It sometimes feels as if we are only ever a minute away from a statistic appearing on our television screens during a live football match. You know the kind of thing. Most goals from a corner, every time Arsenal line up their next training ground routine. Possession in the last five minutes. Number of successful passes by a certain player on Tuesday nights since 2002.
But putting my cynicism aside for a brief moment, every now and then a fact appears that makes you sit up a take notice. A snippet of information that you had no idea about, something that you could possibly bore your friends with the next time you go to the pub.
Watching Manchester United defeat Tottenham in the recent Premier League match at Old Trafford, TNT informed us that the last time United had led at half-time in a league match and went on to lose was back in May 1984. A distant time before football began - if you believe some - consisting of a staggering 329 games of half-time leads leading to 303 wins and 26 draws.
Even during the end of the Ron Atkinson reign, the troubled beginnings of Alex Ferguson, and the problems at the club since Sir Alex left in 2013, no club has been able to overturn a first half deficit to leave Old Trafford with three points. As the matches tick over, memories of the last club to achieve this feat fade.
So let's rewind back to May 1984. Margaret Thatcher has just celebrated five years as Prime Minister, Princess Diana is expecting her second child, and the miners' strike is dominating the news. In sport, Jimmy White is about to lose his first world snooker championship final, and Frank Bruno is preparing for his next bout against James Bonecrusher Smith.
Two heavyweights were scrapping it out in English football too. Before their respective matches on Bank Holiday Monday on May 7, Liverpool led Manchester United by just two points with just three matches remaining in the Division One season. The type of title race that would be hyped to the max in the current day.
Yet both clubs were struggling to get over the line. Every time Liverpool dropped points, Ron Atkinson's United spurned the opportunity. The matches prior to the Bank Holiday fixtures highlight this. Liverpool lost at Stoke; United followed suit at Notts County. Liverpool drew against Leicester, Ipswich and Birmingham; United did the same against Watford, West Ham and Everton.
However, both were fully expected to win their home league matches on May 7 against clubs struggling to survive. Liverpool had lost 4-0 at Coventry in December, yet the Sky Blues form had slumped alarmingly, a recent 8-2 hammering at Southampton an example of this. Liverpool's subsequent 5-0 win - including four goals for Ian Rush - was a welcome relief for an unusually uncertain Liverpool.
United's opponents Ipswich were also fighting for their lives at the bottom of the table, yet at least Bobby Ferguson's team could point to a recent upturn in form before their match at Old Trafford. In mid-March the club looked doomed, but four wins and three draws in their last eight matches had boosted their chances of survival.
United looked nervy early on, but when Mark Hughes scored in the 25th minute it looked as if the home team were on their way to a much needed win. For the 20-year-old Hughes it was another stepping stone in his career, a fourth league goal for United since March, off the back of a debut goal in Wales' recent win over England in the British Home Championship.
But Ipswich refused to buckle. With Mark Brennan and Trevor Putney performing admirably in midfield, and the recently restored Bryan Robson looking far from match fit, gradually the away team grew in confidence. Despite trailing at half-time, Ipswich responded quickly in the second half as fear spread through Old Trafford.
Full back Mike Duxbury was culpable for the equaliser, Alan Sunderland stealing possession and putting in a cross that saw Mich d'Avray leap above Kevin Moran to head home in the 47th minute. Gary Bailey was then forced into saves from Sunderland and Eric Gates, as Ipswich sensed an opportunity.
But then "frantic pressure" as the Guardian's Simon Inglis described it, during a last half hour where United searched desperately for a winner. Somehow Frank Stapleton hit the post with only Paul Cooper to beat; Robson and Arthur Graham went close. Ray Wilkins, in his last home league match for United before his move to AC Milan, also struck a post from a beautifully curled free-kick.
Yet the sucker punch was always a danger. With just three minutes remaining, d'Avray headed a Steve McCall free-kick across goal allowing Sunderland to bundle home with his knee/thigh. A scrappy goal but a moment of such significance. Roars from the Kop at Anfield when the news filtered through. United's title hopes in tatters. Ipswich's stay in Division One extended for another season.
Sunderland had of course scored a heart breaking late winner against United before, his last minute volley in the 1979 FA Cup final still fresh in the memory. On loan from Arsenal, the forward had endeared himself to the fans of his new club by scoring in a recent 2-0 win over Norwich. His third goal for Ipswich killed off United's hopes.
Sunderland, who had been linked to a move to Old Trafford, admitted that Ipswich had rode their luck. "United had a few chances and maybe a draw would have been a fair result, but football is not always fair. Of course I heard rumours earlier in the season that United were interested in me but they never followed it up officially."
"It's almost impossible for us now," a despondent Atkinson admitted after the defeat. "It will need a miracle now." But there was no miracle. Liverpool drew at Notts County to seal the title, and with United drawing at Tottenham and losing to Nottingham Forest, somehow they managed to slip below Southampton and Nottingham Forest in the table. Fourth in a two horse race.
"The long and often fitful dream seemed to be truly over for another season," Inglis concluded after the Ipswich defeat. In 1984, United's fans would have happily placed Alan Sunderland in their Room 101. But sympathy should be limited. The hunt for United's first championship since 1967 only stretched to 26 years in comparison to this half-time record at Old Trafford that stands at 42 years and counting.
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