LEEDS UNITED 1 CITY 0
FA Cup 6th Round
8th April 1967
Attendance 48,887
Scorer Charlton(50)
Ref Mr E Jennings
City Dowd, Book, Pardoe, Horne, Heslop, Oakes, Summerbee, Bell, Connor, Crossan, Brand – Sub Doyle(unused)
Leeds Sprake, Reaney, Bell, Bremner, Charlton, Hunter, Lorimer, Madeley, Peacock, Giles, Gray – Sub Greenhoff(45)
Joe Mercer looked back on the 6th Round as a turning point.
“We were drawn away to Leeds United, ruthless robot-like Leeds they were then.
…the ehtire football world expected us to play it tight. But they reckoned wrong. They overlooked the moral courage, the gambling streak, the spirit of adventure that was always just below the surface of the Mercer-Allison partnership.
We did exactly the opposite to what was expected, we attacked them!
We threw everything in, we decided in just a few words ‘What the hell have we got to lose?
City were brilliant that day. We gave Leeds a lesson and with the most outrageous bad luck lost by a solitary goal that should have been disallowed. We had been so much on top the result was unbelievable. Still, we had found ourselves we were on our way.
We started to stretch defences. Fear was scoffed at!”
City took the game to Leeds. The team had previously been rooted in a defensive style of play, broke forward and played exciting attacking football.
Leeds were not used to teams going to Elland Road and attacking them.
The only goal came in the 50th minute, following Leeds’ first corner of the game. When eddie Gray floated the ball towards the goal, Jack Charlton appeared to impede City ‘keeper Harry Dowd, Charlton headed in and City complained unsuccessfully.
FROM JOE MERCER – FOOTBALL WITH A SMILE
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Being my first game at Elland Road it has stood long in the memory. As Leeds fans we were all expecting an easy win but a combination of atrocious weather conditions and the brilliance of an emerging Manchester City meant that we were outplayed for long periods. Leeds seemed to weather the storm in the second half (pardon the pun) and came more into the game. I don’t remember Jack Charlton’s header being particularly controversial but we were on the other side of the ground. I agree with Joe Mercer that this was a turning point for City but also for Leeds and these 2 clubs went on to dominate English football for a few years.
Thanks Ian for taking your time to share your great memory of the game with us