Sports
Four-Goal Bolton Hand Arsenal Cup-Week Shock
By Denis Lowe.
Bolton Wanderers …..4 Arsenal…..2
Lowly Bolton dealt a severe blow to F.A Cup semi-finalists Arsenals morale at waterlogged Burnden Park last night. Two goals from Alan Gowling and two penalties by Frank Worthington left Arsenal, for whom David Price and and substitute Mark Heeley scored, a well beaten side.
Bolton, moving confidently in the rain and mud, looked happier than Arsenal in the wretched conditions, and took the lead in the twelfth minute with an opportunist goal by Gowling.
Worthington, whose shrewd passes caused the Highbury defence a lot of trouble, crossed from the right after O’Leary had blocked Smith’s effort and Gowling rose above Nelson to head home at the far post.
Arsenal, without the injured Brady and Young, were watched by Richie Barker, assistant manager of Wolves, their F.A Cup opponents, and hit back with some lively work from Sunderland. price had a chance but drove wide.
Jennings, the busiest goalkeeper, was rescued by O’Leary, but Bolton maintained pressure in the increasingly heavy rain and their second goal arrived after 28 minutes. Gowling moved onto a headed pass from Worthington and beat the advancing Jennings with a left foot shot from 18 yards.
Arsenal woke up after this second blow and reduced the lead within 60 seconds. Talbot’s shot stuck in the goalmouth mud with McDonagh out of position and Price followed up to shoot into an empty net.
Jennings just beat Worthington to a poor back-pass from Rice as Bolton started the second half in search of more goals and Walford was booked for a foul on Worthington.
A disputed penalty which earned Sunderland a booking for dissent brought Bolton’s third goal After 68 minutes. Worthington’s shot squirmed out of Jennings grasp and over the line.
Seven minutes later Bolton got their second penalty when Morgan went down rather theatrically under a challenge from Rix. This time Worthington put more power behind his left-footed kick, and Jennings was well beaten.
Heeley, substituting for Talbot, whi had earlier had treatment for an injury, scored Arsenal’s second goal in the 77th minute when he headed in off the bar from a centre by Rix.
Teams
Bolton: McDonagh, Nicholson, Dunne, Greaves, Jones, Walsh, Morgan, Whatmore, Gowling, Worthington, Smith.
Arsenal: Jennings, Rice, Nelson, Talbot, O’Leary, Welford, Gatting, Sunderland, Stapleton, Price, Rix, Heeley.
Watson and Wadkins So Masterly
By Alex Lancaster in Jacksonville, Florida
Lanny Wadkins and Tom Watson bot feel that they are approaching their best form at just the right time for them to do well at the US Masters at Augusta stating April 12.
In some of the worst conditions in United States golf they dominated the Tournament Players Championship at Sawgrass. Wadkins finishing five shots ahead of Watson to take the £36,000 first prize.
Wadkins who has won £65,000 already this year said, “I’m taking each tournament as it comes, but it sure is a good start to the season to win two events” (the other being the Los Angeles Open).
Watson, of course, won the Green Jacket in 1977 and was joint runner-up to Gary Player last year. he was the only player to break par with his 71 on the final round at Sawgrass.
Jack Nicklaus, who has an unparalleled record in the Masters, he has won four times since 1963, showed fine composure after his final rounds of 82 and 78.
But he must be extremely worries about his form with Augusta so near. Like Severiano Ballesteros and Gary Player. Nicklaus is trying to find a state of mind rather than a golf game.
Smith Deal Called Off
by Colin Wood
“Stoke and Liverpool try to sort out League mystery over loan”
Tommy Smith will not join Stoke after all. The proposed month’s loan deal between Stoke City and Liverpool was called off in mysterious circumstances last night.
After speaking to Liverpool manager Bill Shankly from his private hospital ward last night, Stoke chief Tony Waddington said. “Having regard to all the circumstances the agreement between the two clubs has now been cancelled.” And he added: “We have decided to do this as it would not be fair to Liverpool. It was a tremendous gesture to agree in the first place to the loan.”
All day long the deal had been clouded in an atmosphere of confusion.
The tough Anfield defender signed on Tuesday to join injury-hit Stoke on a month’s loan. Yesterday afternoon Liverpool announced that the move was off because the Football League refused to accept a ‘quick release’ clause in the agreement.
Later, League secretary Alan Hardaker said in London: “The temporary transfer of Smith from Liverpool to Stoke has been completed.” And the man in the middle of it all, 28 year old Smith said: ”I am still in the dark. Of course I am still hopeful of joining Stoke and playing against Birmingham on Saturday. I shall be very disappointed if it doesn’t go through.”
The point on which the deal fell through was the question of a quick release so that Liverpool could recall the player if they so wished.
Shankly, when announcing that the deal had fallen through said: “The League wanted a provision that it would be a month before we could take our player back. We have three players injured at the moment so we could not do that.”
From League headquarters at St Annes there was a statement: “The position was that we received the transfer forms which stated a definite period of four weeks for the term of the loan with the proviso that Smith would return to Liverpool inside that period if they wanted him. The Management Committee decided they would not allow him to be loaned for a lesser period than the actual term stated.”
At Stoke, Waddington pointed to an instruction recently issued by the League to the effect that the Management Committee were aware of the practice of players returning to clubs within the period of the loan. It added that they did not prohibit this provided there was a special clause put in the agreement with the permission of the Management Committee.
And it said that in normal circumstances that permission would be granted.
Okker Wins as Disputed Calls Rattle Angry Reid
by Laurie Pignon
Ilie Nastase and Tom Okker, the two leaders in the £150,000 Commercial Union Grand Prix, and favourites for the £3,000 Dewar Cup first prize, both had straight set wins to reach the quarter finals at Nottingham University Sports Centre yesterday.
Losers are seldom happy but yesterdays were particularly disgruntled. Raz Reid, a 23 year old from South Carolina, said after he was beaten, 6-3, 6-4, by Okker.
I had to replay points which I thought I had already won. I am not inclined to jump on linesmen, the British are normally very good, but we are out there playing for money and Grand Prix points. I normally leave my tennis on the court when I come off, but not today.
The normally quiet American, who was a finalist at Billingham last week, was upset by disputed calls which occurred in both service break games.
Nastase can, as Californian Bob Kreiss discovered be very aggravating when he knows the opposition isn’t strong enough to pressurise him. His tennis is brilliant but he can’t resist the temptation to show off. After he was beaten 6-1, -6-1 Kreiss said: “Nasty was so frustrating to play against that in the end I didn’t even want to run.”
Late Blow Foils Scots
Brian Scott: Scotland 1, West Germany 1
Scotland last night gave the World Cup favourites as tough a trial as they were likely to experience before next summer’s finals
And in doing so they are added to the confidence they themselves will need in the event.
The game at Hampden was only a friendly to mark the country centenary yet the atmosphere was reminiscent of that during the historic match with Czechoslovakia and how the players responded.
Admirably led by the aggressive Bremner they played with passion and skill in good measure, never ceasing to enjoy the occasion.
The Scots got a magnificent start scoring after only six minutes.
It came from a corner by Morgan. Law got his head to the ball but his effort was blocked by Dalglish on the line, but it bounced to Holton who headed it beyond Kleff.
Wimmer sent over a low cross which caught Bremner unawares, but Hoeness was unable to control it.
But nothing could dampen the Scots mood. Their attacks continued to produce chances and excitement.
Twice, Hutchinson tested Kleff with shots, then Dalglish tried a volley which was well timed if not so well aimed.
In 35 mins Law nearly put Scotland further ahead. He rose to a Jardine cross and his header flicked the top of the bar and sailed over.
Smith quietly played his way through a nervy period. As he settled he showed some of the talented patches for which he is known.
He opened the Germans with long passes and bemused them with the short ones.
Law was in similar form, and once he flashed over a cross which Dalglish headed narrowly past. The Manchester city maestro lost a boot, but played on regardless.
In the 78th minute Bremner missed a penalty, and Germany equalised through Hoeness in the 84th.
Clough Gets the All-Clear
by Brian Scovell
“This is a triumph for commonsense…and the game will need commonsense in the few dark, dirty months ahead”
Brian Clough won his case before an FA court yesterday. He was cleared of bringing the game into disrepute for criticising the FA’s suspended fine of £3.000 on Leeds United.
As he gave a Press conference only six feet from where League president Len Shipman, secretary Alan Hardaker, and former FA secretary Denis Follows were holding a meeting. Clough said “This is a triumph for common sense… and the game will need commonsense in the few dark, dirty months ahead.”
The charge arose from an article Clough wrote in a Sunday newspaper in which he said the men who ran football had befuddled minds and were guilty of ‘woolly thinking .‘
An FA councillor took exception to his views and the Disciplinary Committee asked him to appear to answer a charge of bringing the game into disrepute.
“’I didn’t bring the game into disrepute at all. We had a great exchange of views with the five honest men who were in there” Clough said after the hearing.
“It was a superb discussion. I listened to them and they listened to me. If we had had that kind of talk in the last six months at Derby Peter Taylor and I would still be there.”
“’It was a triumph for free speech in the game. I was not surprised at the result of the case. It was an important principle with me and I wouldn’t back down. There have been things that have brought the name into disrepute but what I said on that occasion was not one of them.’ I shall carry on as I have always done saying what I think. Managers, chairmen and other people in the game should be allowed to have their say.”
Clough said that during the 70-minute hearing, he was congratulated for having such a fine disciplinary record in his nine years of management. Undoubtedly that weighs more with the commission than any reservations they may have had about his big mouth.
Yesterday’s verdict is one of the most progressive decisions ever taken by the FA. It means they are at last willing to accept that people in the game should be able to express honestly held opinions and not be punished for them.
For too long: English football has stifled outspoken opinions and anyone who steps outside the narrow confines is looked on the way Russians view dissidents.
Referees, for example, are supposed to be seen but not heard and their views are rarely expressed. Clough’s acquittal yesterday should lead to more honesty and straight talking. As he said recently, “Of course I am a man who holds opinions and uses his platforms to express them. I may not be right every time but I have stimulated the thinking of people in this country. If I take stick constantly, then let me shovel a bit out too. I want to blow this ‘disrepute’ business sky high.”
He did just that at Lancaster Gate yesterday after noon.
Agony for England
by Jeff Powell: England 0, Italy 1
After that Polish nightmare, Ramsay’s men are destroyed by the cunning skill of Italy
Sir Alf Ramsey’s England woke from their Polish nightmare last night only to find themselves being suffocated by the blanket of Italy’s infamous defence
Not even the injection of Peter Osgood’s Wembley crowd boosting skills could overcome England’s now traditional inability to break down the claustrophobia marking systems they encounter almost everywhere in the world
After a few frantic early moments in the Italian penalty area Ramsay was once again reaping the bitter harvest of this failure to encourage the development of winners in English football
As the game wore on it became increasingly clear that even had England qualified for the finals next summer they would have found recapturing the World Cup and a near impossibility without men to create width to their attack playing an international match which was anything but a friendly was a perfect world class test for what probably was the best team Ramsay could have selected on the night.
The young contenders for places had proved in an under 23 international the night before only that they would have been easy meat for a team as cynical and cunning as Italy
The crowd of 88,000 were for the first half at least left clutching the hopes at the half chances England let slip.
Often the Italians explored their full repertoire of minor infringements to protect the recently unbeatable Dino Zoff in their goal.
But mostly Osgood, Channon and Clark could not shake off the cloying attentions of their personal shadows.
Channon was pulled back by the shirt by Fachetti as his shot registered England’s first minute first attack.
And for all their breathless activity England were to be a long time to create a chance as good as the one Rivera presented Chinaglia on the quarter hour. Then Shilton was required to save the Lazio’s centre forward’s shot at the foot of the post.
Zoff surpassed Shilton’s feet with a leap to touch round Curries unhampered drive moments later.
But the frustration England were enduring as they tried to play their way out of what seemed like a crowded telephone kiosk on the edge of the Italian penalty area, was demonstrated by Osgood’s lunch at Bellugi.
England finished the first half with Bell and then Currie hitting cross shots which somehow skidded past the far post. And they resumed their thankless offensive with Channon lunging in to turn Curries low cross just wide.
England were then in fearful danger of conceding the lead to a breakaway, just as they had against Poland. Riva stretched Shilton to the limit with a clubbing left foot drive which England’s goalkeeper just edged out for a corner.
The Italian fans, who had reciprocated in the unseemly booing of national anthems at the start, then had more reason to jeer as McFarland wrestled Riva to the ground in the manner of Jackie Pallo to prevent another menacing breakaway.
England were again being afforded magnificent encouragement by the Wembley crowd and Ramsey gave them more to shout about when he shook off his inflexibility in the use of substitutes and sent on Hector in place of Clark for the last 20 minutes.
Hector’s substitution was made while Currie was waiting to take a corner conceded by Zoff’s fingertips from a shot by Hughes.
When the flag kick came Hughes was again on hand for a shot this time literally inches wide.
Rofe: No to £80,000
By Norman Giller
Dave Sexton yesterday dangled an £80,000 bait for Orient full-back Dennis Rofe but failed to hook his man. The cash tempted hard up Orient but they rate 20-year-old Rofe in the £100,000 class.
George Petchey, Orient manager, confirmed last night “Chelsea’s Dave Sexton has made a very firm offer for Rofe, but it did not meet our high but realistic valuation of the player. I have been enormously impressed with Rofe and in our last few games he has been in great form. The boy has tremendous potential. I rate him as future international material and consider him a fine prospect for the 1974 World Cup.”
Orient don’t want to lose Rofe but I think they will have to give in and let him go if Sexton comes back with an increased offer. Rofe has for a long time been under the microscope of West Ham who meet Chelsea at Upton Park this afternoon. He’s also on the wanted list of three clubs in the Midlands.
Injury hit Chelsea will be without goalkeeper Peter Bonetti, who is suffering from the after-effects of concussion. John Phillips takes his place. West Ham are unchanged for the fifth successive game. Manchester United will almost certainly have Denis Law back in the attack against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park. Palace manager Bert Head makes a late selection. He awaits fitness tests of forwards Gerry Queen, Tony Taylor and Alan Birchinall.
Teenager Ross Jenkins stands by to make his debut in the Palace attack Queen fails his test.
Rindt Title Decision
Milan-Wednesday -The 1970 world championship title for Formula one car drivers will be ruled vacant if no one surpasses the 45 points gathered by the late Jochen Rindt.
The international auto sports commission meeting in Milan after the Italian Grand Prix at nearby Monza where Rindt died in time trials last Saturday said, if Rindt remains the point leader he will be the unofficial champion but no official post humous title would be conferred.
