Programme of the Week Number 21 – Tottenham Hotspur v Derby County 12 March 1953

Programme of the Week Number 21 – Tottenham Hotspur v Derby County 12 March 1953

Derby were due to play at Spurs in a Division One fixture on Saturday 28 February 1953 but the game was postponed because of Tottenham’s involvement in the FA Cup quarter final at Birmingham that day. Only 13,933 spectators watched the rearranged game on 12 March as it was a Thursday afternoon so many would have been unable to leave work. The low attendance explains why the programme, below, is scarce.

In comparison, 59,543 were present at Spurs’ previous home game against Birmingham in the FA Cup quarter final replay, and 47,903 watched the Division One game against Chelsea two days later.

Derby Evening Telegraph reporter, Milburn Shanks, was critical of Derby’s performance against Tottenham who fielded ‘eight reserves, two of who were amateurs.’ Shanks suggested three reasons why Derby lost 5-2 which was their 13th away League defeat of the season:

‘1. An over-reliance on the offside game and a lack of intelligence in persisting when it became obvious that Nielson’s speed was by no means its usual decisive factor against an extremely fast forward line.

2. A general lack of covering by the defence which again left gaps which were continually exploited.

3. The inadequacy of a forward line in which the Oliver experiment was a failure – he was rarely in the game after the very early stages – and which lacked both a schemer and punch in front of goal.’

However, Derby were unlucky not to take the lead after 20 minutes when Ray Straw’s header was cleared by Willis under the crossbar ‘when a goal to the Rams seemed certain’. Just a minute later though a Bennett header gave Tottenham the lead. Derby were not behind for long and Don Hazeldine equalised with a drive that went in off the crossbar on 24 minutes. McClellan then put Spurs ahead again on 29 minutes following a breakaway run.

Tottenham continued to dominate and the Rams were fortunate to still only be 2-1 behind after 75 minutes – Groves missed an open goal, two goals were disallowed for offside, and Middleton in the Derby goal ‘made some very fine saves’.

The final stages of the game saw four more goals. In the 75th minute Hollis beat the offside trap to score, then two minutes later Robb netted with a fierce rising drive. On 82 minutes McClellan made it 5-1 to Tottenham with a hard hit shot before Hugh McLaren scored Derby’s second with a minute left to play.

Tottenham Hotspur: Ditchburn, Withers, Willis, Marchi, King, Wetton, V Groves, Bennett, Hollis, McClellan, G Robb.

Derby County: Middleton, Mozley, Savin, McLachlan, Nielson, Mays, Straw, Hazeldine, Lee, Oliver, McLaren

Derby finished bottom of Division One and were relegated at the end of the season along with Stoke City. Within two years relegation to Division Three North followed. Derby did not play Tottenham again until September 1969 when they famously defeated Bill Nicholson’s team 5-0 at the Baseball Ground in front of a record attendance of 41,826.

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