Here is another extract from the book. As a lot of the talk on here is about the cup final, I thought it might be nice to choose a piece from that section. Tommy is describing his goal.
“Tottenham had a very good team with some world-class players. The pick of them were the midfield pairing, Osvaldo Ardiles and Glenn Hoddle. Gerry Gow had been detailed to sit on Ardiles and we were supremely confident that, come 4.50pm, the cup would have blue ribbons on its handles. Both teams started the game well and made chances but we gradually got on top and started to dominate. It was only deserved when we took the lead in the 30th minute. The goal may have been expected; the scorer and the manner in which he scored were not!
The ball was worked out to the right and, when Kevin Reeves laid it back into the path of Ray Ranson, I knew a first-time cross was coming in. It’s ironic that in all those crossing and shooting sessions we had on the training pitch, I was one of the ones doing the crossing. Now, as Ranson shaped to cross the ball, I found myself on the edge of the box. As all good strikers are taught, I ran across my marker. Looking back, I saw the ball arcing its way to me.
As it arrived, I dived and flicked it with my head intending to send it on to one of our forwards behind me at the far post. Instead, I caught it wrong. As I hit the floor, to my delight, I saw the ball rocket past Milija Aleksic’s outstretched hand and into the top corner of the net. If you watch the replay of the goal, it looks like the ball went where I intended, but I am confessing now that this was not the case! Nevertheless, I was honoured to have scored in such a prestigious game. I found out later that it was the 150th goal to have been scored in a cup final.”
Excerpt From
Hutch, Hard Work and Belief
Tommy Hutchison and Kevin Shannon
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