When Billy Hamilton's 20-yard drive flew past Ray Clemence in the dying seconds of this match, a fellow Burnley supporter who I didn't know turned round and embraced me. Then, like everyone else around us, we jumped up and down and shouted. This was an unreal game in an unreal season. The Clarets prepared for it by sacking Brian Miller on the morning of the match and replacing him with Frank Casper (known as 'Crap Frank' during the wilderness years in Division Four).

Unbeatable in the cup competitions, Burnley were showing the League form that became their trademark over the next five years and which nearly made then the most famous team in the Vauxhall Conference. That said, parting company with the manager less than 12 hours before the most important game of the season did seem a tad unconventional, bearing in mind a Miller-inspired team had already accounted for Middlesborough, Coventry and Birmingham in the Milk Cup (the six-foot high plastic pinta graced the centre circle at many a Clarets' match that season).

The Clarets were a mixture of experienced players, like Brian Flynn and Martin Dobson, blended with youngsters who went on to clubs with which they could fulfill their ambitions, Trevor Steven (Everton), Brian Laws (Nottingham Forest), Mike Phelan (Man Utd) and Lee Dixon (free transfer to Bury). On the night, they again put their disappointing League form behind them to record the most unlikely of results. Ossie Ardiles was playing, and must have based his unique defensive strategy of the nineties on the rock solid pairing of Graham Roberts and Gary O'Reilly.In the current climate, the two own-goals which Roberts crashed past Ray Clemence would have resulted in the Spurs' man being subjected to an FA match-rigging enquiry.

I travelled down with three friends, Spurs fans. They stood behind the goal which Spurs 'defended' in the second-half. Apparently it was so quiet that when Steve Taylor dummied to leave Billy Hamilton clear to score his first goal, he (Taylor) could be heard calling to the Irish World Cup hero "It's yours, it's yours," and indeed it was. No such tranquillity in the away end. I had never seen Burnley score four times in the same match before. I had never seen Burnley defeat a team from a higher division before (we have not repeated the latter achievement since, despite having ample opportunity whilst spending seven years in Division Four). The second-half, which contained all the goals, seemed to last about five minutes.

The Clarets left the field to the level of applause Tottenham supporters reserved for a clean sheet during Ardiles' period as manager. Spurs fans, who realised that Arsenal were also in the semi-finals, wished us luck in reaching the final. The Clarets in fact drew Liverpool and went out on aggregate despite a 1-0 victory at Turf Moor. Hard on the heels of this disappointment came an FA Cup replay defeat at Sheffield Wednesday, followed not long after by an exit from Division Two. Despite his Cup exploits, Frank couldn't keep his job and the board allowed John Bond to fulfill his promise to lead Burnley out of Division Three in two seasons.

Bizarrely, both Brian Miller and Frank Casper were re-employed as manager in subsequent seasons. This future turmoil was way beyond my imagination as I made my way through the streets of N17. Only when I asked someone for directions did I realise that an hour and a half of singing and chanting can make you sound like Barry White.

When I got back to the Spurs fan's Cortina I found his night had been made complete by a local resident informing him that he couldn't park in the place where he had left his car. Undeterred by having neither pen nor paper, this thoughtful person kindly inscribed the message on the bonnet with a key. It occurred to me that if we embraced each other, jumped up and down and shouted, that he might feel better, but then again...

Back to Index page	Forward to next article

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws