Leeds United v Manchester United FA Cup Semi-Final 1976/77

for you, but first we're off to Hillsborough Sheffield to watch Leeds United against Manchester United, a match covered for ITV by Yorkshire Television and we join your cameras here as the teams head out on a bright, windy afternoon. Two teams met at this stage in 1965 and 1970. On both occasions he leads the victory after a replay, a crowd of 55,000 people, which greatly contributed to the atmosphere of the occasion. Those who were inside with tickets, if they didn't have tickets, had to climb the trees. The leading side alan clark passed. In form during the week, it is a strong and experienced team.

Paul Rini, for example, played in the previous

semi

-

final

s in 65 and 70 against Manchester United and Peter Lorimer will be his replacement. Manchester United have no problems for coach Tommy Dougherty. The strong side and of course it is practically the team that took United to the

final

last season, but there is a major change because a man who has given additional balance and penetration to the team in recent months is, in fact, Jimmy Greenoff, the forward. they bought him in stoke city, he represents a great danger for

leeds

united

and a man who is always a danger is alan clark from

leeds

, although he himself says that he does not fit 100% with his free tom reynolds, formerly of swansea, in our hotelier in wiltshire and now we are all ready for kick off so Manchester United start in red shirts and white shorts attacking the goal on our left, leading with their yellow stripe and Wembley awaits the winner.

Legion United coach Jimmy Arnfield said before the game. Wembley is now a carrot dangling before us, all we have to do is eat it right to eat it. They also have a devouring Manchester United who will attack them with some attacking football and knowing that they came here a year ago. and beat Darby County in a

semi

-final and then before losing at Wembley to Southampton, here's Alex Stepney Queen, okay, the two United players, Makari and Mcelroy, go for that same ball, a little move back from Gordon Hill who could have caused a bit of damage to Leeds defender mcilroy then with the shot for

manchester

united

jimmy green behind for sammy mcelroy pearson waiting in the middle on the other side is koppel but he got away well four leads united by peter hampton clark a very competitive element in this game already entered the space for curry rini doing one of his famous overlaps and there I was waiting for him wonderfully no, not really like that, I couldn't understand it, he just played it too firmly there the great Curry player , Pauline, who played in 1965. semi-final against Manchester United and in 1970 Clark continued playing for Curry, seemed promising, this for the leaders, Mcelroy desperate to return, forced Curry to leave.

I'm doing okay, but one shot and then, oh, there's a little movement up there between Rini and Hill. As the nerves and tension begin to show, here's Stephanie Pearson. It is very difficult for the players to judge the ball in this winning streak and the two grays are chasing it. Frankie and Eddie and a shot at Manchester United. Black clouds over the Sheffield Hills. and judging by the flags the wind is bringing them a couple and a first corner of the game so hill with this corner while the leaders are organized in their penalty area with the wind a header behind from houston and jimmy the break they wanted with eight minutes elapsed, there is the corner from Gordon Hill Houston's beautiful back header.

I missed the shot there and number eight, Jimmy Green from one to nil for Manchester United. Eight minutes passed. Frankie Gray's mistake that put the ball in an attractive way for Jimmy Greenoff himself, a former United leading player while A tremendous start for United leads a team of enormous character and normally capable of absorbing all the punishment that can be thrown at them . Everyone has to absorb a lot now, but more importantly, they have to go out and create. the chances themselves here's houston whose move back from that corner of the hill really opened the way to the green of the hill and back he goes bucking stephanie brian greenoff mcqueen in there makari pearson bet good call the long melee kick the wind there frankie gray right there clark right there goal kick the long free kick there mainly from joe jordan winning a good ball in the air and clark over the top hard work for alex stepney hitting it into the wind as hard as here just over the line half mcqueen winning is well in the air here is jordan mcelroy to the houston queen of hill is there take no risks brian greenoff makari proud to enjoy that at least the

manchester

united area is a shot for man united green off hill planted high and hopefully forward that time pearson won it in the air and it may come now for the couple that is the second a brilliant goal for manchester united stevie koppel that starts 15 minutes into a semi-final when you are all knotted up with nerves there is nothing better than two goals in the first 15 minutes so that you forget them, pearson won so well in the air of mcqueen and, as he gets here, the couple that is two, not at all good, could be of great help to end the tie of glass, besides, it will take a long time for Lee's to achieve it. this back now well it's the silent men of yorkshire his side two down pearson mcqueen header frank gray curry clark eddie gray continued to play for alan clark now this is a chance to ah and fabric of all the people missed it he usually takes them for breakfast and I really needed it so badly, under the pressure of Brian Green and Stephanie coming out with a mustache, can Jordan get in there for that?

He can't, but he can heal well. It all arose from a foul by Jimmy Nickel on the other side and curry in the end almost made him pay for it just look at the model here and it's nickel who loses it to eddie gray delicious serious chip jordan menacing at the far post comes out and curry has They have to hit it from an impossible angle, the rain is falling very hard now on Manchester United's faces, but they really don't care in the world. Pearson clicked again this time for Makari Mcqueen right there and somehow Makari got it back.

Okay, hill, okay, the virtue of never. feeling the ball is out of play until it finally crosses the line and that was a beautiful example of makari looking likely to cross the line but hooks it back and leads are vulnerable until Stuart saves from Hill Leeds trying really hard now . to find some way back to this game stop there by jimmy nicole beat warsaw queens park rangers southampton and manchester villa united en route to this final and now on course to beat leeds ray with his loaded shot by makari they are coming out so fast and nickel actually got fouled there by tony curry curry was called on tom reynolds with a yellow card coming out yellow card green off nickel nickel forward gray back right 11 minutes to half time rayleigh to cherry curry maybe again raising curry is high there again towards Jordan, well the coffee just kept it for the benefit of Frank Gray and Leeds United.

Here's Hampton with a cherry cross, he didn't get a header, but Curry did now. He's coming for Eddie Gray. He hit it as well as he had to for the first time, but he always went over a long free kick, a Curry header and now it will come for Eddie Gray. Okay, again, Carrie with a shot from Clark, a touch for Eddie Gray with her right foot and well, I think her heart raced there, so it was easily a slight mistake and that would have gone into the back of the net, but the man in the heart. of the united defense knew exactly what he was doing so it's a corner for leeds well the anxiety can be seen there when frankie gray takes this corner so leader stephanie just punches him even though gordon mcqueen is right in front of him and that's another corner well, there will be time to take it and not much more curry curling it again clark's back headbutt the queen right there and cherry right there oh and it was put back by mcqueen and that was a golden opportunity again for Leeds United on the stroke of half time, the corner and just look at the back move here from Alan Clark, the opportunity falls to Trevor Cherry here and when Buck charges him and it falls to Mcqueen, but he has already passed the United post , so it stays. to two nil for United, here is Gordon Hill Pearson, suggesting that although United have done a tremendous job and the leaders deserve it, if the leaders can simply snatch something away and get that tremendous psychological boost, this semi-final is not finished when the half-time whistle blows.

It's time for applause from the Manchester United fans who caught a glimpse of Steve Koppel. There he scored the second goal for United. There's Jimmy Greenoff, who scored the first two goals that came in the first 16 minutes of the game, but it was still the first in many. On Lee fans' minds will be that miss by Alan Clark when he was right after that, which might actually be the biggest moment of this FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough. There is still a lot to do in this special edition of the captain of today's big game a score at half time then in hillsborough leeds united zero manchester united two we will be right back for the second half welcome then to hillsboro where it is windy and tremendously exciting and manchester united two zero up and man united but now with the wind in their rear that has beaten Leeds United twice in the league this season and with Tommy Doggety, the manager of Manchester United, who has a birthday tomorrow, it is a good weekend for them to celebrate, without a doubt, the virtues they have shown in the first half. of hustling, chasing and running and never allowing leeds united to reach their full pace has paid off, they have really worked to take the lead but here are tracks with a corner and pearson right behind to pull away with a queen held high and hopeful and way off target pearson beautiful head work again there by pearson here is koppel pearson charging ahead of him pearson played wide for nickel making another good run played at the bottom this time and pearson couldn't adjust enough to back off and leeds didn't can Take It Out, but now Frank Gray should be able to do it for them, even though Jordan prevented him from doing so.

He knew exactly what he wanted to do. Nick found Stuart Pierce and Jimmy Green waiting in the middle and David Stewart Pearson looked so cheerful too. he is doing a brilliant job in the middle of the field with his little headers and touches and this time rounding mcqueen and a good move by the goalkeeper by stuart cherry but straight to houston, jimmy green with a beautiful ball played by sammy mcelroy pearson . waiting in the middle, tried to turn around Koppel and Cherry had done some beautiful shadow work on Coppell, they just can't escape together, exiting the game, Mcelroy once again, now Hill, there's the cross, coming in, Rini He pulls away to lead one of An hour has passed in the second half and there is still no pause in the attack for Leeds United.

Mcelroy gave it back to Jimmy Greenoff. Houston deflected it and finally passed. The Butler could easily have been a very well played number three there by Jimmy Green after the explosion. by Stuart, who turned wide and in the end Popple couldn't get a touch. Alan Clark for tracks played on Cherry's path. Interesting two against two. Jordan is the other one and here he is now. If you can get over the nickel, he just watches. how cool the penalty the penalty nickel has brought down jordan and leeds now have a chance this is the incident where jordan overtook jimmy nickel and that is what caused the penalty to bring him down and now alan clark who scored from the penalty spot last Saturday against ipswich, now he has one of the most important shots of his career, I remember a penalty in the world cup that he scored for England in Mexico and against Poland at Wembley, a cool head, a short kick and a ground advantage they needed now and they got it, 2-1, alan clark has brought this game really came to life, Stephanie, a left hand that touched him desperately, but couldn't stop it from going into the net and from a moment ago or two with Manchester United pressing them back, look to be out for the count but now they have made it all back one two down and now I have the chance to make Manchester United and their huge army of fans care in the 22 minutes that are left, that is the incident and a free kick has already been taken.

Nick Hill ducked a queen and United brought everyone back and Curry is on his side, but Stephanie is a fraction ahead of him, but they haven't run away with the ball yet. Another move by Curry to lead and it's going to be a launch for Manchester United, he leads, leads, leads and not so much. The noise now comes from Manchester United when they told him to hurry up with that shot. Pearson Makari and how united Manchester United are must be grateful for that wonderful start. Hill didn't really cover that the way he wanted, unlike Paul Rini, making a mistake like This is a nice one-two play between Hill and Jimmy Greenoff.

Rini gets completely lost and is saved by Stewart. Hill versus RaineyMcelroy and Stuart are very awkwardly in front of him and there were three Manchester United players within two yards of him and he lost the ball. just a moment this is a mcelroy shot just look at that rebound right in front of him and look at those United players waiting for the slightest mistake Stephanie told Houston to move away Clark was too close for comfort but he's just He ran away so far like Tony Curry can now carry the engineer something here, he can make a great shot, well these little opportunities come this way and it's not over yet by any means, this powerful man with a powerful shot and the midfield trick ahead .

He got a yard but also found it too high, prompting his substitute, Peter Lorimer, the man with even more powerful shot of course and Frank Gray coming out of a foul giving a free kick to lead United and here it is hampton all this space in front of him mcqueen hill interesting ball because pearson can get to it by approaching mcqueen leeds recovering the men there is pearson with a shot he had to push that away with his fist there is no piercing penalty behind for koppel whistle free kick for drives tremendous shot there from pearson and the goalie getting big like david stewart did there just to hit that away get it away anywhere give yourself a break a push on the Back up the hill no penalty was given and the whistle blew for that push , free kick to take Mcelroy with the shot.

It's taking a long time and Tom Reynolds will allow that the whistle has, in fact, blown. He comes over to talk. with mcelroy and he's going to give mcelroy the yellow card for wasting time when he can find his pencil sammy mcelroy seems very upset about it, but in the last few minutes of a tense semi-final like this, when you're clinging to a 2-1 lead , it is right for the referee to ensure that the game can go very quickly from those Deadpool situations. Mcilroy gave me the shot and took it much quicker at that point. You'll notice here's Jimmy Greenoff again with Mcilroy.

Well, is this it? The moment he doesn't, Stewart is gone and a quick shot is going to free Peter Hampton. Here's the slow motion. That's straight up and those victory chants are starting to build among Manchester United's huge fans. Red and now white scarves are spinning. The signs are being taken down and the core fans are getting ready to accept defeat to throw eliminations, we're in stoppage time and every time Tom Reynolds heads forward, uh, for time, wasting a shot for the leaders and such opportunity to launch one last desperate attack. at manchester united here is laurema play on says the referee here is mcqueen who came over and united brought them all back determined not to concede anything.

I checked with the linesman and United as they built that ball into the stands. Steve Koppel is a few seconds behind. Finally, those two goals in those first 16 minutes have made it difficult for them, although the advantages came to them in the second half, but here is Eddie Gray, it's a Brian Green shot, so he leads with a shot from Curry with a long shot from Clark trying to get there. The header will come for Cherry, who hits it too high and falls to the ground in the agony of that moment when he could have saved it all for Leeds.

The long shot and there it goes to Cherry. He slips and misses. Well, there's really only one more job left for him to do and that's to blow the final whistle, but here's Koppel now for Manchester United. Everyone wants to keep the ball at that end of the field. He threw the main cherry at Laurima. due to injuries and loss of time it now amounts to two minutes lorimet takes it off again to lead the long ball if gray can reach it but it is slipping away and that could well be manchester united's last chance to get through wembley For the second year in a row, their players hug each other as you watch the delighted Manchester United fans, scenes of joy from the men in red who worked and worked and worked to build that winning lead in the first half only to see it reduced by the penalty. in the second and they had one or two moments that scared them, but look at those scenes of joy from United who are keen to repair the damage to their pride and make up to their fans for that defeat in last year's final.

I have that chance with goals from Jimmy Greenoff and Steve Koppel in the first 16 minutes and Alan Clark from the penalty spot for Leeds in the second half as they come off the field. Leeds beat Manchester United and that is the score in this semi-final. -final in Hillsborough