On ESPN last night they featured the above Saints V Spurs game on their classic games series and what a cracker it was two.

Saints met Spurs four times during the 1994/95 season, the first game was a televised ky game at White Hart Lane where Saints triumphed 2-1 after trailing with 75 minutes gone, a Le Tiss penalty followed by a last minute winner gave us all three points for our first win in our fifth game.

There then followed two cup games, in London we drew 1-1, Le Tissier again equalising a minute after Spurs opened the scoring, again from the spot.

The replay at the Dell was a classic, Saints took the lead early on through Neil Shipperley and then ripped Spurs apart though the fact that the only other goal they scored was a Le Tiss penalty for a 2-0 half time lead cosrt them dearly, as older fans will remember Spurs took the game to extra time then ripped us apart with another four goals in those 30 minutes.

So when Spurs arrived at the Dell on 2nd April 1995 for a Sunday lunchtime televised game, it wasnt hard to predict goals, Neil Heaney is not best remembered by older Saints fans, he was seen as another of those folly's we seemed to sign in the 90's always injured ! but this his was perhaps his best game for us, certainly those watching the highlights on ESPN would wonder 17 years later why he wasnt one of our greats.

It started well for Saints and Heaney, in the 5th minute a Le Tissier corner found Neil Maddison whose header was glanced past Ian Walker for the opener, then came two quick Spurs goals from Sherringham and Rosenthal, one of which was a disaster for Bruce Grobelaar, who hesitated as he came out for an innocuous looking through ball, he had time to kick it clear, didnt and saw the striker nip in and whip it virtually out of his hands.

It looked like Saints would go in at the break 2-1 down, but on the stoke of half time it was Le Tissier again to smash home a ball from a close angle.

In the second half there was no let up, three more goals would be scored in five pulsating minutes, firstly Le Tissier again for his sixth goal of the season against Spurs on 57 minutes, a minute later Teddy Sheringham levelled and then on 62 minutes Jim Magilton smashed home the goal of the game from just outside the box to make it 4-3 with nearly half an hour to play.

The only shock at the end of the game was that there was to be no more goals, but then again Saints fans had seen 15 in Spurs two visits to the Dell in virtually exactly a month, so they couldn't be too greedy and Saints had taken all six points off Tottenham.

Le Tissier as he always seemed to do back then, turned up a notch whenever the Sky cameras visited the Dell and went from just being superb to being totally amazing, not just the fact he was scoring but his overall play and involvement.

The one thing that struck me about this game was how it flowed compared with today's game, despite having Jurgen Klinsmann on the pitch who had arrived with a reputation for diving, both sides rode tackles and there were relatively few free kicks, players on both sides always tried to play on rather than fall to the floor, it made me wonder just when did the game change so drastically in the way that players now behave, did it happen overnight or was it gradual, I cant seem to remember, whatever though one thing I will say is the game is the worse for the current antics where players cheat to try and con referee's they have been fouled, the sooner this is sorted out then the sooner the game will get back to the free flowing spectacle it was only 17 years ago, rather than the way it is now, where its become similar to American Football in the fact teams look to gain possession of the ball and free kicks further up the pitch on each move.

Nostalgia ! it isn't what it used to be            

Photo: Action Images

VeloSaint added 10:39 - Oct 3 strange kick off time for this game I seem to recall..
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SaintNick added 11:15 - Oct 3 I think it was 12.30 on a sunday, back then I dont think they had the super sunday's they have now and the lunchtime game was not a regular thing and had different times
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Horndeansaint added 11:17 - Oct 3 Just a thought on the diving front, I wonder if the huge influx of players from abroad has brought this syndrome into our game? It is considered to be a clever move and to be applauded in Spain and other countries if a player cons the ref into giving a dodgy pen. My youngest son plays basketball at a high level and, as you will no doubt agree, that is a very fast game with plenty of opportunity for "flops" as diving in basketball is known. There are always 2 and sometimes 3 referees and this gives them the dual advantage of being close to the play and also, generally speaking, to see the play coming towards them rather than away from them which makes spotting this much easier in my opinion. I have always wondered what the benefit of those extra refs is in some games, other than posing and, on very rare occasions, spotting that a ball had actually crossed the line (whoop de do, clever them) so how about adding this to their duties? It would at least give 2 different perspectives on the incident in question and make their involvement more worthwhile.

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stew1964 added 11:41 - Oct 3 The 1st game you mentioned when spurs were 1-0 up at half time, we took the kick of in the 2nd half and the camaras showed matty yawning as if tired its the 1st and only time iv seen a football player yawn still remember that lol
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