From a faraway sun drenched land I listened to a radio commentary. The commentator described how Mercer’s men purred along like one of those olden day Rolls Royces that never went wrong. He said they would be promoted and then I realized that my boyhood dream was coming alive. I knew that I had to be there ………….
……..In amongst a sea of faces on the vast bank of the Kippax stand, the snow on the field glistened as it reflected the pale sunlight that seeped through a slate gray sky and the snow continued to fall. The only blue sky to be seen was in the colour of the shirts as Allison’s men passed a ball around with slide-rule precision while the men in white stumbled and floundered helplessly.
The outstanding feature of this game was the combination between Mike Summerbee and Neil Young. Their interplay resulted in: first, a rasping shot by Young on the volley from a long cross by Summerbee which the goalkeeper saved, then another powerful effort by Young which hit the crossbar and finally, at last, Summerbee scoring from Young’s diagonal left wing cross for City’s second goal.
Before that, Jimmy Greaves opened the scoring for Spurs when he drifted to the right as a free kick was being taken and latched on to the ball after it deflected off the wall. City equalized through Colin Bell after the ball had ricocheted off several legs in the penalty area as Spurs failed to clear. Half time 1-1.
Then came Summerbee’s piece of controlled inspiration, 2-1. Tony Coleman scored the third goal when the ball rebounded off the post after interplay between Summerbee and Lee. Finally, after a sweeping move by City, the goalkeeper failed to hold on to the ball amidst a goal mouth scramble and Young tapped the ball in.
Final score 4-1, and a memorable game of football was over.

Philip van Gass
Cape Town
South Africa