Saturday 11 April 1970- FA Cup Final – Leeds Dominate, Beat Palace 2-0 – Photo Special

 

FA Cup Final

Leeds United     2

Crystal Palace   0

On a splendid April afternoon football was king. And it was Leeds, beaten League Cup finalists and with an upcoming tough European test, who showed their complete strength, power and skill to dominate the match and beat Crystal Palace 2-0.

But first the opening ceremony.

The match began with Leeds dominating. And that continued throughout the game. Crystal Palace was outplayed.

While Leeds hit the posts twice and the bar once in the first half, the second half proved them to be more clinical.

Giles storming forward, Palace in a state of alarm trying to half Leeds once again.

Giles to Bremner

Bremner sends it back to Giles and the Palace defence seems broken.

Giles duly opens the score for Leeds United.

Lorimer heading forward, trying to make sure of the game.

The Palace defence try and stifle Lorimer.

Lorimer finds Gray wide outside the penalty box.

Gray, with an audacious chip makes it 2-0 and Leeds are FA Cup Winners.

Leeds United, truly deserving winners, celebrate their victory.

What Really Happened – FA Cup Final Preview – Saturday 11 April

 

 

Saturday 14 March 1970- Leeds and Crystal Palace Make FA Cup Final

 

FA Cup Semi – Final

Manchester United      1

Leeds United                2

There was the sweet smell of revenge at the end of the tie and Leeds delivered the stroke of revenge on Manchester United and they walked away from the game having booked their place in next month’s FA Cup final.

Leeds learnt from their League Cup loss last week, and from the first whistle chocked any creative ambitions Manchester United attempted, with a mixture pressure, dynamism and, at times, brutality. Best was nowhere to be seen in the Leeds defence as they cajoled and stopped him whenever he got close to the football.

Meanwhile Leeds were slowly using their advantage to form their chances at goal until eventually with a couple of minutes to go before half time, Giles opened the scoring with some cool finishing.

Ten minutes into the second half, Leeds made it 2-0 with a Bremner screamer.

It looked like Manchester United were out for the count. But a little Best magic with a quarter of an hour to go, gave his team some hope. But Leeds’ power and their willingness to use it stomped any Manchester come back and they enjoyed some sweet revenge and a trip to Wembley awaits.

Bremner looking for a gap in the Manchester defence.

Bremner sees Giles.

Giles lays it off to Jones and heads for the penalty box.

With a slight flick Jones has opened the Man U defence and Giles has only the keeper to beat.

Giles has given Leeds the lead and they head into the half time break with the advantage.

A rare special moment for Man Utd. Charlton passes the ball to Best

Best holds on to the ball as Charlton continues his run.

Best uses Charlton as a decoy and turns the other way and into space.

Best has created a good chance for himself.

Best scores and makes it 2-1. It seems there’s still hope for Utd, only for Leeds to squeeze them out of the game until the final whistle.

FA Cup Semi Final

Watford                   0

Crystal Palace       3

It was a great achievement for Watford to make it the FA Cup semi finals. However they met a Crystal Palace who have a good season in the First Division and will be there next season, but also determined to achieve something more and no team was getting in their way. And unfortunately for Watford they couldn’t put a stop to the rampaging Palace team and when the third goal went in half way through the second half, the game was won and Palace, settled to slower pace to keep their victory. Their hard work and hard running has rewarded them with a Cup Final against a giant of a team in the form of Leeds.

Queen heading forward.

Queen with a wide pass finds Hoy.

Hoy over the way back to Queen.

Queen slots it past the Watford keeper and Palace are away.

Taylor heading forward.

Scott receives the ball from Taylor.

Scott finds Queen just outside the box.

Scott receives the ball back and looks to shoot.

Scott lobs the keeper to make it 2-0. Watford have no response and Palace are heading to Wembley.

 

 

What Really Happened- Saturday 21 February 1970

Derby 2  Arsenal  2 – Paul Fitzpatrick – The Guardian 23/2/70 p.16

Arsenal have possible come to the conclusion that there is no future in defensive football. At the Baseball Ground on Saturday the quality of their play must have surprised and delighted a lot of people, but they were not quite good enough to defeat a Derby County side looking much more like themselves.

Wolves  1 Manchester City 3 – Cyril Chapman – The Guardian 23/2/70 p.16

A close look at the two League Cup finalists on successive days did not yield conclusive evidence about their chances at Wembley.

Manchester City were unimpressive for long periods on Saturday when their first league win in 10 matches was largely due to the shortcomings of Wolverhampton Wanderers.

If there was nothing conclusive, there remained some significant impressions which added up in total to an opinion that City are the more likely to emerge victorious on final day.

At the moment there is an irritating complexity in their midfield work, leaving opponents ample time to scuttle back to defensive positions. On the other hand, the Manchester style is well established. It has been a little rusty of late, but in the second half…the forward moves had much of the old flair.

Everton  0  Coventry   0 – The Guardian 23/2/70 p.16

For the first time since November Everton had their midfield trio of Ball, Harvey and Kendall together again at Goodison Park. Ball, returning from his suspension during which Harvey had made his comeback after eye trouble. Their industry was there for all to see, but it failed to chiop a goal from Coventry City’s rock like defence and a 0-0 draw was fairer reward for Coventry than judgement on Everton.

Saturday 21 February – FA Cup Sixth Round

FA Cup Sixth Round

Watford – Leicester  1-0

Middlesbrough – Manchester United 0-2

Swindon  – Leeds Utd  0-4

QPR –  Crystal Palace  0-2

 

Watford’s FA Cup dream continues beating Leicester and reaching the semi finals. They will face Crystal Palace who had a strong win at London rivals QPR.  The other semi final will be a replay of next month’s League Cup final between Leeds and Manchester United.

Saturday 7 February 1970 – FA Cup Fifth Round

FA Cup Fifth Round

Carlisle – Middlesbrough  1-2

Crystal Palace – Chelsea 2-1

Leeds – Mansfield  2-1

Liverpool – Leicester  1-3

Northampton – Manchester United  1-2

QPR – Derby County  1-0

Swindon –  Scunthorpe  3-1

Watford – Gillingham  2-1

 

Leeds   2  (Clarke 44, Giles 90 pen)

Mansfield 1 (Robert 83)

One is always reminded of the magic of the FA Cup, the quest of the smaller teams to play above themselves and heroically beat a powerhouse team. With Leeds this rarely happens, and Mansfield’s hopes were crushed with a Giles penalty in the last breath of the game.

Leeds played well beneath themselves and only gave Mansfield a small sniff of a chance in the first half. Indeed so well marshaled were Leeds that they even stifled their own attacking endeavors until the end of the first half when Clarke instinctively latched onto a Bremner long through ball and made sure Leeds were in front at half time.

Mansfield came out more determined to at least make Leeds realise they were playing a team of determined and passionate footballers and Sprake had to produce something special to parry away Mansfield’s Robert’s attempt in the first minute of the second half. And on it went, Mansfield flying forward with the sole intention of scoring, Leeds, organised and resolute, pushing them back until the next wave appeared on the horizon.

With seven minutes to go Roberts broke through and this time Sprake or the post couldn’t help Leeds. Mansfield equalised and it seemed Mansfield had earned a reply against the mighty Leeds.

Roberts gallops towards the Leeds defence, as a long ball approaches.

Roberts, controls the ball…

Roberts shoots, but Sprake gets his hands on the ball.

Sprake can’t hold on to the ball, but the post might save him.

The ball hits the post and rolls into the net. Mansfield equalise.

As Mansfield was heading for a deserving replay, Leeds were awarded a somewhat dubious penalty. This is the reality of any competition, the magic rarely surfaces. Up stepped Giles and Leeds are in the sixth round of the FA Cup and for Mansfield, there’s nothing.

Giles about to break Mansfield hearts.

It proved the same for Northampton facing the might of Manchester United at home. The home side started badly by giving away a silly penalty. Northampton fought back and equalised half way through the first half. The game then wasted away as both sides became more and more wary of conceding a second goal.

But there’s one thing that Northampton don’t have, and that’s a George Best. With a minute to go before full time, Best stepped up and with a mesmerising run won the tie for United.

With a couple of minutes left Best has the ball and sprinting forward.

 

A Best shimmie and he passes one defender.

A turn to the right and Best go past another.

No one can stop Best as Northampton begin to panic.

Best is through the defence and has only the keeper to beat.

George Best has put United into the next round of the FA Cup.