IT WAS 50 YEARS AGO TODAY - October 13th

First Division

Leeds remain unbeaten after suffering a scare at Filbert Street. Leicester City went 2-0 up courtesy of Frank Worthington and a thunderbolt by Alan Birchenall, but Leeds fought to draw level: Mick Jones and a controversial free-kick parried into the net by Billy Bremner helped the Whites to continue his march on top of the table.

The gap between first and second is reduced to two points. Burnley beat QPR 2-1 thanks to the goals by Geoff Nulty and Ray Hankin, cancelling Dave Thomas effort. Coventry couldn’t snatch a win at Norwich, ending all square at 0-0.

Liverpool’s shaky start of the season continues, virtue of a 1-0 defeat at The Dell, with an effort by Mick Channon, settling the points for Southampton. A crowd of 25,111 at Stamford Bridge saw one of the most entertaining games of the day - Ipswich defeated Chelsea thanks to a brace by David Johnson and a Bryan Hamilton goal. 3-2 for the Anglia team. At White Hart Lane, a North London Derby with 2 teams in search of a victory which can give a bit of fresh aire was decided in favour of a Spurs side which really needed the points: a crowd of 41,000 saw Martin Chivers and Alan Gilzean score the goals.

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CONTROVERSY AT OLD TRAFFORD. United’s woes continue after another dire performance against now 3rd place Derby County: the biggets crowd of the day (43,000) saw Kevin Hector score the only goal of the match. But the real trouble started at the end of the match. Sam Longson, the Derby chairman, claimed that Brian Clough v-signed Sir Matt Busby, in attendance today. This really aggravates the atmosphere between the board and the manager. We shall see if the situation improves or not.

To finish with, it’s good to see Birmingham City’s first victory of the season: goals from Trevor Francis and Kenny Burns obliterated John Richards’ effort for a Wolves side who lie only one point above the relegation zone. Said relegation zone is also shared by West Ham, who is rock bottom after Colin Harper’s goal gave Everton the win at Goodison Park.

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Second Division

Middlesbrough earn another valuable home win to keep themselves top of the table: 1-0 against Hull - Malcolm Smith the scorer. An overhaul of the promotion places has happened: both Fulham and Forest lost today - Don Masson scoring a brace to sink Fulham at Notts County and the Gordon Fairbrother-Ricky Heppolette duo partnering to beat Forest at the Orient - leaving Luton Town to pick the rewards. A penalty scored by John Aston and a goal by Peter Anderson gave the Hatters a 2-1 win against Swindon. Preston’s purple patch continues, as they move to third - Neil Young with the penalty to beat Sunderland in front of 21,000. In all, up to 8 teams are in a 2-point gap.

At the bottom, Malcolm Allison’s Palace are still winless, although they can boast their third draw of the season - 1-1 at Oxford, with the goal by Don Rogers to show. But they have 3 points from 11 matches. This draw helps Oxford to lift themselves from the danger zone - a place in which Swindon and Millwall enter.

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Third and Fourth Division

Bristol Rovers’ immaculate start of the season continues with a 1-1 draw against shaky Port Vale at Eastville with the biggest crowd of the day in the division - 8,882. The two promotion places remain unchanged - Oldham beat Rochdale in a regional derby 3-1, and Bournemouth could only muster a draw at Shrewsbury (1-1). Bolstered by BBC’s Match of the Day cameras, Hereford’s 8,552 crowd could only see their side draw 0-0 against Cambridge. At the bottom, Aldershot goes back to last position after a dissapointing day at Roots Hall, Southend. 2-1 for the Shrimps, who are now outside the relegation zone. Brighton (lost 1-0 at home to Halifax), Shrewsbury and Rochdale, follow the Shots at the bottom.

In the fourth division, Top 4 remains unchanged. Colchester 3-0 drubbing against Darlington on Friday helped them to keep the top of the table one week more. Meanwhile, Bury in second place suffered a 3-0 beating by Gillingham, with a brace of in-form Brian Yeo (9 goals so far). The top of the table is very crowded - 4 points separating the Top 10. The goal-fest of the day was at Millmoor, where Rotherham beat Exeter 4-0. And for the highest attendance today we go to London - Brentford’s 6,100 crowd saw a gallant home side go down 1-0 against in-form Peterborough. Sadly, the lowest crowd could only muster a thousand crowd, who saw Workington beat Barnsley by 1-0, helping them to distance themselves from the re-election bunch.

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Outside of the League

Next Wednesday, England faces a daunting prospect in order to be in West Germany the next year - they need to beat Poland in order to qualify for the World Cup. There was great talk on newspapers to postpone this week’s matches, but Alan Hardaker, Chairman of the Football League, was adamant on a radio interview:

It is a football match, not a war. Let us keep our sense of perspective, everybody is getting hysterical. If we do lose, the game is not going to die. It will be a terrible thing for six weeks and then everybody will forget about it.

Lest not forget that the sold-out match will be covered LIVE on ITV starting at 7.30. Highlights will be shown at Sportsnight at 10.30.

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FOOTBALL ON TV TODAY.

BBC - Liverpool v Southampton and Hereford United v Cambridge United.

ITV - Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal (London Weekend - Brian Moore), Leicester City v Leeds United (ATV - Hugh Johns), Norwich City v Hull City (Anglia TV), Sheffield Wednesday v Plymouth Argyle (Yorkshire TV) and Middlesbrough v Hull City (Tyne Tees TV).

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Link with all results and scorers (1st and 2nd Division only)