Saints At Burnley 1978 !
Friday, 23rd Sep 2011 09:04

It was getting tight at the top as we headed north to Turf Moor.

Saints travelled to Turf Moor sat third in the table, back then there were no play offs and it was the top three that went up, leading the old division two as it was called back then were Bolton on 38 points, followed by Spurs on 37 and then us on 36, fourth were Brighton who had 32, all of us had played 26 out of our 42 games, in fifth sat Blackburn who also had 32 but had a game in hand, remember in those days it was two points for a win.

Burnley for their part sat third from bottom and were worried about relegation, this was one of those games where if you had hopes of promotion you had to get something out of and back then if you won your home games then a point away from home wasnt too bad as it was only one less than if you won.

But on a cold day and 10,950 in the ground, including a few assorted fans of teams whose games had been called off at late notice, it could not have started worse for Saints, Kindon scoring for the home side after only five minutes, on the half hour it got worse as Cochrane made it two and thats how it was at the break.

Whatever lawrie McMenemy said in his half time team talk must have worked as Ted MacDougall pulled one back straight after the break, but it would be only a temporary respite and within five minutes Kindon had restored the two goal advantage.

Thats how it stayed for the rest of the half and as the clock ran down it looked like Saints would suffer a major blow to their promotion hopes, indeed when Phil Boyer netted on 87 minutes it looked little more than a consolation that would make the score a little more respectable, back in those days injury time consisted of 1 maybe 2 mins at most.

As the clock hit 90 mins and the home fans whistled for the end of the match and two points they desperately needed Saints launched what was surely their last attack, a desperate effort, but the ball fell to David Peach way outside the area and he lashed in a volley that was well, a peach and it whistled in through Trevor Hebberd's legs to give Saints a draw that looked unlikely for all but 3 of the 90 mins, moments later the final whistle went and Saints had their point

It was a vital point, Spurs had won and Bolton been called off, so it was a mixed day above us, below Brighton had also drawn and Blackburn lost so it was starting to look like a four horse race for those three promotin places, indeed that how it turned out come the final day, when this point was all that seperated us from the Seagulls in fourth, without it we would still have gone up through goal difference, but as we went into the final day it meant we were all but up and the pressure was off us and on Spurs.

The Match Of The Day cameras were there that day at Turf Moor to capture the game for posterity and the nation was regaled with images of Saints late comeback and the sheer joy of the Saints players afterthe equaliser as they ran to the away following, it was a gritty performance one typical of that Saints team and another what Lawrie McMenemy would describe as a "character performance"

Photo: Action Images

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