One-sided win to Liverpool

Press, 26 April 1988, Page 29

One-sided win to Liverpool

NZPA-Reuter Londonl Liverpool's 1 -0 victory over Tottenham on Saturday duly completed! one of the most one-sided championship races in league history. Kenny Dalglish’s [side, widely hailed as the best; ever to grace trie English' first division.! secured their seventeenth title and! their ninth in 13 seasons! at little mor; than a! canter. Such has been I their supremacy throughout the season that Liverpool remain comfortably inside the pace for a record first division points total in spite of a reduced, programme of mdtches.] They also n]:ed victoryover Wimbledin in! next month’s F.A. Cup final to become the fi-st team to win the league and cup double twice tliis century. They previous y achieved the feat in Da glish’s firsjt season as Manager in 11985-86. [ Written off as a side in decline last season as neighbouring Everton took the championship, Dalglish sought to silence the cynics with a series of spectacular signings. He replaced thp prolific Welsh marksman,! lan Rush, sold to Italy's Juventus for mere than £3 million, not with [ one player but with four; — all of them recognised first

division stars and two pf them established Englar d internationals. A striker, John Aldridge, and a midfielder, Ray Houghton, joined from Oxford but Dalglish added pace and flair jo his side — and took his spending close to .iis million — by signing trie English pair, John Barnes from Watford and Peter Beardsley from Newcastle. ' The reshaped side gelled immediately As spectacular results have [shown. i Liverpool went top of the first division on November 24 and haye gone unchallenged since. They have lost only this season and wept unbeaten until March 20 when they lost 1-0 xo Everton. With four games left, they could amass P 6 points from their JlO games, surpassing Everton’s record of 90 from $2 matches established in their 1985-86 championship winning season. Tom Finney, the legendary England, forward of the late 1940 s and 19505, is one of several who have declared the Liverpool team the best club side he has ever seen. The tragedy is that trie team Dalglish has moulded into one of trie

greatest of all time will probably remain hidden from Europe. Results.— ENGLISH LEAGUE Division one: Charlton 2, Newcastle 0; Derby 2, Southampton 0; Liverpool 1. 'ottenham 0; Oxford 1. Evertion 1; Portsmouth 2. Norwich 1: Queen’s Park Rangers 1. Sheffield Wednesday 1; West Ham 1. Coventry I; Wimbledon 2, Chealsea 2. Postponed I Arsenal v. Watford, Luton v. Nottingham Forest. | Division two: Aston Villa 1, Shrewsbury 0: Barnsley 2. Birmingham 2; Hull 4, Huddersfield 0; Ipswich 4, Middlesbrough 0: Leeds 1, Oldham 1: Leicester 1. Reading 0; Manchester City 2, Bradford 2; [Plymouth 1, Crystal Palace 3; 'Sheffield United 0,. West

Brorpwich 0; Stoke 1, Swindon 0, Bournemouth 1. Millwall 2.

] Division three: Blackpool 3, Grimsby 0; Bristol Rovers 1, Port yale 0; Chester 1, Brentford j; Doncaster 0, Brighton 2; Fulham 3. Southend 1; Gillingham 4, Preston 0; Mansfield 0, Bury 0; Notts County 4, Rotherham 0; Sunderland 0, Bristol City 1; Wigan 1, iChsterfield 2; York 2, Northampton 2. I ! '!!•'■ Division four: Bolton 6, Newport 0; Cardiff 2. Scarborough 0; Carlisle 4, Colchester 0; Darlington 2, Wrexham 1; Halifax 3. Hartlepool 1; Hereford 1, Cambridge United 0; Peterborough 2. Exeter I; Rochdale 1. Leyton Orient 3: Scunthope 1. Burnley] 1; Wolverhampton, 2. Swansea 0; Stockport 1,

Crewe 1; Tranmere 1, Torquay 1.

SCOTTISH LEAGUE | Premier division: Aberdeen 0, Hearts Or Celtic 3, Dundee 0; Dundee! United 2, Dunfermline 2;! Falkirk 4. Morton I; Hibernian! I, Motherwell I; St Mirren 0, Rangers 3. ■ Division one: Dumbarton 0, East Fife 0; Hamilton 0, Forfar i 1; Kilmarnock 4, Alrdrionians 1; [ Meadowbank 0, Clyde 1; Partick 0, Queen of the | South 3; Raith 2, Clydebank 3. II H .

Division two: Albion 1, Alloa [2: Ayr 0, East Stirling 0; Cowdenbeath 3,1 Berwick 0; Montrose I.! Queen’s Park 2; St [Johnstone 2,1 Brechin 0; Stirling 2, Arbroath 0; Stranraer 2, Stenhqusemuir 1.