Gary Sprake
Re: Gary Sprake
He could be a bit naughty too. His favourite was when he had the ball in hand. He would let the forward close him down then kick the ball from hand catching the forward in the thigh, hip area with his follow through. This only worked once as they didn't come near him after that. Another was his two fisted punch. One on the ball the other in the opponents face. It took good timing and he must have practised it in training because I saw him do it several times. He never missed.
I once played against Don Revie.
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Deleted User 130
Re: Gary Sprake
Yes John, you'll probably remember the Everton Cup defeat, something to do with Sprake having the ball ready to drop-kick, but he wanted to kick Joe Royle (?) at the same time and the ball skewed to one of their players who had virtually an open goal to aim at. He shot and Jack Charlton reached the ball, with his hand. So it was a penalty and we lost one-nil, I believe.
And in the 1968 League Cup final, he had a scrap with I think Ian Ure. Sprake retaliated and should have been sent off really (as should Ure). We were lucky there, and there was another important league game at Arsenal where he punched one of their lot and the ref saw it. But as Sprake is Welsh, and the referee too, and the fight was caused by an Arsenal forward calling Sprake a Welsh Barsteward or something, so the ref ignored it!
And in the 1968 League Cup final, he had a scrap with I think Ian Ure. Sprake retaliated and should have been sent off really (as should Ure). We were lucky there, and there was another important league game at Arsenal where he punched one of their lot and the ref saw it. But as Sprake is Welsh, and the referee too, and the fight was caused by an Arsenal forward calling Sprake a Welsh Barsteward or something, so the ref ignored it!
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Billy the kid
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PockWhite
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Re: Gary Sprake
David Harvey was always my boyhood goalkeeping hero, but I know that's my heart talking.
My head says despite all that's gone on in more recent years and despite some absolute & very costly howlers, Sprake was a fantastic keeper and helped win us far more games, with his heroics, than he cost us with said howlers.
My head says despite all that's gone on in more recent years and despite some absolute & very costly howlers, Sprake was a fantastic keeper and helped win us far more games, with his heroics, than he cost us with said howlers.