8th March 1980, FA Cup Sixth Round
TOTTENHAM (0) 0
LIVERPOOL (1) 1 (McDermott 38)
TOTTENHAM: Daines; McAllister, Perryman, Miller, Hughton; Yorath, Ardiles, Hoddle, Villa (Pratt); Armstrong, Falco
LIVERPOOL: Clemence; Neal, Thompson, Hansen, A. Kennedy; Case, McDermott, Souness, R. Kennedy; Johnson, Dalglish
Although this series concentrates on League matches, it was impossible to leave this game out if only for the goal that won it.
The FA Cup had reached the Quarter-Finals stage as Liverpool had progressed without conceding a goal, having seen off Grimsby (5-0), Nottingham Forest (2-0) and Bury (2-0). Tottenham had needed replays to get past Manchester United and Swindon before beating Birmingham (3-1) in the Fifth Round.
Liverpool were top of the League at the time, and had just won the Merseyside derby 2-1 at Goodison Park. Tottenham were down in 13th although they’d recently beaten Coventry and Leeds United and a capacity crowd were hopeful they could keep this cup run going.
Terry McDermott scored some wonderful goals in his career at Anfield. You can log onto youtube and spend a whole evening watching many of them. In fact, a top 10 of his best goals would still find you leaving out some which would get into other player’s top 10s. Having opened the season with two classy goals in the Charity Shield against Arsenal, his return of 16 for the season was the first time he’d hit double figures in his career. He would go onto better that in the next two seasons but his goal in this game will be remembered by many who enjoyed his particular brand of midfield play.
These days pundits and graphics innovators would be relishing tracking his movement around the pitch and much of his success was down to his ability to anticipate the play. With Dalglish often playing a deeper role than other strikers, this allowed McDermott to find space in penalty areas with defenders otherwise occupied.
But this goal was another of McDermott’s trademarks. A shot from outside the box. Tottenham were defending down near their left corner flag as Ardiles desperately tried to clear the danger, but his ball aimlessly played to the inside right position had been anticipated by McDermott and he was first to react. Using the pace of the ball, McDermott flicked it up with his right foot before volleying it past Daines into the top corner. He was about 25 yards out and the ball flew into the net to leave everybody gasping.
It would later go on to be voted Goal of the Season.
It was a goal worthy of winning any football match and had won Liverpool a place in the Semi-Finals where they were involved in a titanic tussle with Arsenal, who would eventually go on to reach the Final, where they were beaten by a rare Trevor Brooking header.
For Tottenham it would prove to be the last FA Cup match they lost until Everton beat them in February 1983. A run of 19 matches.