Mention David Fairclough goals at Anfield and most minds will think of the crucial goal against St Etienne in 1977, but without this goal against the Blues he would not have been able to score that one against the Greens.
The title race in 1976 was hard fought; QPR, United, Derby, Leeds and ourselves were all in with a shout, so the last thing we needed was to play Everton. The last four encounters had finished goalless and another similar result would be a massive blow to our hopes of winning the league.
Yet for 88 minutes the game had goalless draw written all over it; then Fairclough - on as a substitute you won't be surprised to hear - took over. He picked up a loose pass on the right touchline, actually facing his own goal, near the half-way line. He turned, beat four men and slammed in a shot at the near post.
To say that Anfield erupted would be an understatement. I’d been standing on the left of the Kop, about halfway up, I found myself after the goal at the front right without any idea of how I’d got from A to B.
Liverpool still had time to have a shot cleared off the line and miss a penalty before the final whistle blew. Given that we won the title by one point the importance of Fairclough’s goal can’t be understated and that title win paved the way for the triumphant European Cup campaign of the following season.
Team: Clemence, Smith, Neal, Thompson, R Kennedy, Hughes, Keegan, Case, Toshack (Fairclough), Heighway, Callaghan:
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