Fletcher and Dobson score the goals as we beat Man City

Last updated : 25 June 2015 By Tony Scholes

It had been our first defeat of the season, a result that had seen us slip to fifth in the table but only one point behind Derby who occupied second place. One week on our opponents were Manchester City, a side we'd already beaten once that season with a 1-0 win at Maine Road in the Charity Shield.

Before looking at the City game, what was going on in and around Burnley at the time?

There were certainly problems between Burnley and twin town Vitry-sur-Seine in France with suggestions from our end that the bottom seemed to have dropped out of the 'entente cordiale'.

Earlier in the year Vitry had cancelled a visit to Burnley for some of their schoolchildren at the 11th hour and they'd only gone and done it again, this time after failing to reply to the invitation sent three months earlier.

Mayor, Councillor Frank Booth wasn't happy. He lashed the Vitry authority and said that this latest incident should be the end of the line for the relationship between the two.

Councillor John Hudson told the General Purposes meeting: "How many times is this authority going to be ridiculed by Vitry? I think that is what it is. I am suggesting that this is being done deliberately, in order to cancel the whole thing, visits here and there."

Mr Alan Hartley found himself in Coventry and not the city who have a team that plays in sky blue. For the second time in a week he'd defied pickets as strike action by 1,100 Michelin workers gained support.

He was the only man in the six Michelin factories to defy the one day strikes and was sent to Coventry. Shop steward John Alderson said: "There will be no reprisals, no violence, or abuse towards him. We just don't want to work with him."

The North West Industrial Development Association revealed serious concerns at cuts in public expenditure, particularly to major road schemes in the region, including the Calder Valley fast route.

They decided that the only course of action was to approach the Government and explain that these cuts will have adverse effects on the region.

The Recreational Facilities Committee were worried over the delays that had hit the building of the William Thompson recreation centre. The £1.5 million facility was some way behind schedule and the committee members were now worried they wouldn't be in office when it opened with them leaving at the end of March 1974 due to the Government's new system of local government.

Borough surveyor, Mr E.C. Ashby, could offer no quick solution after a tour of the site. "There are so many imponderables," he said. "You saw it yourselves today and there is an awful lot of work to be done.

"We were told in March that the contractor was pleased and expected the job to be finished earlier than the contract period. It didn't work out. The contract is due to finish on November 18th. That is the official contract period ending date but the contractor has made a claim for additional time, which we have yet to consider."

He added: "I would be very surprised to see it finished on November 18th," before shaking the committee with the suggestion: "I would think it is likely to be January or February to be safe. If it finishes earlier, that will be great."

Another building project in town was the £171,000 construction of the Temple Street Recreation Centre for handicapped and elderly people. Voluntary workers, industrialists, commercial and professional bodies in Burnley had been invited to put their views on how best to use the centre to ensure it became the showpiece of the North.

The good news was that the whole building had been designed to accommodate wheelchairs; there was even a public telephone at wheelchair height. Further positive news was that a hairdressing salon, to be manned by local hairdressers on a voluntary basis, and a chiropody clinic were to be included.

There was plenty of entertainment for the locals too. The Odeon were showing the film No Sex Please We're British starring Ronnie Corbett, Beryl Reid and Arthue Lowe, Dads Army's Captain Mainwaring.

Meanwhile at the Circulation in Holmes Street, there was a live appearance from Radio 1 DJ Emperor Rosko who was brining his International Roadshow to the Burnley nightclub. Tickets had gone on sale at the Electron Record Shop in Hall Street at 50p each, but if you paid on the door the price would be much higher at 60p.

You often see charity auctions now but I'm not sure you would see one quite like the one held at Lowerhouse Canteen in September 1973. A pigeon auction raised £1,318, a sizeable sum over forty years ago, for cancer research.

Auctioneer was Mr Colin Cooke from Sabden. He went on to raise thousands and thousands of pounds for charities before passing away in 2007 at the age of 81 having collapsed walking down the street close to his home.

The name Colin Cooke is one I remember from the 1960s when he was a Football League referee. He lived next door to one of my school teachers Bill Slater and always sent me a match programme from the games he refereed. You see, referees weren't always bad.

That takes us nicely onto football and before we take a look at the home game against Manchester City, there's an update on the two injured players Frank Casper and Mick Docherty.

Whilst Burnley were losing at Ipswich, Frank was having his operation for damaged ligaments in his left knee. It was a complete success and he was expected to be out of action for around another ten weeks, longer than had originally been anticipated.

Docherty had been stretchered off in the opener against Sheffield United, this on his return from an unconnected knee injury sustained at Huddersfield in the previous season. Doc looked as if he was fit and the club organised a game for him to play in with the view to getting him back into the team for the Man City game.

However, he survived just 30 minutes of the game before being forced off. His knee had swollen again and a specialist ordered complete rest prior to a further examination in the following week.

Manager Jimmy Adamson was disappointed and said: "This latest setback to Mick Docherty is just what we don't want, particularly in view of Casper being out of action. It would have been handy to have Docherty available again to add to our first team squad."

In the week leading up to the game, the youth team had gone out of the FA Youth Cup, beaten 2-0 by Bolton. The team was: Williams, Little, Pashley, Flavell, Gordon, Chamberlain, Marinello, Parker, Loggie, Flynn, Jakub. Sub: Paterson (not used).

With no Docherty, who had been expected to come in for Peter Noble, it was the same again for Burnley, Adamson naming the side that had lost that unbeaten start at Ipswich. We were facing a star studded City team who were just a point behind us at kick off.

There had been a lot of suggestions that we were a better side away from home. We'd won just one of the four previous home games, that a 1-0 win against Chelsea, which we'd followed up with draws against Coventry, Tottenham and Derby.

Paul Fletcher gives us an early lead

But we came good with a 3-0 win against City which left Peter Higgs, in the Burnley Express, to write: "If Burnley put in many more performances like this you can forget the popular theory that they play better away from Turf Moor."

It was a day when everything went right for us, including a bit of help from City goalkeeper Joe Corrigan, and once we'd taken an early lead there was never any doubt that we would go on and win the game.

That lead came in the third minute from virtually the same free kick routine that had bamboozled City and given us that Charity Shield win. It was no surprise that they succumbed again; there was no better and no more innovative side than Burnley in the country when it came to set pieces.

Colin Waldron had scored the goal at Maine Road so they ensured they kept a tight watch on him when we got the free kick, for what good it did.

Martin Dobson dummied the free kick and Doug Collins stepped up to take it. Waldron went on a decoy run, the City defence went with him and that allowed Paul FLETCHER to run in and get above Willie Donachie to beat Corrigan with a downward header.

"The players were thrilled to bits about making this work again. To score from the same free kick against the same team twice is quite something," said Adamson.

City had plenty of possession, and won considerably more corners than Burnley, but they didn't offer any real threat in attack and frankly didn't look as though they would pull that goal back.

Burnley were the better team in all departments and no more so than in midfield where the trinity of Dobson, Geoff Nulty and Collins were always in control.

Alan Stevenson did make one save from Francis Lee who, somewhat surprisingly, stayed on his feet long enough to get a shot in, but it was no surprise when the Clarets added to the opening goal with a second around eight minutes before half time and this is when Corrigan came to our assistance for the first time.

Joe Corrigan can't keep out Martin Dobson's shot

Morning rain had left a wet and skiddy surface with Adamson instructing his players to make the most of it by shooting on sight. Fletcher did brilliantly to chase a ball down the right and keep it in play. He laid the ball off to DOBSON who followed the manager's instructions and shot from 20-yards. The ball pitched in the six yard box and straight through Corrigan's hands into the net.

A 2-0 half time lead soon became 3-0 just two minutes after the break when Corrigan struck again. A Mike Doyle back pass found the goalkeeper who, inexplicably, let the ball slip out of his grasp. FLETCHER had continued a run into the box and couldn't believe his luck as the ball came nicely to him to allow him to send the ball trickling into the net for his second and our third.

Corrigan redeemed himself with outstanding saves to deny both Dobson and then Collins but City did come back into the game in the closing stages. Peter Noble cleared an Alan Oakes shot off the line, Mike Summerbee hit the bar and Colin Bell fired wide with only Alan Stevenson to beat.

There's no doubt that Corrigan made it easier for us but there is also no doubting that both points were fully deserved by the Clarets. Over the whole game we were far, far better than City.

After the game, Adamson revealed that only a shin pad had saved Keith Newton from a bad injury after a shocking foul by Summerbee. "He received a gash on the shin which was made through his pad," the manager said. "If he had not been wearing shin pads he would have been put out of action for several weeks."

Summerbee received a booking whilst Newton was considered a doubt for our next game against East Fife in the Texaco Cup. It was the first of a run of three fixtures that would see us play in three different countries in three different competitions.

The teams were;

BURNLEY: Alan Stevenson, Peter Noble, Keith Newton, Martin Dobson, Colin Waldron, Jim Thomson, Geoff Nulty, Ray Hankin, Paul Fletcher, Doug Collins, Leighton James. Sub not used: Billy Ingham.

MANCHESTER CITY: Joe Corrigan, Tony Book, Willie Donachie, Mike Doyle, Tommy Booth, Alan Oakes, Mike Summerbee, Colin Bell, Rodney Marsh, Francis Lee, Tony Towers. Sub not use: Denis Law.

REFEREE: Mr R. B. Kirkpatrick (Leicester).

ATTENDANCE: 24,492.

The result saw us move back up into third place. We were four points behind leaders Leeds, who had dropped only one point, but just a point behind Coventry and with a game in hand.

Both Ipswich and Southampton matched us with 3-0 wins. Southampton beat Sheffield United at home with Ipswich beating bottom club Birmingham at St. Andrew's.

Birmingham, with three points, were a point behind West Ham who themselves were a point behind Norwich. Those three clubs occupied the relegation places.

West Ham were still without a win but, in beating them, Stoke had recorded their first victory of the season. Leicester, meanwhile, lost for the first team leaving only Leeds, who already looked very much the team to beat, as the only unbeaten side in the league.

First Division Results

Saturday 29th September 1973

BIRMINGHAM CITY 0 IPSWICH TOWN 3

BURNLEY 3 MANCHESTER CITY 0

CHELSEA 2 WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 2

EVERTON 1 ARSENAL 0

LEICESTER CITY 0 COVENTRY CITY 2

MANCHESTER UNITED 0 LIVERPOOL 0

NEWCASTLE UNITED 2 QUEENS PARK RANGERS 3

NORWICH CITY 0 LEEDS UNITED 1

SOUTHAMPTON 3 SHEFFIELD UNITED 0

STOKE CITY 2 WEST HAM UNITED 0

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1 DERBY COUNTY 0

Burnley's Goalscorers (League Only)

3: FRANK CASPER, DOUG COLLINS, MARTIN DOBSON, PAUL FLETCHER

2: LEIGHTON JAMES, GEOFF NULTY

1: RAY HANKIN, COLIN WALDRON

First Division Leading Goalscorers

6: DEREK DOUGAN (WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS), PETER LORIMER (LEEDS UNITED)

5: ROGER DAVIES (DERBY COUNTY), MALCOLM MacDONALD (NEWCASTLE UNITED)

4: TOMMY BALDWIN (CHELSEA), BILLY BREMNER (LEEDS UNITED), MICK CHANNON (SOUTHAMPTON), MARTIN CHIVERS (TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR), ALLAN CLARKE (LEEDS UNITED), KEVIN HECTOR (DERBY COUNTY), GEOFF HURST (STOKE CITY), DAVID JOHNSON (IPSWICH TOWN), JIM McCALLIOG (WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS), MARTIN PETERS (TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR), BRYAN ROBSON (WEST HAM UNITED)

Team pld w d l f a pts
 
LEEDS UNITED 9 8 1 0 20 4 17
COVENTRY CITY 10 6 2 2 13 7 14
BURNLEY 9 5 3 1 18 10 13
DERBY COUNTY 10 5 2 3 14 9 12
NEWCASTLE UNITED 9 4 3 2 16 11 11
LEICESTER CITY 9 3 5 1 10 8 11
LIVERPOOL 9 4 3 2 10 8 11
EVERTON 9 3 4 2 10 8 10
MANCHESTER CITY 9 4 2 3 12 12 10
QUEENS PARK RANGERS 9 2 5 2 13 13 9
ARSENAL 9 4 1 4 12 12 9
SHEFFIELD UNITED 9 4 1 4 11 11 9
IPSWICH TOWN 9 3 3 3 15 17 9
MANCHESTER UNITED 9 3 2 4 8 10 8
SOUTHAMPTON 9 3 2 4 12 16 8
CHELSEA 9 3 1 5 13 13 7
STOKE CITY 9 1 5 3 9 10 7
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 9 3 1 5 11 15 7
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 9 2 2 5 10 16 6
NORWICH CITY 9 1 3 5 8 15 5
WEST HAM UNITED 9 0 4 5 10 17 4
BIRMINGHAM CITY 9 0 3 5 8 21 3