Tottenham On This Day: Spurs Defeat Forest In FA Cup Semi-Final
By Logan Holmes
On this day in 1967 Tottenham reached their fifth FA Cup Final with a win over Nottingham Forest in the semi-final at Hillsborough.
Frank Saul in his Tottenham days [Photo: cards.littleoak.com.au]29th April, 1967
Nottingham Forest 1 Tottenham Hotspur 2 FA Cup Semi-Final at Hillsborough
Scorers: Hennessey Greaves, Saul
Team: Jennings; Kinnear, Knowles; Mullery, England, Mackay; Robertson, Greaves, Gilzean, Venables, Saul. Sub: Jones
The teams who were to finish second and third met to decide which club would reach the FA Cup Final at Wembley to meet the winners of the other semi-final, Chelsea or Leeds United. Spurs had held the upper hand in the two League games earlier in the season, winning 2-1 at White Hart Lane and drawing 1-1 at Forest.
Forest went into the game without their key player, Joe Baker, injured in the previous round but for the first half hour they dominated the game until Jimmy Greaves struck. Greaves loved playing against Forest as he scored more of his goals against them than any other club. And so it proved on this day – a clearance from England was flicked on by Gilzean to Greaves who put Spurs ahead after 30 minutes. Forest attacked constantly but with fifteen minutes left, Frank Saul scored Spurs’ second and although Forest pulled one back through Terry Hennessey it was only a consolation goal.
The FA Cup semi-final win took Spurs to their third Final at Wembley in seven years, where they would participate in the first all London final against Chelsea.