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Holders Defeated in Front of Record Crowd
Written by clivebleedingthomas on Monday, 20th Apr 2020 09:00

Turnstiles were closed 30 minutes before kick-off as a new ground record was set with 34,709 witnessing a magnificent fourth round FA Cup tie between the Town and cup holders Liverpool.

Ipswich Town 1 Liverpool 0 FA Cup Fourth Round Saturday 25th January 1975

Town started the match on the attack and were denied a penalty after three minutes. David Johnson made a break beating Alec Lindsay, only to be felled in the area by Ian Callaghan, but referee Pat Partridge ignored Town pleas.

A cracking atmosphere was being generated by the record crowd that included 3,000 visiting fans penned into one end of the North Stand terrace. The incessant rain did nothing to spoil the occasion.

Kevin Beattie headed an Emlyn Hughes freekick away and George Burley was in the right place to clear the second ball before Kevin Keegan could get to it.

Soon afterwards Keegan was again causing work for the Town defence when he latched onto a through ball with defenders appealing for offside. Fortunately for Town Colin Viljoen played to the whistle and tackled Keegan before he had a chance to shoot.

Keegan was a continual threat to Allan Hunter, who resorted to fouling him on a number of occasions. One subsequent freekick, taken by Phil Neal, was headed on by Keegan but Laurie Sivell was positioned to save.

An amazing piece of good fortune for Town stopped Liverpool scoring in the 16th minute. Veteran Callaghan chipped a ball forward for John Toshack who lobbed the ball over Sivell and on to the underside of the bar.

Then Brian Hall and Phil Neal combined to set up Keegan who flashed his shot narrowly wide of an upright. Town countered with Viljoen playing a glorious diagonal pass to Brian Talbot whose cross went behind the in-rushing Trevor Whymark.

It was a tight contest with Liverpool having a slight edge and after half an hour Ray Clemence had not had a direct shot to deal with.

However, in the 31st minute Viljoen created space for Mick Lambert whose cross was met with a diving header from David Johnson. Clemence did not know much about it as the ball bounced off his body to safety.

Town trainer, Cyril Lea, was being kept busy; first attending to Johnson after his brave diving header and then being called on to treat Talbot after he was fouled by Peter Cormack. His head injury was further aggravated three minutes later when he collided with Toshack and had to leave the field for treatment.

With Talbot back on the pitch there was an amazing melee in the visitors’ goalmouth following a shot by Hunter. Clemence emerged with the ball gathered against his chest, calming down his defence.

The final action of the first half involved another Town penalty appeal falling on deaf ears when Hughes clattered Trevor Whymark in the box.

Clive Woods appeared as a second half substitute for Brian Talbot who was suffering from concussion. Sivell was soon in action as he scampered off his line to beat Keegan to a through ball played by Neal.

The wet conditions were adding to an exciting, all-action encounter. Sivell was applauded when he made a full-length dive to catch a corner from Keegan.

Town started to dominate and Clemence made an outstanding save from Johnson. This was followed by Lambert dribbling round Callaghan and crossing to Whymark whose header beat Clemence only for Hughes to clear the ball away off the goal-line.

A spectacular overhead kick from ex-Evertonian Johnson was tipped over the bar by Clemence. Lambert’s crosses were becoming a major part of Town’s attacking strategy with Johnson and Whymark being his targets.

Nevertheless, there was still danger at the other end. Beattie timing a tackle perfectly to dispossess the impressive Keegan. A shot from Woods had Clemence scrambling across his goal as the ball narrowly missed an upright.

In the 71st minute Liverpool were saved again with Neal this time making a desperate goal-line clearance. Lindsay was the next defender to make a vital block, this time from Viljoen.

With four minutes left the Town were rewarded. Beattie crossed, Burley nodded the ball down and with Thompson failing to clear, Mick Mills muscled his way through to prod the ball over the line. There was more tension to follow when Sivell saved a Lindsay freekick in the 90th minute but the Blues weren't to be denied a place in round five.

Teams: Sivell, Burley, Mills, Talbot, Hunter, Beattie, Collard, Viljoen, Johnson, Whymark, Lambert. Sub: Woods.

Liverpool: Clemence, Neal, Lindsay, Thompson, Cormack, Hughes, Keegan, Hall, Heighway, Toshack, Callaghan. Sub: Boersma.

Two interesting footnotes to this match: on the same day Leeds United, Town’s opponents in their sixth round saga of four matches, were held to a goalless draw at Elland Road by then non-league Wimbledon.

Also on the same afternoon Town reserves were losing 2-1 at Luton. In the Town team were Paul Cooper, John Wark and Eric Gates. The sub was David Geddis.




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ElephantintheRoom added 09:09 - Apr 20
Two other interesting footnootes... that record crowd was promptly beaten in the next round for the visit of non-league Wimbledon's conquerors. And the other is just how good this relatively unsung team was... good enough to beat the champions and cup holders inside a month in the most exciting cup run ever - shortly after beating real madrid, lazio etc. If nly Robson had noticed the diminutive achilles heel in goal who knows what might have been achieved.
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ChrisFelix added 12:09 - Apr 20
This was the season we realised that Robsons Ipswich had arrived (in the big league). The first of 3 times when we should have won the league. One of 2 when we could easily done the double. But the sucess of the team caught up with the team after 6 games against Leeds & West Ham.
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KBsSocks added 17:40 - Apr 25
I remember that toe poke - it took an eternity to trickle across the line !

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budgieplucker added 09:06 - Apr 26
And they somehow squeezed in nearly another 3,500 for the Leeds fixture. I was so tightly squeezed in that day, and being fairly short I don’t believe I saw to much of the action!!!
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Che added 17:46 - Oct 18
I used to smoke back in those days, it was so packed in the North I couldn't get to my fags. A turnstile broke as well. We took it in our stride but post Hillsborough it was really dangerous and would not happen now. They were great days to be a town fan.
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