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Featured: "Bionic Carrot sinks the Blues (1975-76)" by Frank Dacey


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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:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Season:1975/76
Opposition:Everton

Result:1-0

Scorers:David  Fairclough

Venue:Anfield

 

 

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I don't think I'd ever seen that goal before. I was only two when it happened, but so many of the great goals of the past have been shown that many times that I thought I'd seen most of them.  This was new to me though, absolutely brilliant goal.  Imagine doing that with two minutes left in a massive derby game?

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This was really the beginning of the super sub nickname. Loads of people were clamouring for him to start every game, but as the legend goes, he never quite had the impact from the start and his all round game wasn't up to much. But every time DF came on as a sub, the excitement levels would go through the roof. People expected him to do this shit every week.

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It was such a great goal, not only because of the skill, but also because it came out of the blue, if you'll pardon the expression. 88 minutes of frustration, the Blues fans celebrating already and our title hopes disappearing and then suddenly......

Off the field it's one of the celebrations I remember most, with the place going completely berserk and the away support simply vanishing.

An inexperienced manager who'd replaced a club legend, taking charge of a title challenge in only his second season. Could it happen again?

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Just watched it again.  Tell you what I love about that goal, it's like you can almost see his thought process as it unfolded.  They take a throw in and he just thinks, "fuck this, we're not going to draw this game" and just goes and nicks the ball off them, turns and goes full steam towards goal.  Nothing was going to stop him there, it was a proper 'Superman' moment.

 

Thanks for sharing that Frank, put a big smile on my face that did.

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I can also remember the Everton supporters in the Anny that didn't vanish, celebrating like loons when we then missed the penalty.

Which was in about the 92nd minute while they were losing 1-0.

Must have been a great moment for them.

 

They've always had to take what they can get with us.

Making do with scraps.

 

Last laugh's habitually been ours.

 

Ha. Ha.

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I can also remember the Everton supporters in the Anny that didn't vanish, celebrating like loons when we then missed the penalty.

Which was in about the 92nd minute while they were losing 1-0.

Must have been a great moment for them.

Really?Some things don't change then

 

Similar small time mentality at St Mary's on saturday. Your side is 2 nil down, time running down, a certain opposition player has tore your defence apart, yet you still celebrate when said player rips another hole in your defence and misses narrowly!

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I remember it well!  It was an early kick off due to The National being that afternoon.  It's amazing (to me) that so many have not seen this goal.  Those that watched it on TV in "real time" had to wait until 2 pm Sunday when Granada showed the highlights.  As Frank says without this goal perhaps there might not have been St Etienne or Rome 1977.

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Just watched it again.  Tell you what I love about that goal, it's like you can almost see his thought process as it unfolded.  They take a throw in and he just thinks, "fuck this, we're not going to draw this game" and just goes and nicks the ball off them, turns and goes full steam towards goal.  Nothing was going to stop him there, it was a proper 'Superman' moment.

 

Thanks for sharing that Frank, put a big smile on my face that did.

Glad you enjoyed it, Dave. The thing about that run was how completely uncoached it was. I'd bet that Ronnie Moran was yelling at him to lay the ball off but he took off like a kid in a playground.

I'm amazed that so few people had seen the clip; it's one of my all-time Anfield great goals, much better than the St Etienne goal, but that was a night game and we'd never won the European Cup before so I suppose the context was all important

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Glad you enjoyed it, Dave. The thing about that run was how completely uncoached it was. I'd bet that Ronnie Moran was yelling at him to lay the ball off but he took off like a kid in a playground.

I'm amazed that so few people had seen the clip; it's one of my all-time Anfield great goals, much better than the St Etienne goal, but that was a night game and we'd never won the European Cup before so I suppose the context was all important

 

Incredible cameos from Fairclough, weren't they?

The Everton goal put Paisley on the road to his first triumph as manager.

And the St Etienne one made our first European Cup possible.

For a "bench" player, that man has more to be proud of than probably 95% of "ever-presents" that have played the English game.

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I must have seen it on the sunday afternoon Granada highlights at the age of eleven. Seen it a few times since on LFCTV. I love the on pitch celebrations from the Kemlynites. Bet a few of the 'early darters' regretted it that day.

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