This is how it felt (Sporting Lisbon 27 09 1972)
On Wednesday 27 September 1972, Hibs gave me a fantastic late birthday gift in a display of football that had every Scottish fan scratching their heads in disbelief. The game in question was two days after my birthday and the opponents were Sporting Lisbon.
In the first leg, Hibs were unlucky to fall to a 2-1 defeat according to the Scottish footballing press but also in the view of Pat Stanton who told me many years later that he felt that was Hibs best ever performance away in Europe. That was quite some claim given that Hibs had previously drawn 4-4 with Barcelona at the Nou Camp and had in fact been 4-2 up with only ten minutes left!
I attended the Lisbon game with my ex-wife, both of us in green and white for the occasion. I was giving a first outing to the Hibs scarf Id been given for my birthday and what a debut it had!
The stadium was bouncing and the atmosphere electric as the teams took to the field. Pat won the toss and needless to say we were shooting towards the Dunbar End in the first half. Both teams started warily, sizing each other up with the visitors looking slick with their passing but as the half hour approached, Mickey Edwards delivered a Liam Henderson type cross onto the head of Alan Gordon who steered the ball beyond the Sporting keeper. Had the game finished at 1-0 wed have been through on away goals but there was still a good hour to go and Sporting were looking menacing.
With half time looming a poor pass from, I think, Alex Cropley allowed Sporting to break and a fine move ended with Yazalde firing past Jim Herriot. That goal would have seen Sporting through but Hibs were shooting down the slope in the second half and so the talk during the break was of how we could see them off.
Ten minutes in and Jimmy ORourke brilliantly lobbed Gamas in the Sporting goal to put us 2-1 up and effectively level the tie. Three minutes later, Schaedler crossed and Gordon rose majestically to head home number three. The ground was bouncing now and a fourth goal followed soon after with ORourke set clear by the mesmeric Mickey Edwards. Jimmy steadied himself and thrashed the ball past Gamas. This was exhilarating stuff and there was more to come. Arthur Duncan was hauled down in the box and the ref pointed to the spot. Up stepped Jimmy BANG in went his third and a fifth for rampant Hibernian.
Right on the final whistle, Duncans low ball into the box was struck into his own net by the hapless Manaca and that brought about a never to be forgotten 6-1 against one of the best teams in Europe. We were in raptures at the end and Im pretty sure we floated on air all the way home.
Of course the demolition job was achieved by the legends we refer to as Turnbulls Tornadoes. Im aware a good number of netters only know of them by reputation and by old fogies like me waxing lyrical and so Im toying with the idea of writing up their time at Hibs, where they came from etc. if netters might enjoy reading that.
As if I needed to type this .
Hibs Herriot, Brownlie, Schaedler, Stanton, Black and Blackley, Edwards, ORourke, Gordon, Cropley and Duncan.
In the first leg, Hibs were unlucky to fall to a 2-1 defeat according to the Scottish footballing press but also in the view of Pat Stanton who told me many years later that he felt that was Hibs best ever performance away in Europe. That was quite some claim given that Hibs had previously drawn 4-4 with Barcelona at the Nou Camp and had in fact been 4-2 up with only ten minutes left!
I attended the Lisbon game with my ex-wife, both of us in green and white for the occasion. I was giving a first outing to the Hibs scarf Id been given for my birthday and what a debut it had!
The stadium was bouncing and the atmosphere electric as the teams took to the field. Pat won the toss and needless to say we were shooting towards the Dunbar End in the first half. Both teams started warily, sizing each other up with the visitors looking slick with their passing but as the half hour approached, Mickey Edwards delivered a Liam Henderson type cross onto the head of Alan Gordon who steered the ball beyond the Sporting keeper. Had the game finished at 1-0 wed have been through on away goals but there was still a good hour to go and Sporting were looking menacing.
With half time looming a poor pass from, I think, Alex Cropley allowed Sporting to break and a fine move ended with Yazalde firing past Jim Herriot. That goal would have seen Sporting through but Hibs were shooting down the slope in the second half and so the talk during the break was of how we could see them off.
Ten minutes in and Jimmy ORourke brilliantly lobbed Gamas in the Sporting goal to put us 2-1 up and effectively level the tie. Three minutes later, Schaedler crossed and Gordon rose majestically to head home number three. The ground was bouncing now and a fourth goal followed soon after with ORourke set clear by the mesmeric Mickey Edwards. Jimmy steadied himself and thrashed the ball past Gamas. This was exhilarating stuff and there was more to come. Arthur Duncan was hauled down in the box and the ref pointed to the spot. Up stepped Jimmy BANG in went his third and a fifth for rampant Hibernian.
Right on the final whistle, Duncans low ball into the box was struck into his own net by the hapless Manaca and that brought about a never to be forgotten 6-1 against one of the best teams in Europe. We were in raptures at the end and Im pretty sure we floated on air all the way home.
Of course the demolition job was achieved by the legends we refer to as Turnbulls Tornadoes. Im aware a good number of netters only know of them by reputation and by old fogies like me waxing lyrical and so Im toying with the idea of writing up their time at Hibs, where they came from etc. if netters might enjoy reading that.
As if I needed to type this .
Hibs Herriot, Brownlie, Schaedler, Stanton, Black and Blackley, Edwards, ORourke, Gordon, Cropley and Duncan.