Connections

We’ve delved into the archives to uncover previous encounters against opposition from the Serbian capital, Belgrade, and connections between ourselves and Serbia

This evening marks our fifth match against Crvena Zvezda with the teams having previously met in a two-legged UEFA Cup tie, one testimonial match and one friendly – all taking place in the 1970s.

It was right here in N17 on 29 November, 1972, that our encounters with tonight’s opponents first started. Having defeated Lyn Oslo and Olympiakos, we were drawn to face the then-Yugoslav side in the third round of the 1972/73 UEFA Cup and continued our run of never having lost a home tie in Europe at that stage of our history.

We opened the scoring towards the end of the first half when Martin Peters released Martin Chivers with a fine pass and the striker applied a composed finish to beat Ognjan Petrovic in the visitors’ goal. Peters was the architect of our second goal midway through the second half as well, providing the opening for Alan Gilzean to double our lead.

It was tough game though and Crvena zvezda had enough chances to snatch a vital away goal but just couldn’t find a way through, with Pat Jennings making a great left-handed save from Dragan Dzajic late on to ensure we headed to Belgrade confident of progressing.

Spurs: Jennings, Evans, England, Naylor, Knowles, Gilzean, Perryman, Pratt, Pearce, Peters, Gilzean.

Crvena zvezda: Petrovic, Krivokuca, Bogicevic, Pavlovic, Dojcinovski, Novkovic, Jankovic (Keri 50), Karasi, Lazarevic, Acimovic, Dzajic.