Fulham v Wolves, 1st January 1983

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Fulham v Wolves, 1st January 1983

the battle for promotion. Wolves manager Graham Hawkins continued his policy of fielding a core group of experienced players in goalkeeper John Burridge, Geoff Palmer, Alan Dodd, Kenny Hibbitt, Andy Gray, Mel Eves and Wayne Clarke. Against Fulham, Hawkins added further experience with the inclusion of former Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur player Gordon Smith into the Wolves midfield. Eves finished as Wolves' top scorer at the end of the 1982-83 season with 19 league and cup goals, followed by Clarke and Gray with 12 and 10 goals respectively, as Wolves were promoted as runners-up behind Queens Park Rangers.

Soon after Fulham's relegation to the Third Division in 1979-80, Malcolm Macdonald became Fulham manager and led the club to promotion at the end of the 1981-82 season. For much of the subsequent season, it seemed almost certain that Macdonald would manage Fulham to a further promotion; his team were, in mid-March, nine points clear of their nearest promotion rivals Leicester City in fourth position. However, a poor closing sequence of results towards the end of the season saw Leicester gain the final promotion position by one point ahead of Fulham.

Against Wolves (and for the season in general), Macdonald and his assistant Ray Harford relied greatly upon a team of experience. However, midfielder Ray Houghton and defender Paul Parker (a substitute against Wolves) added an element of youth to combine with the experience of the likes of Ray Lewington, Roger Brown, Tony Gayle, goalkeeper Gerry Peyton and the prolific forward Gordon Davies.

Fulham's promotion hopes ultimately ended in the final game of the season at Derby County's Baseball Ground. Following Fulham's highly controversial defeat at Derby, Mcdonalds team were gradually sold and, with the break-up of a hitherto promising team, Fulham suffered relegation back to the Third Division at the end of the 1985-86 season.

Originally broadcast by BBC Match of the Day and reshown on ESPN Classic. Commentary by Barry Davies.

[gang]

Things don't change, we couldn't defend a dead ball situation then either.