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OnThis Day In History -3rd April
Friday, 3rd Apr 2020 13:00

After a look at perhaps the most famous game we played on this day, we now take a look at some of the other fixtures on April 3rd, some more memorable than others.

In 1982 Saints had ended March in top spot in Division One, but they were only a point above leaders Liverpool and the Mickey's had 3 games in hand, by the time we travelled to Brighton they had won that game and overhauled us and pushed us back to 2nd.

In this season we would spend more time leading the division than any other club, but as we went into April the wheels were about to come off, in the dressing room all was not well and the leading lights like Kevin Keegan and Mick Channon had been pestering Lawrie McMenemy to sign someone to get the team over the line, especially after the loss of Steve Moran who had been assaulted in a Portsmouth nightclub by a Pompey youth team player and so would miss the final 22 games after scoring 9 in the first 18 he played.

But we dithered and although we signed Keith Cassells and Mark Wright both from Oxford, it was not the big mane experienced signings we needed.

A big army travelled along the South Coast by train and road and made up around a quarter of the 20,977 crowd packed into the then away terrace in the corner of the old Goldstone Ground, they saw Saints go behind to a 30th minute penalty but Kevin Keegan equalised to earn a draw, a disappointment both in terms of the manner of the performance and the fact that we now dropped to third.

1983/84 was perhaps one of the most exciting months in Saints history as we will see in the coming weeks, on this day back then we hosted struggling Leicester a week ahead of our FA Cup semi final at Highbury, the game was goalless at half time and then Gary Lineker put the visitors ahead, Danny Wallace equalised 3 mins later before Lineker scored again as the game entered it's final stages, Steve Moran headed home in the final minutes to earn a point.

Fast forward 20 years and we were up to the Black Country to face Wolverhampton Wanderers who were up for just one season for the time being, a big Saints following was delayed on the Motorway meaning than many didn't get there till half time so they missed James Beattie's first half strike to give us the lead at the break.

Then on 58 minutes came the moment that many thought would never happen, Claus Lundekvam scored his first goal for the club, it was up at the opposite end from where the away fans were situated and for a moment many could not believe who had scored it and looked questioningly at their neighbours, but yet it was Claus and it was the first of well two goals for the club in his career, no prizes if someone can name the other one.

Wolves pulled one back with 18 minutes to go but Saints gave them no way back into the game, when Kevin Phillips scored in the 89th minute the exodus started, when he scored again a minute later it became a fire drill.

"We'll never see you again" sang the replica shirt clad jester hatted masses, they were wrong, they would see the neanderthal Wolves fans to our left very soon, they waited outside and punched any away fan they could see, Wolves have always been a bit like that.

Four years ago we travelled to Leicester City, both clubs were chasing glory, Leicester were clear at the top and we were 7th looking to try and pus into a Champions League spot, Wes Morgan scored the only goal of the game despite the fact that we would have more possession and more shots on goal, but we couldn't turn them into goals.

This would be the last game we lost all season, winning 5 and drawing 1 of the last six games and falling only 3 points short of a Champions League place

Photo: Action Images



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TimSaint added 15:57 - Apr 3
That Wolves game was memorable for me for many reasons. Grand National Day - had the winner. Everyone who drove up was late. Saw lots of people there I knew that wouldn't normally have been there - including a Spurs fan in the Saints end, who was with some Saints mates.
Beats and SKP were superb that day. Great win, marred by that awful tackle by Henri Camara (who would later play for us) on Jason Dodd, that put him out for the season. I think Camara scored their goal as well.
Seeing Claus score was like seeing Benali score - utter amazement !! :-)
On the way back, I was taking the train back to Brum to meet a Villa supporting mate for a night out, so split from my mates. Got confronted by a Wolves tw@t and his 3 mates, guessed I was Saints by my 4-1 smile or accent, then he tried to punch and kick me. His mates were just backing him but not doing anything, so I said just you and me then, punched him once, he was a bit dazed and also shocked that I'd punched him and that his mates hadn't helped, so they all ran off !! Utter cvnts.

Went to the Leicester game too. Absolutely shocking refereeing that day. Mane was clean through, Simpson blatantly used his arm to block the shot, so should have been sent off and we should have had a penalty. Then there was a clear foul for the goal. At the time, it was all about the Leicester w@nkfest, so of course they got the key decisions. Oh for VAR that day !! Actually they didn't give Alderwierald handball at SMS, so they probably wouldn't have given that one either !!
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