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Competition: First Division.
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Attendance: 32,718.
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Referee: Mr A.W.S. Jones (Ormskirk,
A goal from Peter Lorimer in each half, one from a virtually impossible angle earned Leeds United a richly deserved victory over Sheffield Wednesday in the Yorkshire ‘derby’ in December 1968.
The game was less than a quarter of an hour old when United took the lead, Johnny Giles came bursting into the penalty area to slide a teasing pass just behind the penalty spot where Peter Lorimer, running in at speed, reached full stretch with his foot to flick the ball in. His second bordered on the impossible. Chasing a Giles pass to the Wednesday by-line he found both goalkeeper Peter Springett and defender Wilf Smith between him and the goal six yards away. Lorimer, however, managed to keep the ball in play and turned it inside then rolling it past Springett and along the goal-line before going in at the far post. The goal had beaten all laws of scoring angles and in a match that saw United well on top throughout it was ironic that the goals they did get should have resulted from two difficult situations.
Impartial reports of the game proclaimed that a victory of 4-0 or 5-0 would not have distorted United’s superiority. Johnny Giles and Mike O’Grady were both guilty of missing far easier chances than the two Lorimer converted. Gary Sprake had one of his easiest afternoons in the United goal, as Wednesday were rarely able to reach him while in contrast Peter Springett could relax only briefly as United took control of the match very early on. Despite the absence of Terry Cooper, there was not a weak link in the United line-up. Paul Madeley stood in effortlessly for him at left-back and he, Paul Reaney, Jack Charlton and Norman Hunter had a tight grip on the Wednesday forwards until the last few minutes.
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Scored both