West Ham takes over league lead

Press, 5 September 1983, Page 20

West Ham takes over league lead

NZPA-Reuter London Unfashionable Notts County’s brief reign as English first division top dogs came to an end on Saturday when it lost, 2-0, at home to Ipswich. The new leader is West Ham, which after three games of the season, is the only side in the division to boast-a 100 Cer cent record. It beat Tottenam, 2-0, away. Arsenal and the former European champion, Aston Villa, the other two clubs to have collected a maximum six points from their opening two outings of the season, also tasted defeat for the first time. Arsenal’s new player, Charlie Nicholas, the Scottish international striker, was kept on a tight rein at Southampton, the home team winning, 1-0, with a

seventy-second minute goal by lan Baird. Villa, the first club in the first division to play on Queen’s Park Rangers’ artificial turf, clearly did not enjoy the experience. It lost, 21, to last season’s second division champions. Villa’s England striker, Peter Withe, scored twice, but unfortunately his first was an own goal to give Rangers a 2-0 lead midway through the second half. His second a minute from time came too late to save his side. An own goal by another striker, Justin Fashanu, hastened Notts County’s demise against Ipswich. He sliced a long throw-in into his net in the fiftieth minute. The England striker, Paul Mariner, rubbed salt into the

wound with a second goal 16 minutes later. The champion, Liverpool, renowned late goal specialists, collected its second win of the season when the Welsh international, lan Rush, broke the stalemate against Nottingham Forest at Anfield in the eightyfifth minute. - Manchester United, tipped by many to deny Liverpool its fifth league title in six seasons, bounced back from an unexpected 2-1 home defeat by Forest, to win, 1-0, at Stoke. The Dutch midfielder, Arnold Muhren, was the marksman in the fifty-fourth minute.

English League Division One: Birmingham 2, Watford 0; Coventry 1, Everton 1; Liverpool 1, Nottingham Forest 0; Luton 4, Sunderland

1; Norwich 3, Wolverhampton 0; Notts County 0, Ipswich 2; Queens Park Rangers 2, Aston Villa 1; Southampton 1, Arsenal 0; Stoke 0, Manchester United 1; Tottenham 0, West Ham 2; West Bromwich 1, Leicester 0. Division Two: Brighton 1, Chelsea 2; Cambridge 2, Blackburn 0; Cardiff 3, Grimsby 1; Derby 2, Swansea 1; Fulham 0, Portsmouth 2; Huddersfield 0, Charlton 0; Manchester City 3, Barnsley 2; Middlesbrough 2, Leeds 2; Newcastle 3, Oldham 0; Sheffield Wednesday 2, Carlisle 0; Shrewsbury 1, Crystal Palace 1.

Division Three: Bradford 0, Bolton 2; Bristol Rovers 2, Southend 1; Burnley 5, Bournemouth 1; Gillingham 1, Hull 2; Lincoln 0, Sheffield United 2;

Millwall 1, Plymouth 0; Preston 3, Brentford 3; Rotherham 2, Port Vale 1; Scunthorpe 3, Exeter 1; Walsall 0, Orient 1; Wigan 0, Oxford 2; Wimbledon 6, Newport 0. Division Four Bury 2, Bristol City 1; Colchester 2, Blackpool 1; Crewe 2, Chesterfield 1; Hartlepool 0, Aidershot 1; Hereford 0, Halifax 0; Mansfield 1, Doncaster 2; Northampton 2, Darlington 0; Reading 6, Stockport 2; Swindon 4, Chester 0; Wrexham 2, Peterborough 2; York 2, Rochdale 0. Scottish League Premier Division: Aberdeen 5, St Johnstone 0; Celtic 2, Rangers 1; Dundee 1, Dundee United 4; Hearts 3, Hibernian 2; St Mirren 1, Motherwell 1. Division One: Airdrieonians 1, Brechin 0; Alloa 0, Meadowbank 1; Ayr 1, Dumbarton 2; Clydebank 1, Clyde 0; Falkirk 2, Raith 1; Morton 1, Hamilton 1; Partick 2, Kilmarnock 0.

Division Two: Abroath 3, Cowdenbeath 2; Dunfermline 1, East Fife 1; East Stirling 0, Berwick 2; Montrose 0, Forfar 1; Queens Park 0, Queen of the South 2; Stenhousemuir 4, Stirling 3; Stranraer 3, Albion 1.