SUPER TED'S MAGNIFICENT

LIAM HARDING RECALLS WHEN HIS GREAT-GRANDFATHER CREATED A SLICE OF FOOTBALL HISTORY...

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ON DECEMBER 14, 1935, Arsenal forward Ted Drake set the record for the most goals scored in an English topflight game of football - and it's still never been equalled 90 years later!

Drake notched a magnificent seven goals as the league champions powered to a 7-1 victory at shell-shocked Aston Villa in the First Division.

Remarkably, Bob Wall, an Arsenal administrator and worker for 50-plus years at Highbury, stated in his book 'Arsenal from the Heart' that one of the most heroic individual feats in English football history could have easily not occurred.

"Ted was still feeling the effects of a twisted knee twenty-four hours before the match and Tom Whit-taker had virtually made up his mind that he should not play," wrote Wall.

"George Allison, who was then manager, was in a London hospital recovering from a heart attack. His condition was such that Tom decided it would be wrong to worry him by discussing possible team changes.

"So he asked Ted if he would be willing to take the risk of playing with his knee heavily strapped up. Ted readily agreed but that was not the end of Tom's worries."

Before kickoff, to add insult to injury, Drake tripped up on the perimeter track whilst warming up, cutting his arm and needing further support from the Arsenal medics.

However, the only players who would suffer any more injury and pain throughout the 90 minutes would be those of the Villa side which included six internationals.