Date: Sunday, 9th April 1995.
Venue: Anfield, Liverpool.
Competition:
English Premier League.
Score: Liverpool
0 Leeds United 1
Scorers: Liverpool:
Nil. Leeds United: Deane.
Attendance:
37,454.
Teams:
Liverpool: James; Jones, Ruddock, Scales, Babb; McManaman, Redknapp, Barnes,
Walters (Kennedy); Rush, Fowler. Unused Subs: Chamberlain, Thomas.
Leeds United: Lukic;
Kelly, Pemberton, Wetherall, Dorigo; Wallace,
McAllister, Palmer, Speed; Yeboah, Deane. Unused
Subs: Worthington, Whelan, Beeney.
Referee: K. Burge (Tonypandy,
Mid-Glamorgan).
Brian Deane
may not have had the amount of success with his home city club that he, and the
supporters, might have expected but the striker earned himself the distinction
of becoming the first Leeds United player to score a goal at Anfield in more than sixteen years. Whereas John Hawley’s
strike in November 1978 held Liverpool to a draw, Deane’s twenty-ninth minute effort
brought a long overdue victory for United at Anfield.
Twenty-three years had passed since United were previously able to celebrate a
League victory at Liverpool, when goals from Allan Clarke and Mick Jones did the trick, in January
1972.
However
some of the gloss was taken off the memorable victory with the news that
manager Howard Wilkinson was being head hunted by Turkish club Galatasaray and to try and prise
him away from Elland Road they were dangling a £500,000 p.a.
salary after tax. Wilkinson would not comment publicly but spoke forcefully
about his future plans for United. “My biggest desire is to make sure that Tony
Yeboah remains at the club. I would not need to sign
anyone in the summer if Tony agrees to stay on here with us.” He said. He was
keen to stay at Elland Road where he felt he still had more to
achieve and he was happy that the goals had started to flow since the arrival
of Yeboah. “It is important from our point of view
that Tony stays with us. I don’t think he had a scoring chance at Liverpool but he still looked a very
accomplished player. As I have said for the last eighteen months, the only
thing we really needed was goals and his arrival has tended to improve that.”
Yeboah
had scored ten goals in the previous ten games, including a hat-trick in the
previous match against Ipswich Town. He had also felt the full force of
a Ruddock challenge but had shrugged it off and went on to play a part in the
build up to Deane’s goal, flicking the ball through for Gary Speed. The
Welshman’s shot then had hit a post and rebounded to Deane who hammered it in
from seven yards. “However good a player may be you cannot rely on one person
all the time to get the goals so it was important that Deane got one”, the
Manager said.
United had
an outside chance of qualifying for Europe and they clearly had the bit between their
teeth and kept up their recent good form and points’ accumulation. It was
particularly pleasing for John Lukic, who was dropped
from the team after the 2-0 loss at Liverpool the previous season, but had kept a clean
sheet this time, his seventeenth of the season. He, along with his fellow
defenders, David Wetherall, John Pemberton, Tony Dorigo and Gary Kelly, had been formidable, while Gary
McAllister, Gary Speed and Carlton Palmer were outstanding in midfield.
The clash
with Liverpool kicked off a nine-day period in
which United’s late push for a UEFA Cup place faced
its toughest challenge. The fixtures at Liverpool, a home clash with table-topping Blackburn
Rovers and a visit to Newcastle United were regarded as a three-match make or
break period in relation to European qualification. Wilkinson’s men rose to the
challenge. After drawing with Blackburn Rovers they beat Newcastle United,
Aston Villa, Norwich City and Crystal Palace before drawing the last game of the
season 1-1 at Tottenham Hotspur to finish fifth and clinch
European qualification. Wilkinson’s satisfaction was all the greater in the
knowledge that Tony Yeboah with six and Brian Deane
with three had notched nine of the fifteen goals United scored in their final
eight games of the league campaign.
Match Action:
Brian Deane follows up to score
After
Gary Speed’s shot had hit the post
Teams:
Liverpool 1994-95:
Back Row: Rob Jones, Mark Kennedy, Steve Nicol, Michael Stensgaard, David
James, Jan Molby,
Dominic Matteo, Mark
Walters.
Middle Row: Ron Moran (Coach), Steve Harkness,Lee Jones, John Scales, Stig Inge Bjornebye,
Phil Babb, Michael Thomas, Doug Livermore
(Coach), Sammy Lee (Coach).
Front Row: Nigel Clough, Neil Ruddock, Robbie
Fowler, Ian Rush, Roy Evans (Manager),
John Barnes, Jamie Redknapp,
Steve McManaman.
Leeds United 1994-95:
Back
Row: David White, Carlton Palmer, John Lukic, David Wetherall, Mark Beeney,
Brian Deane, Gary McAllister.
Middle
Row: Mick Hennigan
(Coach), Lucas Radebe, Mark Tinkler,
Kevin Sharp,
John Pemberton, Philomen
Masinga, Chris Fairclough,
Noel Whelan, Nigel Worthington,
David O’Leary, Geoff Ladley
(Physio).
Front
Row: Gary Kelly, Gary Speed, Gordon Strachan, Howard Wilkinson (Manager),
Tony Dorigo, Rod
Wallace, Jamie Forrester.
Players:
John Lukic kept another clean
sheet Gary
Kelly, John Pemberton, David Wetherall and
Tony Dorigo were a
formidable defence Rod
Wallace, Carlton Palmer, Gary McAllister and
Gary Speed formed an excellent midfield. As strikers, Tony Yeboah was always a threat and Brian Deane got the winner
David James guarded the Liverpool net. Rob
Jones and Phil Babb were the full-backs. Mark Kennedy was the substitute
Central defence was Neil
Ruddock and ex-Leeds junior John Scales Future
Leeds players Leeds Robbie Fowler and Ian Rush were the strikers
Steve McManaman,
Jamie Redknapp, John Barnes and Mark Walters were the
strong Liverpool midfield