On This Day: 3 March

Classic Match

FC Den Haag 4-2 West Ham United
European Cup Winners' Cup quarter-final, first-leg
3 March 1976

West Ham United may have lost 4-2 in their European Cup Winners' Cup quarter-final to Dutch side FC Den Haag, but the result was still good enough to pave the Hammers' way into the semi-finals.

After 42 minutes of this match at the Den Haag Stadium, West Ham were four goals down and looked to be on their way out of the competition they had won so gloriously at Wembley in 1965. With manager John Lyall laid low with the flu, Dutch international Aad Mansveld had scored a hat-trick - including two disputed penalties for handball against Kevin Lock and Mick McGiven - and Lex Schoenmaker had added a fourth goal to leave Ron Greenwood's side in tatters.

After half-time and a Greenwood team talk, however, West Ham were a different side. Billy Jennings netted two goals, after 50 and 58 minutes, from Graham Paddon crosses to drag the Hammers back into the tie.

In the second leg, two weeks later, Alan Taylor, Frank Lampard and Billy Bonds put West Ham 3-0 up on the night and 5-4 up on aggregate before Shoenmaker levelled the scores. However, the English side held on to win through to a last-four date with Germans Eintracht Frankfurt on away goals.