Liverpool keeps its 14 point lead

Press, 7 March 1983, Page 25

Liverpool keeps its 14 point lead

NZPA-Reuter London Liverpool, which has turned the English League soccer championship into a one-team race, beat Stoke 5-1 on Saturday to complete its twentieth first division win of the season. Kenny Dalglish struck twice and Phil Neal, Craig Johnston and Graeme Souness once apiece to secure the win for Liverpool, cantering towards its seventh league title in 11 seasons. Stoke, whose goal came from Paul Bracewell when Liverpool was 3-0 up. beat the high-firing Manchester United in midweek but never looked like embarrassing Liverpool, which had fully recovered from its midweek European Cup setback in Poland. Manchester United bounced back from behind to beat its neighbour, City, 2-1 on City's ground. The Irish international. Frank Stapleton, scored both United goals after City, which has not won in its last eight games, had taken a thirtysecond minute lead through its SNZ2.I3 signing Kevin Reeves. The second-placed Watford, enjoying a fine first season in the top division, scored a 1-0 away win over Coventry. Les Taylor scored the goal a minute before the interval. Watford and Manchester United were both beaten midweek and their victories on Saturday made no bridges across the yawning gap which separates them from Liverpool. Liverpool is 14 points clear of Watford and 15 ahead of Manchester United, its opponent in the League Cup final on March 26. Dalglish put the champion ahead after seven minutes, sliding home from close range after an exchange with the Irish international, Ronnie Whelan. Neal netted the second in the thirty-fifth minute and Dalglish hooked in the third two minutes after the break, the Scot's nineteenth goal of the season. Bracewell profited from a misunderstanding between the defender, Alan Hansen, and goalkeeper, Bruce Grobbelaar, to pull one back for Stoke two minutes later. But the South African-born Craig Johnston and Scotland’s Graeme Souness added to Liverpool’s tally in the seventysixth and eighty-ninth minutes to put the Merseysiders back on the winning track after Wednesday’s 2-0 European Cup quarter-final first leg upset against Widzew Lodz. Results:— ENGLISH DIVISION Division one.— Arsenal 0. Nottingham Forest 0; Aston Villa 3, Norwich 2; Coventry 0, Watford 1; Ipswich 3, Birmingham 1; Liverpool 5, Stoke 1; Luton 0, West Bromwich 0; Manchester City 1, Manchester United 2; Notts County 3, Tottenham 0; Southampton 2, Swansea 1; Sunderland 2, Everton 1: West Ham 2, Brighton 1. Division two.— Barnsley 3. Bolton 1; Burnley 1, Fulham 0; Carlisle 0, Oldham 0; Charlton 5, Chelsea 2; Crystal Palace 0, Newcastle 2; Grimsby 1, Shef-

field Wednesday 1; Leeds 2. Blackburn 1; Leicester 1. Derby 1; Queens Park Rangers 6. Middlesbrough 1; Rotherham 0. Shrewsbury 3; Wolverhampton 1, Cambridge 1.

Division three— Bristol Rovers 2, Orient 1; Doncaster 1, Bradford 2; Gillingham 2, Bournemouth 5; Lincoln 2, Brentford 1; Oxford 2, Wrexham 0; Plymouth 2, Chesterfield 0; Preston 0. Portsmouth 0: Sheffield United 3. Exeter 0; Walsall 4. Millwall 0; Wigan 2. Reading 2. Division four.— Aidershot 0. Hartlepool 2; Bury 3, Darlington 0; Chester 1, Colchester 1; Hereford 0. Blackpool 0; Mansfield 1, Swindon 0; Northampton 1, Hull 2; Port Vale 1. Crewe 1; Torquay 2, Peterborough 1;

Tranmere 0. Scunthorpe 4; Wimbledon 2. Bristol City 1; York 3. Stockport 1. SCOTTISH LEAGUE Premier division.— Dundee 2, St Mirren 5; Kilmarnock 1, Aberdeen 2: Morton 0, Celtic 3; Motherwell 1, Dundee United 4, Rangers 1. Hibernian 1. Division one.— Alloa 3, Queens Park 1; Ayr 1. Clydebank 0; Clyde 1; Dumbarton 0; Dunfermline 0, Partick 3; Hamilton 0. Airdrieonians 3; Hearts 1. Falkirk 2: St Johnstone 1, Raith 0. Division two.— Albion 1. Stranraer 2; Arbroath 1. Stirling 0; Brechin 3. Montrose 1; East Fife 0. Cowdenbeath 2; East Stirling 0. Forfar 1; Meadowbank 1. Queens of the South 2: Stenhousemuir 0. Berwick 1.