West Ham United 1 Liverpool 1
The Retrospective Series Vol.6: 26th September 1981
The Retrospective Series Vol.6: 26th September 1981
Volume Six in my retrospective series of decades old Liverpool games sees the Reds in their pleasingly alternative and always favourite “away” strip of all yellow facing off with the claret and blue dressed “Hammers” of West Ham United fresh from their FA Cup Final triumph of 1980 and their subsequent promotion to the English 1st Division as the 1980/81 2nd Division Champions. This top flight match was also the first between these two teams since their April fools day League Cup Final Replay five months earlier in which Liverpool won 2–1 to secure their first ever triumph in this coveted domestic cup competition.
Riding on the crest of a wave and unbeaten at home for well over a year, this East London vintage was a team for the ages with Phil Parkes in goal behind a tough defensive line of Ray Stewart and Frank Lampard flanking a central defensive duo of Liverpudlian and Liverpool fan Alvin Martin and captain Billy Bonds. In the absence of the legendary Trevor Brooking, the West Ham midfield was dotted with ex Manchester United star Stuart Pearson, a still ridiculously young Paul Allen and Paul Goddard and grizzled veteran David Cross in attack. The Reds of Liverpool in their alternative yellow left new signing Mark Lawrenson on the substitutes bench following his suspension, Alan Kennedy retained his team place at left back and as per my recent volumes in this series that are linked below, their team remained a late 1970’s and early 1980’s all star team, from Bruce Grobbelaar in goal through a spine of Phil Thompson and Alan Hansen in defence, Graeme Souness, Sammy Lee and Terry McDermott in midfield alongside Ray Kennedy with Kenny Dalglish and David Johnson in attack.
As ever and as is respectfully customary, thank you to Dave Waller for his brilliant Liverpool filled www.youtube.com channel:
Dave Waller
This channel is about a football team - the greatest team you've ever seen. A team that played total football, won the…www.youtube.com
In a first half almost entirely dominated by the visitors, and with Kenny Dalglish brilliantly at the heart of everything progressive, dogged and positive for the Reds of Liverpool, it would be the home town East Londoners who would troop off at the half-time break with the lead through a fierce Geoff Pike strike into the top corner of Bruce Grobbelaar’s goal on 28 minutes. The visitors failed to clear a corner and with the ball running free on the edge of the penalty area, Pike smashed an unstoppable drive into the near post corner of the Liverpool goal. Aside from a fizzing cross from Ray Stewart that just evaded a stretching David Cross, this was all West Ham could muster in a first 45 minutes that Liverpool controlled and dominated.
Dalglish was pivotal in a first half that burst into life after a quickening move that cycled the ball from Ray Kennedy to Graeme Souness and onto his Scottish compatriot before Dalglish unleashed a terrific drive that soared towards the top corner of the West Ham goal before Phil Parkes spectacularly tipped the ball just over his crossbar. A Sammy Lee corner caused havoc in a West Ham defence that failed to clear but Parkes was again equal to Dalglish’s close in effort that he scrambled away, before Dalglish returned the favour after Terry McDermott had won the ball on the halfway line. Dalglish released Lee who saw his shot again repelled by West Ham’s legendary goalkeeping custodian. Before the players left the field for half-time Dalglish’s quick thinking gave Graeme Souness a chance that Parkes saved easily and he was also central to a sublime piece of play as he combined with both Kennedy’s (Ray and Alan) with a 1–2 pass with Alan Kennedy resulting in a low cross, a loose ball and a fierce drive from namesake Ray Kennedy that finally beat Phil Parkes in the West Ham goal, but not his goalpost and the ball cannoned away to safety.
The second half started in the same vein as the first with a Dalglish corner miscued by Ray Stewart into the path of Sammy Lee who should have equalised, but didn’t. Finally West Ham grew into the game and they should have been 2 or 3 goals clear by the time Liverpool equalised with 13 minutes to go. A quiet Paul Goddard released first half goal scorer Geoff Pike who flashed a hard drive just inches past a beaten Bruce Grobbelaar in the Liverpool goal before Pike returned the compliment to Goddard and, with the goal at his mercy, he tried to chip the Zimbabwean International (who was again beaten and unable to do anything to prevent a goal) but saw his somewhat sloppy effort drift harmlessly wide. The home team “Hammers” should have been 3–0 in front and pocketing the 3 points for a win, but a goalkeeping blunder from Phil Parkes would gift them a thoroughly deserved point.
The move itself prior to the blunder was oh so very Liverpool and summed up their entire approach to the game. From a high defensive line on halfway Phil Thompson strode purposefully forward before cycling the ball to Ray Kennedy, back to Alan Hansen who released Graeme Souness. The Scotsman’s pass encouraged Alan Kennedy to roam down the left flank and his cross was fluffed by the experienced Phil Parkes and straight onto the head of striker David Johnson who simply couldn’t miss.
The final 13 minutes was all West Ham with combative central striker David Cross having 3 separate difficult half chances, all of which were spurned, and the 2 dropped points really summed up Liverpool’s out of sorts and up and down start to the season.
Thanks for reading. I sincerely hope you’ve enjoyed this brief meander through a 4 decades old game of typically competitive English football and if so, can I draw your eye to the 3 most recently released volumes in this particular series of articles?
Liverpool 0 Aston Villa 0
The Retrospective Series Vol.5: 19th September 1981medium.com
Liverpool 2 Arsenal 0
The Retrospective Series: 5th September 1981medium.com
Liverpool 2 QPR 1
The Retrospective Series: Vol.3 The calm before the storm and the creation of the unbeatablesmedium.com