Older Saints fans will remember that playing a league fixture on a Friday night for live television is not a new invention and that one of the greatest matches in Saints history was live to the nation on a Friday night.

Season 1983/84 was the best in Southampton Football Club's history in terms of League position and the club would end the season in 2nd position only 3 points behind what was then an invincible Liverpool side who swept all before them back in those days.

It was also the first season that football aside from the cup finals was broadcast live and the BBC had started showing live games on a Friday evening.

Saints first Friday night live game was not in the League though it was in the FA Cup when their 5th round tie at Blackburn Rovers was broadcast to a excited nation, the game was won with a David Armstrong goal scored in front of around 3,000 Saints fans who made the journey and were sensing that the season was just about to take off.

So when the Liverpool fixture was announced as being scheduled for Friday 16th March on the BBC it was a game that the nation eagerly awaited given that it was between two teams known for playing an exciting attacking game, it would also be the Dell's first ever televised live game in any competition.

Saints with the likes of Steve Moran, Danny Wallace scoring goals for fun and the visitors side packed with the big names of football at the time, Dalglish, Rush Hanson et al, including future Saints players Bruce Grobbelaar and member of last season's coaching staff Sammy Lee. Another future Saints employee Graeme Souness was missing through a family bereavment.

It came smack bang in the middle of perhaps one of Saints most exciting runs of form, they had won 3 out of the last 4 in the league and four days later Sheffield Wednesday were due at the Dell for an FA Cup sixth round replay, winning which would see us in the FA Cup semi finals.

The ground was packed to the rafters with 19,698 being the official attendance, but back then sometimes what was given as the official crowd seemed a little short of what the capacity actually was, this was about 3,000 short of the capacity, but anyone who was there will tell you that you would not have got another 300 in the ground let alone 3,000.

Liverpool were leading the pack on 63 points with other favourites Manchester United on 61, Saints were coming up fast with 52 on the board, however they had two games in hand on both and a win could bring Saints to the verges of the title race as well as Wembley almost in sight in the cup.

But as much as the game was hyped to the nation as being one of the best of the season it also saw two of the meanest defences in the league coming up against each other, the first half lookedlike being goalless with both sides keeping it tight and probing and pushing but not really wishing to go out with all guns blazing, perhaps Liverpool were sensing tat this was a game that it was more important for them not to lose than win.

But the game would explode into life in first half injury time, Mark Dennis made a trademark surge down the left wing and crossed to the far post, Mark Wright headed the ball back and there was Danny Wallace who sort of spun in mid air to execute an acrobatic overhead kick to stun the Liverpool fans packed directly behind the Archers Road goal, just to their left the Saints fans were going wild.

That gave Saints the advantage and it was now down to Liverpool to try and get back in the game, but as hard as they tried Saints sweeper system foiled them and the World's best goal keeper Peter Shilton had a relatively quiet night.

But the Liverpool threat was always there and they were known for their late goals, howeverit would be Saints who delivered the killer late goal in the 85th minute, Alan Hansen thought that Mark Dennis's cross was all his, but then up popped the diminutive Wallace still only 20 years old to head the ball in and show Hansen that yes, you can win football matches with kids.

The game was won and the Dell crowd was buzzing, ultimately we would fall short in both the league and cup, but at that game on that evening Saints showed that they were the best footballing side in the country, indeed in the second half of the season Saints won more points than Liverpool and were left ruining the dropped points along the way that saw them finish an agonising three points short of winning the title.

But as Saints go into their first Friday night televised game of the new era, younger Saints fans might care to learn that this is nothing new and that we have been in this position before over 32 years ago, we liked playing on a Friday very much back then, hopefully we will feel the same way this season.

Photo: Action Images

FARESAINT added 09:00 - Aug 19 Let me quote from Ladbrooks; "Having added bags of quality in the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Eric Bailly, the 20-time champions are a much stronger outfit. And then there’s Pogba, who is finally set to make his second debut for the club after being suspended for the win at Dean Court." Then; "Couple that with Southampton losing Victor Wanyama, Sadio Mane, and Graziano Pelle, and beating United looks a tall order at 7/1." We are going to get tonked!! Hopefully they will prove me wrong but???

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ericofarabia added 09:09 - Aug 19 7/1 in a 2 horse race ..... get on it. Got to worth the price of a couple of beers surely!! Still wish I'd bet on us on 5/1 in 76!!
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helpineedsomebody added 09:14 - Aug 19 we went to the game & mark wright was world class played football & not DULL-FOOTBALL no mr dof for big mac
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saintmark1976 added 10:35 - Aug 19 What I would give to be going to Old Trafford tonight with the team that played that day. SHILTON DENNIS WILLIAMS AGBOOLA WRIGHT MORAN HOLMES WORTHINGTON ARMSTRONG WALLACE Today's players may be better athletes but better footballers? Not a chance.
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