| The New Year began on a
sad note for Tottenham with the news in the programme for
the Watford home game on Monday 2nd January that reserve
team defender Peter Southey had died following a long
battle against illness. Southey had made his only first
team appearance for the club, whilst still an apprentice,
in the Division One game against Brighton at White Hart
Lane in September 1979. Promoted from the reserves and
making his debut for Spurs against Watford on a very wet
and windy afternoon was Allan Cockram, who later said,
"I really wanted to play in that game because of
team mate Peter Southey passing away. I knew there would
be a minute's silence in his memory before the game and I
wanted to be out there in honour of him. I was playing
for Peter as much as myself." The silence was well
observed by both sets of supporters. On such occasions,
the result of a mere football match becomes somewhat
insignificant. For the record, Spurs lost 3-2 that
afternoon, having struggled to cope with the playing
conditions and Watford's long-ball game.
The first Saturday of the New Year
was FA Cup Third Round day, with Spurs travelling to
Craven Cottage to take on Malcolm Macdonald's Second
Division Fulham. Having started the match with an
unfamiliar looking back four, which included Mark Bowen
and Gary O'Reilly, both making rare first team
appearances, our defence then lost Graham Roberts with
half an hour to go as he took over in goal from the
injured Ray Clemence. Our England international
goalkeeper had suffered a shoulder injury early on but
had battled on well into the second half before being
unable to continue. A fine performance between the sticks
by Roberts helped keep Spurs in the competition as the
game ended 0-0. In those days replays were usually
scheduled for the week following the first game, not
10-11 days after as is the norm nowadays, so four days
later Fulham travelled to White Hart Lane. Despite his
heroics between the sticks in the first game, Roberts was
no doubt pleased to be back in his usual defensive role.
Tony Parks took over in goal, making his first appearance
of the season and he kept a clean sheet as we won 2-0,
Roberts again making himself unpopular with Fulham by
scoring. Steve Archibald got the other goal as Spurs
ended a run of seven games without a victory.
Roberts was again on the
score-sheet three days later, together with Mark Falco, as
we returned to league action with a 2-0 home win over
Ipswich Town at The Lane. Hopes of a third successive
victory were dashed the following week at struggling
Everton, where Spurs succumbed to a late Adrian Heath
goal. The crowd at Goodison Park for this meeting of two
of the "Big Five" was only 18,003. The result
meant that Everton had done the double over Spurs and
left us in twelfth position in the Division One table.
The draw for the Fourth
Round of the FA Cup gave Tottenham a tough home draw
against Norwich City. The Canaries stood two places above
Spurs in the Division One table and we were unable to
break down the visitors defence. A tight game ended in a
goalless draw. The replay took place the following
Wednesday and for Spurs fans it was a case of déjà vu as
we slipped to our second 2-1 defeat at Carrow Road in
less than two months, Mark Falco notching our solitary
goal. Tottenham recovered from the Cup knock-out with an
excellent 2-2 draw at second placed Nottingham Forest
three days later, which was the start of a four-match
unbeaten run in the League.
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