‘Gunners’ shot to pieces as Ipswich wins cup

Press, 8 May 1978, Page 40

‘Gunners’ shot to pieces as Ipswich wins cup

NZPA London Ipswich, the country boys who came to town with only their farmland followers believing they had a chance, marked Wembley’s fiftieth Football Association Cup final with an upset as complete and deserved as any in the history’ of the competition.

It was “lucky Arsenal” forover an hour as Ipswich dominated the game with inspired and entertaining play only to be denied by the 1 woodwork and the brilliance of Arsenal’s goalie, Pat Jennings. But after 77 minutes the I 1 inevitable happened and, Ipswich wrote its name! proudly on the trophy for 1 the first time. Fittingly, it was Roger Os-' borne who scored the goal. The quiet man from the Suf-, folk village of Otley, his socks around his ankles!' after non-stop running had taken its toll, summoned up the energy for one more upfield charge. He ran hopefully in support of David I' Geddis and when the blond , youngster’s low cross was! knocked out by Willie!, Young, Osborne drove it into the net. ■ 1 It was his final kick. Ex-1 hausted. he let a substitute, ( Mick Lambert, come on and), Join his equally exhausted I • colleagues Talbot, Geddis and Woods in holding out|j against the dying efforts of' a sadly disappointing Arse- s Dal. h The cup favourite never'c

got into the game. Its forwards were totally subdued by a resolute defence in which Beattie and Hunter showed no signs of recent injuries, while the sheer energy of Talbot and the ; stubborn efficiency of Wark and Osborne gave Arsenal no chance to build attacks in midfield. Up front the magical twists and turns of Clive Woods, coupled with the powerful running of Geddis and the all-round skills of I Mariner, shot the “Gunners”! defence to pieces. It was victory total and - beyond alibi. Arsenal lost Liam Brady with an ankle injury after 65 minutes but even he had been limited to I i only occasional flashes of jhis usual creative brilliance. Arsenal’s only real hero was the goal-keeper, Jeninings, the veteran Irishman 'who needs no luck. I Arsenal had begun confidently enough but there (was an early hint of things to come when Jennings had Ito race out and kick clear I from Geddis. I After 10 minutes the possible upset was confirmed. Woods and Geddis both beat defenders with ease and

Mariner struck the crossbar. Even MacDonald was back to help out as Ipswich built a series of attacks and when “Supermac” moved forward into his own territory Hunter stopped him with a power-house tackle. After 27 minutes Geddis fired a low drive which struck Jennings as it bounced and skidded to safety then Hunter made another timely tackle as Arsenal produced one of the quick counter-attacks which were to be its main contribution.

Shortly before half-time Jennings tipped over a header from Beattie and soon after the break he was rellieved to see Wark hit the upright after a good run by Mariner.

Cooper needed to make a rare save when Sunderland broke through in the fiftyfifth minute but then Jennings was back in action frustrating Mariner. Wark hit the same post with a superb 6m drive in the seventy-first minute and three minutes later it looked as though it might be lucky Arsenal for the cup when Ipswich spread-eagled the defence only to see Jennings

turn away Burley’s header with a save as brilliant as any seen at Wembley. It only delayed the inevitable, however. In Glasgow, Glasgow Rangers, after a hesitant start, swept to victory in the Scottish Football Association Cup with a 2-1 victory over Aberdeen. In a match between two clubs who have dominated Scottish football this season, Alex MacDonald put Rangers ahead in the thirtythird minute and the Scottish World Cup star, Derek Johnstone, sealed Aberdeen’s fate 10 minutes after halftime with an excellent header.

The full-back, Steve Ritchie, raised Aberdeen’s hopes of forcing extra tme with a goal in the eightysixth minute but Rangers, who edged out Aberdeen by two points for the Scottish premier division title, held firm.

It is the second time in three seasons that Rangers have completed a clean sweep in Scotland, winning the championship, F.A. Cup and Scottish League Cup.