Tottenham and Stoke Share Seven Goals on 7th October 1972
By Logan Holmes
John Pratt
Tottenham and Stoke City shared seven goals in the 1st Division match at White Hart Lane. John Pratt, often an unsung hero of the Tottenham team in the early 1970s scored two of the goals.
7th October, 1972
Tottenham Hotspur 4 Stoke City 3
Scorers: Pratt (2), Gilzean, Coates
Spurs were undefeated in their opening five home games of the season, having won four and drawn one. All of the games, however, had been very close with all but one of the victories, home and away, having been by a single goal and this trend continued in spite of scoring four. Stoke made it a close game that Spurs won with goals from John Pratt (2), Alan Gilzean and Ralph Coates. John Pratt was getting the opportunity to establish himself in the Spurs team following the decision to transfer Alan Mullery to Fulham.
Alan Mullery – hero of 1972 UEFA Cup success
Mullery had been the hero of the previous season’s victorious UEFA Cup win. He had returned from injury but was unable to displace Pratt from the team. He went on loan to Fulham but when Pratt was injured just before the semi-final against AC Milan, Mullery was recalled and captained the team to success. He scored the goal in the away leg which gave Spurs a draw and then scored in the 2nd leg of the Final against Wolverhampton Wanderers at White Hart Lane. Pratt appeared in 37 League matches for Tottenham that season and contributed five goals.
Against Stoke City, John Pratt headed Spurs into an early lead. He then scored Spurs’ third with a shot into the corner of the net before half-time. Gilzean had scored a brilliant header for the second but after that Stoke had pulled one back. Three one ahead at the interval, Spurs’ game then fell away and Stoke pulled another goal back. Cyril Knowles created Tottenham’s fourth with a through pass for Coates to score. Stoke again responded and with only one goal advantage Spurs had to fight to the end for the points.
Team: Jennings; Kinnear, Knowles, Pratt, England, Beal; Gilzean, Peryman, Chivers, Peters, Coates
#knowyourtottenhamhistory 6th October, 1962 Spurs and Arsenal Share 8 Goals