Spurs close to Cup

Press, 11 May 1984, Page 28

Spurs close to Cup

NZPA-Reuter Brussels England’s Tottenham Hotspur took a giant stride towards winning the U.E.F.A. soccer cup when it held the holders, Anderlecht, of Belgium, to a 1-1 draw in the first-leg of the final in Brussels yesterday. An unstoppable fiftyeighth minute header by the defender, Graham Roberts, from a corner by Mike Hazard, gave the London club its vital away goal, making them hot favourites to take the trophy at White Hart Lane — where they have never lost a European tie — in two weeks’ time. Anderlecht looked a mere shadow of the side which drubbed Nottingham Forest,

3-0, in the semi-finals. Its eighty-fifth minute equaliser was an all-Danish affair. The substitute, Frank Arnesen, fired a rocket shot from the edge of the penalty area which the Tottenham goal-keeper, Tony Parks, could only parry for the Anderlecht skipper, Morten Olsen, to score. The game was marred by fighting among the English supporters and several fans were taken away on stretchers. The trouble continued after the match with rioters setting a car on fire outside the stadium as riot police waded in wielding truncheons. About 100 fans were taken into police custody before the match, officials said.