Jimbo Crossan recalls historic wonder goal as Derry City shocked FK Lyn

The Candy Stripes, trailing Norwegian outfit, FK Lyn 5-3 from the first leg of their European Cup tie at the Bislet Stadium in Oslo, faced a formidable task when they entertained the Scandanavians in the second leg on home turf.

However, the Irish League champions were encouraged as Dublin striker Bobby Gilbert’s hat-trick had given them hope and Willie Ross’ team rallied to produce one of the most famous results in Irish football history.

‘Derry City Make Soccer History’ read the headline in the ‘Derry Journal’ the following day as Derry ‘trounced’ the Norwegians 5-1 to progress to the next round, winning 8-6 on aggregate.

It remains one of the most magical moments in the history of the club but the match will forever be remembered for the diminutive Jimbo Crossan’s infamous wonder strike from inside his own half which ultimately turned the tie on its head!

Playing into the Showgrounds end of the ground, Jimbo let fly with a venomous strike which sailed into the top corner of the Lyn net - a goal which tied the game at 6-6 and handed Derry the upper hand on the away goals rule.

‘The Derry pivot intercepted a through pass well in his own half, dodged round Stavrum, eluded Harald Berg, nipped past Aarnseth,” read the ‘Journal’ match report.

‘With the crowd and his own players calling for him to part with the ball, Crossan suddenly shot from 40 yards. The rising drive was touched by Martinsen but curled sweetly into the roof of the net as the keeper failed to divert it enough.

‘Now, one felt the gates to further European travel lay beckoning to Derry. The Lyn players were visibly wilting. The hard tackling, the refusal to be beaten, the iron will of the Derry team to retain the command they had fought so enduringly towards, blossomed as the spirit and will of the Lyn lads wilted and waned.’

Fifty five years on and Jimbo is regularly asked about that strike and while he later managed Derry City for the club’s first ever League of Ireland match in 1985, that goal remains the ‘stand-out’ moment of his career, both as player and manager.

However, Jimbo’s recollection of the goal differs slightly from ‘Journal’ sports editor, the late Frank Curran’s description of a strike which is hailed by many as the greatest ever scored at Brandywell Stadium.

“We scored two early goals through Joe Wilson which brought us back to 5-5 on aggregate,” recalled Jimbo. “I think they then scored before my goal which was the clincher!

“I got the ball up towards our own 18 yard line. I carried it and Matt Doherty was on the inside and kept calling, ‘Give me the ball, Jimmy, give me the ball’. I shouted back, ‘Matt, there’s no one coming towards us, time enough, I’ll carry the ball’.

“He shouted back, ‘Give me the ball you wee ***er you’. And just at that point, just before I got to the halfway line, I had the venom in me and I just let go.

“So I’m blaming Matt Doherty for it,” he laughs. “When it went in the whole place erupted but I actually felt numb. I just stood there. I couldn’t believe it.

“I watched the ball and the big goalkeeper dived to his right and missed it. It went into the goalkeeper’s right hand side at the Showgrounds end, about seven foot off the ground.

“The next thing I felt after that was the jumping and thumping on top of me.

“With the away goals it swung in our favour as that brought us back to 6-6, so we were going through at that stage.”

After that goal, Derry added another on 66 minutes through Ronnie Wood who side-footed home to give the home side the lead for the first time in the tie and four minutes later Jimmy McGeough hammered the final nail in the Lyn coffin.

When Dutch referee, Mr W. Schalks signalled the end of the tie ‘exultant Derry fans who had been chanting a victory song for the previous 20 minutes cascaded across the rain-drenched pitch to salute City’s history-making win as tired, muddy but happy home players embraced each other in one of the most emotional moments the ground has witnessed.’

Derry had achieved a place in Irish football history and Jimbo remembers how the city celebrated that momentous result, one which stood him apart from his talented brothers, Eddie, and ex-Man City legend, Jobby who, despite their respective successes in the game, hadn’t managed to hit the same heights for their hometown club - a feat Jimbo remains extremely proud of.

“The result was totally unbelievable,” he stated. “Linfield and Glentoran had never done it and they were the two teams at that time who were winning everything. I think the Derry people were very proud that their team were the first to do something.

“I was the third in my family to play for Derry and the other two (Eddie and Jobby) had never experienced anything like that. Well Jobby, of course, played in Europe, Eddie won a couple of international caps but they never experienced my experience that night for my hometown club.

“The town was buzzing. Everybody appreciated what that team had done for Derry City. God rest Brian Desmond who was a director at the time, he gave us all £20 each in Norway for getting that result in the first leg. He asked me after the first leg how I thought we would do and I said I would have no hesitation in saying we would qualify.

“He gave everyone £20 and put us all on a winning bonus again at the Brandywell. So that showed you how much everyone appreciated it.”

It was the highlight of the club’s existence in the Irish League since its formation in 1928 and the fightback and Crossan’s stunning strike made it all the more worthy of its place in the history books.

Having emerged with their reputations enhanced after the club’s first ever European match the previous year in a Cup Winners’ Cup defeat to Steaua Bucharest, Jimbo explains Derry went to Oslo for the first leg of their European Cup tie confident they could get a result.

“The facilities were first class,” he recalled. “Oslo was probably the jewel in the crown for Norwegian football. Oslo exceeded everything I ever saw with regards to its facilities. They were top of the range with everything.

“But we had been in Romania the year before and we had thought this team might not be as good as the Bucharest team. They had a couple of guys who were excellent and one in particular, his name was Harald Berg, who was very much on the radar of Glasgow Rangers at that time.”

By the end of the second leg Rangers’ representative George Allison who was sat beside IFA President, Harry Cavan in the Press and officials box watching Lyn’s Berg and Finn Seeman, would’ve surely been more impressed by the five star performance from Derry full-back Eunan ‘Busty’ Blake and of course Jimbo’s sensational strike which lit up the venue.

“They weren’t a bad side though,” admitted Jimbo. “They were around the same standard as a second or third division team in England. But our performance out there gave us a wee bit more confidence to go on and play them at their own game and attack every time we got a chance.

“As the game went on we thought we were good enough to hold our own or even do a bit better. We conceded a lot of goals right enough.

“We were like a street team, everybody got on with everybody else. There was nobody who saw themselves as better than anybody else. God bless Willie Ross, he worked his teams. There was great camaraderie amongst the players.

“We were more determined to hold our heads up and be proud of what we were doing. The team spirit was excellent and everyone wanted to go out and do their best and they did.”

Derry forward Gilbert had caused enough concern for the FK Lyn defence in the first leg that the manager, Thor Hernes, decided to replace his first choice keeper, Alf Brathen with the much taller, Roar Martinsen for the return match on Foyleside.

However, City boss Ross countered that move by replacing Gilbert with Fay Coyle leading the attack against the Norwegians. It was a plan which backfired for the visitors.....

‘They might have been better to stick to Brathen for Martinsen looked like a keeper who wouldn’t get his place on most Irish League teams’, was the assessment of Mr Curran in the ‘Journal’ match report.

”To combat Gilbert’s height they brought a six foot odd goalkeeper with them,” explained Jimbo.

“However, Willie Ross played Fay Coyle instead and the big goalkeeper was there to combat the high balls coming in but you never hit long balls into Fay. Fay was a genius, even though he was coming to the end of his career but what a player he was!”

The Norwegians didn’t take the result too kindly. In fact it emerged after the game that FK Lyn, who had severely criticised the state of the Brandywell pitch before the game, had lodged a complaint with FIFA about the conditions - an objection which was to cause significant issues for Derry City in the weeks to come.

Regardless, Jimbo explains that nothing was going to spoil the party that night.

“I don’t think they had anything to complain about with regards the Brandywell because it was in very good nick that night. If they were playing at the Brandywell week in, week out they would’ve known all about it. They had first class facilities themselves and I suppose any excuse at all after the match would do.

“They could never take that result away from us. They did us no favours for the match after when we played Anderlecht as Harry Cavan, President of the IFA at the time, banned the pitch which I think came from a lot of predsure from the FK Lyn complaints - not that Belfast needed any pressure to ban Derry.”

For Derry City, and particularly for Jimbo, that famous Brandywell victory will live long in the memory as one of the club’s biggest results of all time. As for that goal, it was, as described at the time, ‘a goal in a thousand’; an ‘extraordinary, unexpected, shattering goal from the Lyn viewpoint’ and one which is treasured by the Hamilton Street native.

“It’s comes up now that often in conversation I tell people I can’t remember it,” laughs Jimbo. “Even young people ask me if it’s true I scored from my own half of the field.

“But it’s got to be one of the standout moments of all time at the Brandywell - that and winning the cup in 1964 against Glentoran would go together for me.”

That stunning victory over FK Lyn set up an enthralling second round tie against Belgian giants, Anderlecht but there was to be no such heroics from the Brandywell men on this occasion.

Next week we revisit that second round clash against the Belgians and the controversy which came with it as our Derry City European adventure continues.