1971-1972 West Ham v Spurs (League Division 1)

Another match against West Ham, this time at Upton Park, which ended in a 2-0 defeat for Spurs. On the first occasion I watched this clip I was reminded of an interview Gillie gave in 1964 during his Dundee days in which he defended himself against accusations that he did not track back enough. There are three observations to be made here: the first is that the accusation could not be levelled at him in the highlights shown below, the second is that he looks ungainly doing so and the third is that Gillie's role in the Spurs team was changing. Having started his White Hart Lane career at centre-forward, he found himself increasingly playing as a support striker to Martin Chivers. Invariably, he found himself on the left or right wing more often and it had an impact on his goal output, although during the 1971/72 season he had one of his best at Tottenham registering 22 times.

Despite the increased workload and the unfamiliarity of his new role, his partnership with Chivers flourished. Chivers to Gilzean throw-ins provided a rich source of goals for a team that would win three trophies in three years at the start of the 70s but Chivers was also the beneficiary from a series of Gilzean knock downs just as Jimmy Greaves had been previously.