In our latest look back at Ipswich Town’s greatest games, we transport you back to France in March 1981, and perhaps the club’s best-ever performance...
St. Etienne 1 Ipswich Town 4 UEFA Cup quarter-final first leg March 4, 1981
Arguably Town’s greatest-ever performance. Surely the club’s most eye-catching result.
St. Etienne were one of the real powers of European football at the time, and their team included Michel Platini and Dutch star Johnny Rep.
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When Rep put the home side ahead after only 16 minutes, it looked rather worrying for Town. But a Paul Mariner header levelled things before the break, and the Suffolk side turned on the style in the second half.
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Arnold Muhren, superb throughout, put Town ahead with a 25-yard screamer just after the interval, Mariner grabbed his second and then John Wark sealed matters in the 76th minute.
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Bobby Robson described it as an “almost faultless performance.” It certainly made European football sit up and take notice.
Town won the second leg at Portman Road 3-1, to put themselves into the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, an important step in what ended as a triumphant campaign, with Mick Mills lifting the giant trophy after the final against AZ Alkmaar.
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