On This Day – 29th April
It was on this day 50 years ago that Chelsea and Leeds United played out one of the dirtiest matches in English footballing history.
The two were contesting the FA Cup Final Replay which Chelsea won 2-1 in extra-time to lift the FA Cup for the first time in their history.
The game is mainly remembered for all the fouls that were given away during the two hours of play. There were too many fouls to possibly be able to mention in this article. Eric Jennings, the referee of the match, only deemed it necessary to give one yellow card in the whole game.
Former referee David Elleray watched the game back in 1997 and decided that if he was officiating the same game in 1997, he would have sent six players off. Michael Oliver did the same earlier on this year and deemed that he would have given 11 players their marching orders!
Mick Jones scored after 35 minutes after a marauding run from 35 yards out. He found a gap in the Chelsea defence before rifling in a shot across Peter Bonetti into the far corner of the net.
Peter Osgood levelled for Chelsea with 12 minutes to go with a fine diving header. Charlie Cooke chipped a lovely ball into the box and Osgood snuck in unnoticed at the far post to head home.
The winning goal came from defender David Webb with a minute remaining of the first half of injury time.
Peter Houseman delivered one of his trademark long throws from the left and a Leeds defender headed the ball over his goalkeeper David Harvey who had sprinted off his line to claim the ball.
David Webb jumped up with two Leeds defenders and team mate Tommy Baldwin at the far post. He managed to get to the all first and headed home from a yard out.
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