Spurs on this day - No 43 in an occasional series

By Dave P
April 2 2005

Well we haven’t played this lot on the 2nd of April before so lets have a look back through our records for Birmingham away games and then maybe a bit of history as well.

Well we haven’t played this lot on the 2nd of April before so lets have a look back through our records for Birmingham away games and then maybe a bit of history as well.

To find the last time we beat Birmingham away in a league game we have to go back to 15th March 1986 when a crowd of only 9,394 saw us win 2-1 with goals from Stevens and Waddle and that was in the old Division 1. Our Premiership record shows 5 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss against them so our recent record is not too bad against Birmingham.

To find the last time we beat them away in the league in April we have to go back to 28th April 1962 when a crowd of 29,614 saw us win by the score of 3 goals to two. Jimmy Greaves scoring twice and Dave Mackay netting the other one. The year before that (the Double year of course) also saw us record a 3-2 win at St Andrews on 8th April 1961. This game was watched by a crowd of 40,961 and the scorers on that occasion were John White, Bobby Smith and Les Allen.

Quite a far cry from the very first time we played them in the league at their ground. This was on 20th March 1909 in Division 2. On that day a crowd of 8000 saw a thrilling 3-3 draw. Spurs goals being scored by Vivian Woodward, Daniel Steel and his younger brother Bob Steel. I believe this is the only time that two brothers have scored for Spurs in the same game in the Football League although I stand to be corrected.

Daniel Steel was born in May 1884 in Newmilns, Ayrshire and played for Newmilns FC and Glasgow Rangers before joining Tottenham in May 1906. He spent six years at Tottenham before transferring to Third Lanark in July 1912 after 141 appearances and 4 goals for Spurs and ended his career with a season at Clapton Orient (1914-15). He died in Marylebone in 1931.

His Brother Bob was also born in Newmilns in June 1888 . He also played for Newmilns FC before playing for Kilwinning and Port Glasgow FC and had actually sighed for Greenock Morton before he moved to Spurs in September 1908. He remained with Spurs making 245 appearances and scoring 45 goals before moving to Gillingham in December 1919.. Always a competitive sportsman he retired from football in 1920 and went on to represent the England Bowls team. He died in 1972.

There was also a third brother Alex, Born in 1886 who played for Spurs on one occasion (the only time three brothers appeared in the same Spurs Side) on 29th January 1910 against Bradford City.

So far I have not mentioned a game on 2nd April so to put that right we will go back to 2nd April 1898 and our first match on that date. We were at home to New Brompton in the Southern League and 4000 supporters went to our then ground at Northumberland Park to see Bill Joyce and David Black (twice) score to gain us a 3-1 win.

One more match of interest that took place on 2nd of April occurred in 1907. The Spurs first team took part in a benefit Match for S. Mountfort. I have no idea who he was or why the game was played but the opponents were advertised as ‘The Team of the South’ . In reality it was the Spurs FA Cup winning side from 1901. The Cup winning side won the game 4-1 and only the Spurs first IX scorer is listed in my records and that was Robert Stormont.

So to St Andrews and although we have a good record agaist Birmingham we have not won up there in the Premier League, having drawn one and lost one. Today would be a good time to put that record straight.