N Ireland 1 England 2

North­ern Ire­land 1 Eng­land 2, Wind­sor Park, Brit­ish Ho­me Cham­pi­on­ship, May 28,1977. Man­chester Uni­ted wing­er Chris Mc­Grath han­ded North­ern Ire­land an early lead, but goals from South­ampton marks­man Mick Chan­non and Man­chester City´s Den­nis Tue­art saw The Three Li­ons fight back to earn them­selves a nar­row 2-1 vic­tory at Wind­sor Park.

North­ern Ire­land, now led by by for­mer Tot­ten­ham Hot­spur hero Dan­ny Blanch­flower, came in­to this fix­ture from a heavy 5-0 friendly de­feat ag­ainst West Ger­many at Mun­gersdor­fer Sta­dium in Co­logne, where­as Eng­land had beaten Lux­em­bourg by the same score in a Wor­ld Cup Quali­fier at Wemb­ley Sta­dium. The Ul­ster­men nev­er­the­less fou­nd them­selves ahead in the Brit­ish Ho­me Cham­pi­on­ship mat­ch in the fourth min­ute thro­ugh Chris Mc­Grath who fou­nd the tar­get from clo­se ran­ge af­ter Sto­ke City shot stop­per Pe­ter Shilton had par­ried an ef­fort by Spurs stri­ker Ger­ry Arm­strong. The Three Li­ons, who were with­out sev­er­al key play­ers be­cause of either in­jur­ies or club com­mit­ment, ul­ti­mately got their act to­geth­er and equal­ised three min­utes be­fore the ha­lf-hour ma­rk when an ex­quis­ite pass by Co­lin Todd of Der­by Coun­ty fou­nd Mick Chan­non who un­leashed a fierce shot from just out­side the six-yard box pa­st White Hart Lane cus­todi­an Pat Jen­nings and high in­to the net, and The Dell for­ward al­most had his sec­ond goal shortly af­ter­wards as his head­ed at­tempt from Paul Mariner´s cross went on­ly in­ches wide of the right-hand post. England´s win­ner came wi­th four min­utes left on the watch as sec­ond-ha­lf sub­sti­tute and de­butant Bri­an Tal­bot, who had be­en a driv­ing force in mid­field for Ips­wich To­wn through­out the 1976-77 sea­son, sent a mag­ni­fi­cent cross to Den­nis Tue­art who­se head­er fiz­zed pa­st Jen­nings and straight in­to the top right-hand cor­ner of the net. North­ern Ire­land Te­am: Pat Jen­nings, Jim­my Nich­oll, Pat Rice, Tom­my Jack­son, Al­lan Hun­ter, Bry­an Ham­ilton, Chris Mc­Grath, Da­vid Mc­Creery, Ger­ry Arm­strong, Sam­my Mc­Ilroy, Tre­vor An­der­son. Sub­stitutes: Mar­tin O’Neill, Derek Spence. Eng­land Te­am: Pe­ter Shilton, Tre­vor Cherry, Mick Mills, Dave Wat­son, Bri­an Green­hoff, Co­lin Todd, Tre­vor Brook­ing, Ray Wil­kins, Mick Chan­non, Paul Mar­iner, Den­nis Tue­art. Sub­sti­tute: Bri­an Talbot.

Chris McGrath Quickfacts

Chris Mc­Grath joi­ned Man­chester Uni­ted from Tot­ten­ham Hot­spur for £30,000 in Oct­ober 1976 and played 38 ga­mes for The Reds be­fore he sig­ned wi­th Tulsa Rough­necks in Feb­ruary 1981.

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