Classic Arsenal Matches - Part 2 - Arsenal 2 Aston Villa 0 - 12/03/1983
WE'RE GOING TO WEMBLEY
BY THE spring of 1983 the FA Cup, which they had last won in 1979, had taken on massive importance to Arsenal. With the league campaign stumbling towards mid-table mediocrity; they finished 10th, and having suffered the heartbreak of a League Cup semi final defeat to Manchester United in February, this was all they had left to play for.
As is often the case, the FA Cup can present an under-performing club with the chance to salvage something from a difficult and inconsistent season. Arsenal manager Terry Neill had been desperately trying to rebuild his side and the summer signings of strikers Tony Woodcock and Lee Chapman, for a combined fee of £1 million, were meant to solve the goal shortage which had been a problem since the departure of Frank Stapleton in 1981.
While Woodcock had indeed been a success, scoring 14 times ahead of this tie and looking very much like the England international player he was, Chapman had flopped badly. A goal drought and a lack of confidence had long since seen the former Stoke City man left out of the side, replaced by the veteran Alan Sunderland, who was enjoying a fine swansong to his Arsenal career.
The run to this quarter final had been far from straight forward. After seeing off Division Two side Bolton Wanderers 2-1 at Highbury in Round Three, Arsenal needed three matches get past another Second Division opponent, Leeds United. Indeed in the first replay at Elland Road it was only a 120th minute goal from Graham Rix that had kept them in it, before Woodcock won it back at Highbury.
Another replay was needed in Round Five, again against a side from the division below, Middlesbrough; Rix again scoring a vital goal, to set up this quarter final meeting with the reigning European Champions, Aston Villa.
Villa, now under the stewardship of Tony Barton following the shock departure of title winning manager Ron Saunders, still had several of the players who had clinched the league title here at Highbury two years earlier. Club captain Des Mortimer, Des Bremner, Gordon Cowans, Gary Shaw, Tony Morley and Peter Withe were all in the starting line up for this cup tie so Villa began as slight favourites.
Arsenal came into the match without their captain, David O'Leary, through injury which meant a very youthful centre back pairing of 21 year old Chris Whyte and 19 year old Stewart Robson. Meanwhile in midfield the Yugoslav, Vladimir Petrovic, replaced Brian Talbot.
Petrovic had originally looked set to join the club immediately after the previous summer's World Cup, but due to work permit issues he did not arrive in England until January.
A small, willowy player, Petrovic possessed close control and skill not yet abundant in the English game, but he struggled to adapt to the physicality.
Showing glimpses of his talent, a wonderful free kick against Stoke City for example, led to him to become an instant favourite of the North Bank but he was unable to hold down a regular place in the side.
Therefore it was a surprise to see him selected for the hustle and bustle of an English cup tie ahead of the workmanlike and far more consistent talents of Talbot.
But it was a gamble that paid off.
Villa started the match on the front foot with Shaw and Withe both going close to giving them the lead, but Arsenal soon began to get on top.
Playing some great football sadly absent from much of the league campaign, the chances began to flow. Woodcock saw a volley saved by goalkeeper Nigel Spink before Paul Davis, another young player from the Academy making his mark, twice went close; first firing over from 20 yards before placing a header narrowly past Spink's left hand post.
But Arsenal were rewarded for their pressure in the 32nd minute. Villa failed to clear a Rix free kick and Kenny Sansom's cross from the left was drilled into the roof of the net from 6 yards by the late arriving Woodock, his 15th goal of the season.
Highbury erupted with chants of 'We're going to Wembley', and that dream looked to be even closer within two minutes.
A lovely Arsenal move saw stand-in skipper John Hollins lay the ball into the path of Petrovic, thanks to a clever dummy from Sunderland, and the little Yugoslav drilled a shot across the body of Spink and into the far corner of the net. 2-0. Cue unbridled joy on the Clock End.
Villa huffed and puffed after that in a vain attempt to get back into the match but they already looked a beaten side. The nearest they came to a consolation was in the final five minutes when a Withe header came back off the crossbar and substitute Mark Walters' follow up was cleared off the line by Sansom.
Indeed the margin of victory should already have been greater. First Rix headed wide before Sansom, on a typical foray forward, beat Spink with a right footed drive that flew just the wrong side of the post.
The final whistle was greeted with wild celebrations from the majority of the 41,000 Highbury crowd, although the Wembley chants proved to be a little premature.
Just as in the League Cup it was Manchester United who stood in their way and once again they proved too strong, winning the semi final 2-1 at Villa Park to leave Arsenal once again empty-handed.
For me this was only my second season coming to Highbury and my first as a terrace season ticket holder. This was also the last time I stood as a regular on the North Bank as the following week, for the visit of Luton Town, I switched the Clock End for the first time, perhaps due to both goals here being scored at that end.
We won that game 4-1 with my favourite player, Tony Woodcock, scoring a hat-trick, so I ended up staying there, bar the odd game, until the club moved away from Highbury in 2006.
This game stood out for me for the atmosphere. I had never experienced anything like it before. The North Bank was rocking, the goals celebrated as though we'd actually won the trophy. It was rare in those days and not something we would experience with any regularity for at least another five years.
Petrovic also left a mark. He was a unique player at the time. Long before foreign players became the norm, Vlad stuck out as something special. He was not really interested in tackling and looked upon opposition players with disdain if they ever dared to tackle him, but what a talent he was.
He only scored three goals in his short time in England but each one was memorable. The free kick against Stoke, this wonderful finish against Villa, and another superb effort away at West Ham United in May.
He was years ahead of his time. Had he joined in the late 1990s he could have gone on to have a similar impact to that of Dennis Bergkamp. Yes he really was that good. But his stay was all too brief and we are only left with very few fleeting memories; this game perhaps being the highlight.
Coming up next time I look back at the life an career of a player who had his own special FA Cup memory; Alan Sunderland. Watch out for that coming soon.
BY THE spring of 1983 the FA Cup, which they had last won in 1979, had taken on massive importance to Arsenal. With the league campaign stumbling towards mid-table mediocrity; they finished 10th, and having suffered the heartbreak of a League Cup semi final defeat to Manchester United in February, this was all they had left to play for.
As is often the case, the FA Cup can present an under-performing club with the chance to salvage something from a difficult and inconsistent season. Arsenal manager Terry Neill had been desperately trying to rebuild his side and the summer signings of strikers Tony Woodcock and Lee Chapman, for a combined fee of £1 million, were meant to solve the goal shortage which had been a problem since the departure of Frank Stapleton in 1981.
The run to this quarter final had been far from straight forward. After seeing off Division Two side Bolton Wanderers 2-1 at Highbury in Round Three, Arsenal needed three matches get past another Second Division opponent, Leeds United. Indeed in the first replay at Elland Road it was only a 120th minute goal from Graham Rix that had kept them in it, before Woodcock won it back at Highbury.
Another replay was needed in Round Five, again against a side from the division below, Middlesbrough; Rix again scoring a vital goal, to set up this quarter final meeting with the reigning European Champions, Aston Villa.
Villa, now under the stewardship of Tony Barton following the shock departure of title winning manager Ron Saunders, still had several of the players who had clinched the league title here at Highbury two years earlier. Club captain Des Mortimer, Des Bremner, Gordon Cowans, Gary Shaw, Tony Morley and Peter Withe were all in the starting line up for this cup tie so Villa began as slight favourites.
Arsenal came into the match without their captain, David O'Leary, through injury which meant a very youthful centre back pairing of 21 year old Chris Whyte and 19 year old Stewart Robson. Meanwhile in midfield the Yugoslav, Vladimir Petrovic, replaced Brian Talbot.
Petrovic had originally looked set to join the club immediately after the previous summer's World Cup, but due to work permit issues he did not arrive in England until January.
A small, willowy player, Petrovic possessed close control and skill not yet abundant in the English game, but he struggled to adapt to the physicality.
Therefore it was a surprise to see him selected for the hustle and bustle of an English cup tie ahead of the workmanlike and far more consistent talents of Talbot.
But it was a gamble that paid off.
Villa started the match on the front foot with Shaw and Withe both going close to giving them the lead, but Arsenal soon began to get on top.
Playing some great football sadly absent from much of the league campaign, the chances began to flow. Woodcock saw a volley saved by goalkeeper Nigel Spink before Paul Davis, another young player from the Academy making his mark, twice went close; first firing over from 20 yards before placing a header narrowly past Spink's left hand post.
But Arsenal were rewarded for their pressure in the 32nd minute. Villa failed to clear a Rix free kick and Kenny Sansom's cross from the left was drilled into the roof of the net from 6 yards by the late arriving Woodock, his 15th goal of the season.
Highbury erupted with chants of 'We're going to Wembley', and that dream looked to be even closer within two minutes.
A lovely Arsenal move saw stand-in skipper John Hollins lay the ball into the path of Petrovic, thanks to a clever dummy from Sunderland, and the little Yugoslav drilled a shot across the body of Spink and into the far corner of the net. 2-0. Cue unbridled joy on the Clock End.
Indeed the margin of victory should already have been greater. First Rix headed wide before Sansom, on a typical foray forward, beat Spink with a right footed drive that flew just the wrong side of the post.
The final whistle was greeted with wild celebrations from the majority of the 41,000 Highbury crowd, although the Wembley chants proved to be a little premature.
Just as in the League Cup it was Manchester United who stood in their way and once again they proved too strong, winning the semi final 2-1 at Villa Park to leave Arsenal once again empty-handed.
For me this was only my second season coming to Highbury and my first as a terrace season ticket holder. This was also the last time I stood as a regular on the North Bank as the following week, for the visit of Luton Town, I switched the Clock End for the first time, perhaps due to both goals here being scored at that end.
We won that game 4-1 with my favourite player, Tony Woodcock, scoring a hat-trick, so I ended up staying there, bar the odd game, until the club moved away from Highbury in 2006.
This game stood out for me for the atmosphere. I had never experienced anything like it before. The North Bank was rocking, the goals celebrated as though we'd actually won the trophy. It was rare in those days and not something we would experience with any regularity for at least another five years.
Petrovic also left a mark. He was a unique player at the time. Long before foreign players became the norm, Vlad stuck out as something special. He was not really interested in tackling and looked upon opposition players with disdain if they ever dared to tackle him, but what a talent he was.
He only scored three goals in his short time in England but each one was memorable. The free kick against Stoke, this wonderful finish against Villa, and another superb effort away at West Ham United in May.
He was years ahead of his time. Had he joined in the late 1990s he could have gone on to have a similar impact to that of Dennis Bergkamp. Yes he really was that good. But his stay was all too brief and we are only left with very few fleeting memories; this game perhaps being the highlight.
Coming up next time I look back at the life an career of a player who had his own special FA Cup memory; Alan Sunderland. Watch out for that coming soon.
Comments
Post a Comment