Tottenham Defeat QPR To Win 1982 FA Cup Final

After a long, hard season Tottenham won the FA Cup for the seventh time with a win in a replay against Queen’s Park Rangers. It was a penalty in the first half from Glenn Hoddle which settled the match with Spurs relieved to hear the final whistle.

On This Day

27th May, 1982

Tottenham Hotspur 1  Queen’s Park Rangers 0

Scorer: Hoddle (pen)

Team: Clemence; Perryman (Captain), Price, Miller, Hughton; Hazard (Brooke), Hoddle, Roberts, Galvin; Archibald, Crooks

Steve Perryman lifts the 1982 FA Cup Photo: [Logan Holmes]

At one point in the season Tottenham had been campaigning for silverware on four fronts. They reached the League (Milk) Cup Final losing to Liverpool after extra time, having been ahead until the final minutes of normal time. They were beaten by a robust Barcelona team in the semi-finals of the European Cup Winners’ Cup and they had finished fourth in the League when fixture congestion in the final weeks of the season took its toll.

The FA Cup Final against 2nd Division, Queen’s Park Rangers, managed by Terry Venables was their last chance of a trophy. The Spurs team was missing the influential Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa – Ardiles had returned to Argentina to prepare for the World Cup finals while Villa was omitted because of the on-going hostilities of the Falklands War.

Venables, the master tactician, had set up his team to deny Spurs and the plan was carried out to perfection by his players in the Final the previous Saturday but it was  restricted when his leading goalscorer, Clive Allen, was injured in the opening minutes. QPR had stifled Tottenham’s creative midfield with man to man marking but Spurs still had enough chances to have won with ease but tiredness and injury were telling on the players and they were unable to make them count.  When they did get shots on target the goalkeeper kept them at bay with a number of outstanding saves, while Ray Clemence had been a virtual spectator.

The game went into extra time and in the 109th minute Glenn Hoddle struck taking a return pass from Graham Roberts. Only then did QPR show an inclination to attack and with five minutes remaining Terry Fenwick, another future Spurs player, headed the equaliser when a long throw was flicked on to him at the back post.

Replay:

Spurs were unchanged for the replay but whereas in the previous season the excitement and quality of the replay made up for the tedium of the first game, this was not the case in the first half of this replay. Spurs set out to gain an early advantage and achieved it with a goal after six minutes. Graham Roberts won the ball in midfield and set off on a powerful run towards the QPR penalty area where he was brought down. A penalty and Glenn Hoddle sent the ball into the left corner as the goalkeeper dived to his right.

Glenn Hoddle scores the penalty in the 1982 FA Cup Final [Photo: Logan Holmes]

Spurs were unable to add to their goal as the game descended into a tedious midfield battle with neither side looking capable of scoring.

In the second half, QPR showed their attacking intentions and Spurs defence was under constant pressure with Ray Clemence having to make a number of vital saves. Spurs attacking moments were restricted to the occasional breakaway as QPR put everything into getting an equaliser. There were many close calls but Spurs held out with last gasp defending and retained the FA Cup at the end of an extremely long and tiring season. The QPR players had been the heroes of the second half but with no reward. When the final whistle blew Spurs had completed their 66th match of the season and captain, Steve Perryman had led from the front for every single minute of those games which had included a sequence of 19 matches in under eight weeks from early April.

The Road to Wembley:

3rd Round:  v  Arsenal (h)  Won 1 – 0  Crooks

4th Round:  v  Leeds United (h)  Won 1 – 0  Crooks

5th Round:  v  Aston Villa (h)  Won 1 – 0  Falco

6th Round:  v  Chelsea (a)  Won 3 – 2  Hazard, Hoddle, Archibald

Semi-Final: v Leicester City (at Villa Park)  Won 2 – 0  Crooks, opp. o.g.