregory, “and I saw a dozen other boys and two teachers at Euston station on the way here. We’ve all been drinking Corona cream soda and are suitably hyperactive - it looks like the players have too, judging by the tackles flying in. If Chelsea win this I will never go to another football match. I like to quit while I’m ahead.”
27 min: Leeds are suddenly turning the screw. Lorimer outpaces McCreadie down the right with embarrassing ease and whips a cross into the six-yard box. There’s nobody in the centre, allowing Bonetti to pluck the ball from the sky.
26 min: The corner’s cleared, but soon enough there’s trouble afoot, Chelsea creating trouble for themselves with a loose pass. Bonetti scampers out from his goal but Lorimer nips ahead of him. He rounds the keeper on the outside, but his shot isn’t going in. McCreadie clears his lines, just to make sure.
25 min: Gray has a dig from 30 yards, but it’s not very good, bouncing harmlessly wide left. Less than a minute later, the same player sweeps down the left and flicks a low cross towards Jones at the near post. Jones strokes goalwards with the outside of his boot. Bonetti does wonderfully well to react, tipping round for a corner. That’s the first real sighting of Gray, whose delicate, floral skills earned him the man-of-the-match plaudits at Wembley.
24 min: Cooke goes dancing straight down the middle. It’s a dangerous-looking run, until he slightly miscontrols his dribble, allowing Hunter to come in and sweep the ball away. It’s been entertaining enough, this game, though it hasn’t quite hit the heights yet. “Overpaid wusses, the lot of them! 1920, now there was a Cup Final. Villa scrape it in extra time for their sixth title. Who’s going to be remembering this one in fifty years time?” It’s a good job John Bone is taking a sideways look, you can get a better view of his arched eyebrow.
22 min: A corner for Leeds on the right. Gray swings it in towards the near post. Charlton goes up to make trouble. Bonetti holds firm and punches the ball clear. He’s having a decent game, the England reserve, good news for Sir Alf Ramsey ahead of Mexico 70, where Bonetti will shadow Gordon Banks, just in case.
20 min: From deep inside his own half, Lorimer zooms a long first-time ball down the inside-right channel for Clarke to scamper after. The big striker goes shoulder to shoulder with Webb, and nearly manages to break clear into the area as the Chelsea defender begins to fall over. But somehow Webb and the ball stay stuck together as one, Clarke tumbling himself as Webb blocks his route to the ball. A messy affair, though one that nearly offered Leeds an in. Bonetti arrives on the scene to mop up.
18 min: Giles swings a long free kick from the left into the area. Bonetti comes up to claim. Charlton, who went up and was brushed to the ground, gets up with the battle fever raging, claiming he’d been unfairly checked. It didn’t look a particularly controversial challenge.
17 min: In fact, this is just nonsense at the moment, no bugger can keep possession of the ball for more than two seconds.
16 min: Dempsey outmuscles Jones on the penalty spot, as the Leeds striker looks to get in a shot from a Lorimer pass. This is being played at a frenetic pace.
15 min: Hollins takes an ambitious swipe from 35 yards. It sails well wide right.
14 min: Leeds are enjoying nearly all of the ball. Glen Campbell lookalike Webb, a tad frustrated, burning with the yearning of the Wichita Lineman, goes straight through the back of Clarke near the left-hand corner flag. Play goes on. Giles floats in a cross that for a second looks like creeping in the top-left corner but it sails wide. Clarke is still on the line.
12 min: Giles upends Osgood. There’s not much in that, a garden-variety coming together of toughies, but it doesn’t stop both players staring at each other with wild looks in their eyes and notions of great retribution bubbling not too far below the surface. “Why are Leeds United such a maligned team these days?” wonders Justin Kavanagh. “I haven’t heard so much bad vibes directed toward anyone since Yoko broke up the Beatles, man.”
11 min: Hollins tries to latch onto a long ball down the inside-left channel, but he’s bundled out of it by Madeley and Harvey catches the bouncer.
10 min: Cooper flies down the inside-left channel and takes a wild pot-shot. McCreadie is all over the shop trying to clear, and so the ball finds Lorimer to the right of the far post. Lorimer hacks a first-time effort straight across the face of goal. Clarke can’t get on the end of it, he’s too far wide, but he is able to hoick it back across to the far post, where Lorimer attempts a spectacular scissor kick. The ball goes miles over the bar. Chelsea were fortunate Leeds were never quite in full control of that attack.
9 min: Hutchinson takes a long throw from deep on the right. At the far post, Harvey goes up to collect, with Osgood making himself known. Hutchinson’s throw looks like a weapon. Leeds didn’t look totally comfortable in dealing with it. In the crowd, a woman sports a blue cardboard hat bearing the legend: Express for Soccer. A quality paper of record, the Express. Let’s hope nothing egregious ever happens to it.
7 min: A fine move by Chelsea, the ball pinging around the centre and nearly falling for Osgood in the middle. Just like Leeds, Sexton’s side have a no-nonsense image but are capable of some extremely pretty passages of play. It’s a fast-paced start to the replay.
6 min: Chelsea launch their first real sortie into enemy territory, Hutchison haring down the right and slamming a low fizzing shot-cum-cross diagonally through the area and left of goal.
5 min: Out on the right, Lorimer performs that Garrincha / Jim Baxter trick of running off while leaving the ball where it was. McCreadie follows the player, and can’t get back when Lorimer checks his run, turns back to the ball, and whips it into the area. That’s delightful, though it comes to nought.
3 min: From inside his own half, Bremner slips a ball straight down the middle for Gray, who is unceremoniously checked by Webb 40 yards out. That’s a free kick. Bremner lifts it straight into the mixer, and Bonetti claims easily.
2 min: Chelsea have hardly touched the thing yet. “I have to say, whilst the Wembley pitch was in a very sorry state in the original game, I’m none too taken with this playing replays at a different stadium malarkey,” harrumphs Chris Kempshall. “Don’t we risk losing some of the glamour and shine of the competition? It’s a slippery old slope, y’know.” Nah, the good folk at the FA will always move heaven and earth to protect the integrity of the game’s oldest and grandest competition. Nobody’s that short-sighted or stupid, are they?
Within 40 seconds: Lorimer zips down the right and hammers a low cross into the six-yard box. What a dangerous ball! It clanks off Dempsey’s legs at the near post and could go anywhere; luckily for Chelsea it settles in Bonetti’s arms. What a start by Leeds!
And we’re off! Leeds are kicking into the wind, towards the Stretford End. The ball’s lumped down the left, but it’s quickly hoofed back upfield, allowing Harvey his first touch within 20 seconds. Here’s Matt Langford: “Looking forward to the game. Sat in bed watching (think I caught the flu bug that’s going around) but I’ve got my last tenner on Leeds!” Good luck and stay healthy, everyone.
The teams walk out from the tunnel at Old Trafford. And they’ve given a nod to all things Mancunian! Billy Bremner and Leeds are wearing tracksuit tops of City powder blue - with current lucky owl badge, please note, BBC - while Ron Harris and Chelsea side sport Umbro trackies of United red. All very strange. A wooden staked white garden fence frames the pitch, broken up by a sequence of motor-based advertisements: QUICKS FOR FORD, SHELL ECONOMY, SHELL SUPER OIL, LOOKERS IS AUSTIN. It’s cold, so there’s no messing about: no sooner have the players pressed their studs on the turf, they’re ushered into a line on the near side, whereupon a brass band parps out the national anthem. The sides split off. Chelsea go down the Stratford End to warm up, Leeds head off down the other. The trackie tops are peeled off to reveal Chelsea’s famous blue and United’s already-storied white. Anticipation rising like sap! We’ll be off before you know it!
Anyone for a pre-match pint of Smiler, courtesy of Rob Ainsley? “I’m not sure why - I’m only nine - but I’m at grandma and grandad’s tonight in Hull to watch the football on their black-and-white telly. Perhaps ours is on the blink? Grandad is right now pouring himself a ‘smiler’ – a shandy – and confidently telling me that Revie’s team have their hands on the trophy. I’m playing with my Corgi cars – an Austin Cambridge and a Citroen Safari - in front of the telly and eating a bag of Golden Wonder crisps. I want Chelsea to win because they play in blue, which is my favourite colour. This despite the chant of kids at my primary school: ‘Osgood / Was good’. Another chant they have is about one of our teachers: ‘Mrs Dennis / Can’t play tennis.’ Kids can be so cruel.” Smiler! I really want some. That’s settled what I’m doing once the match is over.
While we’re yammering on about tactics, here’s Martyn Lunn. “I attended the first leg of the Leeds-Celtic semi at Elland Road four weeks ago on April 1, with my old man, and would like to contribute some tactical insight into how Chelsea’s free-flowing forwards might be able to replicate Celtic’s attacking approach and counter the tight Leeds set-up. But I’m only 10. What I do remember is the packed crowd, Dave Edmunds’ I Hear You Knocking blaring on the PA, having my first-ever Wimpy hamburger (delicious) and my old man buying me the most wonderful Celtic scarf.”
Anticipation is building as we get closer to kick-off. “Two excellent sides,” opines Michael Simpson, furiously rubbing both hands together. “Let’s hope for a professional, competitive affair, with good clean, honest football. England expects.” Hear, hear, what a glorious nation! Matthew Rudd notes that “Harris and Webb swap shirt numbers - so Harris will look after Gray!” That might explain why Jeff Jamieson has written in to predict that “Eddie Gray might well have to take a bit of punishment tonight” if Leeds are to prevail. Tactics are beyond your MBM reporter, who is simple folk, but happy. Someone smarter will write a book about them one day.
On the subject of television, for those of you who have just tuned in to ITV, expecting to see Coronation Street at its usual time, some bad news. You’ve missed it. It was moved forward 45 minutes to make way for the live colour telecast of the big match. But don’t worry, the Guardian has your back. Stan Ogden has signed over the deeds to No13 for £600, and the cat’s out of the bag, because Elsie Tanner has just found out. If she tells Hilda, Stan’s done for! Meanwhile Irma Barlow, wracked with guilt after her role in a fatal car crash, sleeps in after taking one of Annie Walker’s sleeping pills, and brother-in-law Ken is extremely concerned. Next Monday’s edition promises to be a cracker.
Our first email of the final is in. “If this replay is as good as the first match, we’re in for a treat,” coos Alex Moffett, “but I’m a little disappointed to be missing Man Alive: The Catholic Dilemma on BBC 2 tonight.” Indeed that is a shame, though providing this doesn’t go to extra time, we’ll all be able to switch over for Pete and Dud in Not Only ... But Also. No matter if the match does go all the way, mind you, we’re sure the BBC will take good care of the tapes and repeat it later.
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Both teams are unchanged from the first match, with one exception: David Harvey replaces Gary Sprake in the Leeds goal. Sprake hasn’t been dropped for his hapless fumbling of Peter Houseman’s shot in the first match at Wembley; he suffered a knee injury during the European Cup semi-final defeat at Celtic Park, so that’s him kaput. Incidentally, when the BBC flashed up the teamsheets, they used a Leeds crest that hasn’t been seen on the shirt since 1961. Superstitious old Don Revie will have got rid of that for a good reason, lads; you may be messing with his ju-ju.
The teams
Chelsea: Peter Bonetti, Ron Harris, Eddie McCreadie, John Hollins, John Dempsey, David Webb, Tommy Baldwin, Charlie Cooke, Peter Osgood, Ian Hutchinson, Peter Houseman.
Sub: Marvin Hinton.
Leeds United: David Harvey, Paul Madeley, Terry Cooper, Billy Bremner, Jack Charlton, Norman Hunter, Peter Lorimer, Allan Clarke, Mick Jones, Johnny Giles, Eddie Gray.
Sub: Mick Bates.
Referee: Eric Jennings (Stourbridge).
Preamble
Leeds United go into this FA Cup final replay - the first since 1912 - hoping it won’t put the finishing touches to a triptych of misery. A season that once promised so much - an unprecedented league, cup and European treble - is coming apart at the seams. A fixture pile-up cost them their championship crown, the First Division title gifted to Everton, while Jock Stein’s Celtic bossed them in the semi-finals of the European Cup. Now this is all that’s left. Don Revie’s sensational side couldn’t end up completely empty handed, could they?
But never mind the overall context of their Homeric season; Leeds won’t be happy to be contesting this replay on the merits of the first match alone. They were the better side two weeks ago, on a quagmire of a pitch at Wembley. (The pitch at the home of English football had been churned up days before its showpiece by the Horse of the Year show.) Leeds took the lead twice. On 20 minutes, Jack Charlton flapped his scrapeover at a cross; his header trickled over the goalline, half-turn by half-turn. Eddie McCreadie tried to kick it away, but took a fresh-air swipe and fell on his arse, like a drunk in a Frank Randle film. Peter Houseman equalised just before the break, his speculative long-range shot creeping into the bottom right corner under the body of Gary Sprake (who was sporting the sort of huge blond quiff not seen since ABC Television stopped making Oh Boy). Houseman celebrated by accidentally spitting all over his shirt.
Six minutes from time, Leeds looked to have won their first FA Cup, Mick Jones lashing into the bottom-left corner after Allan Clarke had hit the right-hand post with a header. But only two minutes later, Ian Hutchinson flashed home a near-post header from a left-wing John Hollins cross. Extra time produced no more goals, and with the rutted, muddy pitch now a complete joke, the FA decided to bundle everyone up to Old Trafford for the replay. And so here we are.
Can Leeds salvage their season by winning their first FA Cup? Or can Dave Sexton’s men lift Chelsea’s first FA Cup instead? It’s a summit meeting between two of the best teams in football right now, Revie’s men having finished second in the First Division behind Everton, Chelsea just behind them in third. Ancient history favours Chelsea, who have beaten Leeds on all four previous occasions they’ve met in the cup; this season’s league results point to a Leeds win, their having won 2-0 at Elland Road and 5-2 at Stamford Bridge. It’s Leeds’ 63rd match of the season. It’s Chelsea’s 54th. It’s on!
Kick off: 7.30pm on 29 April 1970. (3pm GMT today)
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