Soccer Liverpool’s lead reduced

Press, 31 March 1980, Page 25

Soccer Liverpool’s lead reduced

NZPA-Reute.r London Tottenham avenged a cup defeat by beating Liverpool, champion and pacemaker, 2-0, in a league match in London on Saturday, so sustaining interest in the title which Liverpool had threatened to run away with. Across London, Crystal Palace lost 2-0 to Manchester United, which closed the gap on Liverpool to four points. Ipswich regained third place from Arsenal, which played on Friday night, when it got a late equaliser against its lowly visitor, Derby, but missed the chance to take a clear lead. Arsenal, which meets Liverpool in an F.A. Cup semi-final in two weeks, has a match in hand. The check to Liverpool’s progress consoled a Tottenham team which was shaken by a 1-0 F.A. Cup victory which Liverpool scored on the same ground earlier in the year. On Saturday the England midfield man, Glen Hoddle. scored from the penalty spot nine minutes before half-time and Chris Jones headed a second goal after the break. Manchester United, doggedly refusing to be shaken off, whent ahead at Crystal Palace on the half hour through a Joe Jordan header. Nine minutes before time Mickey Thomas made it 2-0. Ipswich struggled against Derby, which missed two penalties. Paul Cooper saved Barry Powell’s first half penalty and after the break dived to reach Gerry Daly’s. Dave Swindlehurst, on loan from Palace, headed Derby ahead but Eric Gates equalised, edging Arsenal out of third place on goal difference. Nottingham Forest, England’s other European survivor — Arsenal won at Everton on Friday night—flopped at Brighton, where a second half goal was decisive.

Bolton, though looking doomed to relegation, shared four goals with its neighbours, Manchester City, making it even more likely that the enormously expensive side that Malcolm Allison has built in Manchester will accompany Bolton into Division two at the season’s end. In Division ' Two Chelsea’s cross-London trip to lowly Charlton yielded a 2-1 win, keeping it three points clear at the top. lan Britton put Chelsea ahead before the break. Dick Tydeman made it 1-1 but a late Tommy Langley goal Blunged the host club nearer (ivision Three. Not for the first time, Chelsea’s pursurers faltered surprisingly. Birmingham beat Watford 2-0 but Leicester went down 2-1 at home to Preston, Queen’s Park Rangers flopped 3-0 to the improving Shrewsbury—and had the centre back, Bob Hazell, ordered off—and

Luton dropped a point at home to Burnley, which would do well to escaped, relegation. In Division Three Grimbsy looked every inch league leader as it built up a 6-1 lead over the bottom club, Wimbledon, and even a couple of slips near the end still left them 6-3 winners. The runaway Fourth Division leader, Walsall, went down 3-2 at home to Peterborough, so cutting its lead to six points but allowing its conquerer, s to move up among the contenders for promotion. In Scotland, Celtic stretched its Premier Division lead to seven points with a 4-0 win over the bottom club, Hibernian. ENGLISH LEAGUE Division One.—Brighton 1, Nottingham Fotest 0; Bristol City v. Middlesbrough postponed (pitch waterlogged); Coventry 1, Wolverhampton 3; Crystal Palace 0, Manchester United 2; Ipswich 1, Derbv 1; Manchester City 2, Bolton 2; Southampton 2, Norwich 0; Stoke 2, Aston Villa 0; Tottenham Hotspur 2, Liverpool 0; West Bromwich 2. Leeds 1. Division Two.—Birmingham 2, Watford 0; Charlton 1, Chelsea 2; Leicester 1, Preston 2; Luton 1, Burnley 1; Newcastle 3. Bristol Rovers 1; Notts County 0, Sunderland 1; Orient 1, Cardiff 1: Shrewsbury 3, Queen’s Park Rangers 0; Swansea 2, West Ham 1; Wrexham 1, Cambridge 0. Division Three.—Barnsley v. Hull, postponed (pitch waterlogged); Blackburn 2, Swindon 0; Blackpool 2, Millwall 2: Brentford 0, Rotherham 1; Bury 0, Gillingham 2; Mansfield 2, Chester 1; Oxford 2, Exeter 0; Plymouth 2, Colchester 0; Reading 2, Chesterfield 2; Sheffield United 0, Carlisle 2; Southend 1, Sheffield Wednesday 1; Wimbledon 3, Grimsby 6. Division Four.—Bradford 1, York 2; Darlington 0, Crewe 0; Doncaster 1, Bournemouth 0; Halifax 1, Aidershot 0; Hartlepool 2, Northampton 1; Lincoln 1, Portsmouth 0: Newport 3, Stockport 1; Scunthorpe 1, Wigan 3; Torquay v. Port Vale evening kick-off; Tranmere 0, Huddersfield 0; Walsall 2, Peterborough 3, SCOTTISH LEAGUE Premier Division.—Celtic 4, Hibernian 0; Dundee United 0, St Mirren 0; Kilmarnock 0, Partick 1; Morton 1, Dundee 1; Rangers 2, Aberdeen 2. Division One.—Airdrieonians 2, Berwick 1; Ayr 1, Dumbarton 0; Hamilton 1, St Johnstone 1; Hearts 1, Arbroath 0; Motherwell 3, Clydebank 2; Raith 1, Clyde 1; Stirling 1, Dunfermline 0. Division Two.—Albion 5, Queen of South 1; Alloa 1, Brechin 4; East Stirling 1, Queen’s Park 3; Falkirk 0, Stenhousmuir 0; Forfar 0, East Fife 4; Meadowbank 0. Stranraer 3; Montrose 1, Cowdenbeath 1.