| Match Report
: - Surprise
League Champions Ipswich Town, who took the title in their first season
after winning Division Two, faced FA cup winners Spurs at Portman Road
for the 1962 FA Charity Shield. Alf
Ramsey's side has adopted a style suited to their limited resources and
the all action, dynamic play provided their forwards with goal-scoring
opportunities through clever play by their half back line. It
almost paid off within three minutes against Tottenham, with Phillips
putting in a cross that Crawford missed, but it found Stephenson at the
far post and his cross-shot fizzed just past the post. Spurs were
deploying Danny Blanchflower and Dave Mackay to counteract the
effectiveness of Ipswich's wide midfielders and they were worked hard in
the early stages, with Mackay denying Stephenson with a lunging block
and Peter Baker having to hare back to dispossess Phillips.
Ramsey had done his homework too, forcing
play inside to stop the wingers Jones and Medwin getting around the
Ipswich full-backs. But they were unable to stop Spurs going into
the lead in the 37th minute. With Baker breaking forward from
defence, the Town game-plan went AWOL and his pass to Bobby Smith was
neatly turned on to Jimmy Greaves, who took the ball past Billy Baxter
at speed before slipping the ball past the keeper Roy Bailey.
Within five minutes, Tottenham had a two
goal gap thanks to Bobby Smith, who smashed a shot past the goalie after
taking Greaves' pass and dragging it back past Nelson before finishing
with power.
The score remained 2-0 until the end of
the first half and when the teams turned around, the home side played a
longer, wind-assisted game, getting the ball up to their strikers in the
quickest way possible. However, the rock that was Maurice Norman
ensured that the Ipswich surge ran aground and from the second ball,
Spurs began to put their own moves together, with many of them revolving
around midfield creator Blanchflower. The weak point in the
Ipswich side was Larry Carberry, whose late first half ankle injury was
strapped up and he came back on in the second half, although his
effectiveness was extremely limited. Carberry's direct opponent,
Cliff Jones utilised his pace to almost get on the end of some crosses
into the box, but Spurs were struggling to get their third goal.
Dave Mackay missed a great chance from close in after he had raced in on
goal, just after White had hit his shot straight at the keeper, with
only him to beat. Reliable Jimmy
Greaves was the one to put the game beyond Ipswich's reach in the 60th
minute. His run to meet John White's through pass was well-timed
and his control of the ball was immediate, allowing him to sweep the
ball first time past Bailey with his left foot. This allowed
Tottenham to take things a bit easier with the league programme ahead,
as well as a European Cup-Winners Cup campaign to be fought. Ray
Crawford forced a very good save from Bill Brown, as he took
Leadbetter's diagonal pass and belted it at the goal.
Perhaps annoyed by the upstarts' league
dominance last season, Spurs were intent on showing them who were the
better side on this occasion by passing the ball around and making the
Suffolk side chase after them. Chances were coming regularly and
the Tottenham strike force were being profligate with them. Smith
hit the upright from White's cross and Greaves did all the hard work by
taking the ball past four blue shirted players and the keeper before he
slipped over in front of goal. Jimmy also hit the woodwork denying
him his hat-trick. It was John
White, one of the smallest players on the pitch, who headed in
Tottenham's fourth from Medwin's cross, although three minutes later,
Roy Stephenson gained some consolation for the champions with a goal
scored with a fierce shot that beat Brown.
However, it was Spurs who had the final
word, with Greaves setting up Medwin for the fifth with just four
minutes to go, wrapping up the Charity Shield for Tottenham for the
second year running. |
