Tottenham Hotspur v Leicester City. Sunday 3rd. October, 1999. 4.0pm

Tottenham (2) 2 Leicester (1) 3 FT
Iversen 26,35 Izzet 25 (pen),69

You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet.

Peter Gilbert. 3.9.99


Dearly beloved - We are gathered here today, this holy day to give thanks for a living saint. We are in the divine presence of Saint David; a true living saint, the patron saint in fact of: diving.
Lo it shall be said that Saint David will show his holiness along with his 10 disciples and the adoring crowds.
It is written in the scriptures:
Thou shalt not tackle him
Thou shalt not chase him
Thou shalt not even look at him sternly
If he has the ball thou shalt stand aside
If he shoots at goal thou shalt just stand and admire his lovely hair
Thou shalt not laugh at him for wearing a vest
Thou shalt not mock his phoney French accent
Thou shalt not reel away in disgust at his garlic breathe
When he runs around like a cockerel thou shalt stand and all say together 'He is the Holy one,He is the Holy one'

If you shall not obey these commandments his friend (Freund) shall mock you by falling over if you go near him and all his friends in the media shall write and say nasty things about you, for he is the Holy one, the Chosen one(but not by France)

Just to prove that all this is true, Freund went off in the first minute(injured!) but he came back when Saint David healed his wounds.
The demonic shouts snarls and jeers of the Spurs fans however make it known that not everyone here is a saint.
Typically Savage was berated and abused every time his flaxen hair got anywhere near the ball. It's amazing the depths that some people will stoop to in the name of Saint David.
The tension surrounding this fixture these days is quite immense and the fact that only one game in the last forty between the two sides has ended up 0-0 suggests that they have always been pretty intense affairs.
Spurs started well particularly Ginola who was lively and waspish in midfield raining in attacks from all angles. Whereas the City attackers looked rather isolated by comparison.
After 20 mins a City corner was met by Heskey's head, the ball flew into the back of the net but the gods weren't with us and it was disallowed for who knows what reason.   Presumably referee Barber did know what was wrong.
This incident though fired up demons in the City players bellies and they took the game up a gear and at 'em.    Heskey became their tormenter in chief and his strength and speed won a penalty which Muzzy Izzett converted after a (professional) delay by the hapless Spurs 'keeper who failed to make the save.
Moments later though, a horrendous mistake by Gilchrist let in Leonardsen who shot, the first effort was saved by Flowers but the rebound fell nicely for him to level the scores. The heat is on.   Iversen upended Lennon and was booked but Lennon too was booked for making unpleasant remarks about Timotie shampoo.
A 'no danger' cross from the saint found Armstrong on the edge of the box. He headed speculatively at goal, Flowers parried the ball away but it fell at fortunes feet again as far as Spurs were concerned and it was poked home by Iversen.
Neil Lennon was fired into action and he battled away tenaciously in midfield and his providing through ball found Cottee who couldn't quite get the direction it.

With about 15 mins. to go the Spurs fans after a considerable amount of pressure from their team started jeering the City players and they were merciless to Gilchrist who after an unhappy afternoon was subbed off.    Marshall came on and City changed their line up to 4-4-2 with Guppy going to left back and Heskey going wide. It worked a treat after only a couple of minutes Muzzy got on the end of a 'pin ball' and he headed it home to put us 2-2.
Martin began pacing around on the edge of his box. The City fans started shouting 'Muzzy for England'. We piled on the pressure Flowers made a brilliant save making himself big.
Saint David became disillusioned with life and he went off to be replaced by Nielsen (oh! no not him)
The ball pinged around all over the pitch and either team could be in with a chance of a shot but the ball fell to Taggart who cracked it from the edge of the box and it flew into the back of the net.   Walker never got a sniff of it.   Taggart stood for a moment in the rain as the incident sunk in then he was mobbed by our joyous hearts and our joyous players.
There were 12 long minutes to play and we weren't going to start 'crowing' like the Spurs fans, after all it was a Sunday. 'We forgave them their trespasses.' And we prayed this see-saw game would come to a rest with us in the ascendancy.
It was ding - dong though and anything could've happened.   Leicester kept their heads, hearts and hopes up as we moved in to two minutes stoppage time. To be in this position after being 2-1 down away from home was a great achievement and in the end the bravest of brave hearts won this very entertaining game.
Well done Leicester City it was indeed a great result.   It was an announcement to the world that would have seen us buried in despair.................'You ain't Seen Nothing Yet.'   The last three games are an absolute tribute to the morale and character of the players, the management and the supporters...........don't ever forget us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tottenham: Walker, Carr, Perry, Young (Vega, 72), Taricco, Leonhardsen, Sherwood, Freund, Ginola (Nielsen, 71), Iversen, Armstrong.

Subs not used: Baardsen, Edinburgh, Clemence.

Booked: Leonhardsen, Sherwood, Nielsen.

Leicester: Flowers, Gilchrist (Marshall, 67), Elliott, Taggart, Impey, Savage, Lennon, Izzet, Guppy, Heskey, Cottee.

Subs not used: Arphexad, Fenton, Oakes, Zagorakis.

Booked: Lennon.

Attendance: 35,591.

Referee: G Barber .