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Nicked this from Facebook, it shows even back then, teams especially foreign teams, were adept in using the dark arts.
West Ham United History.
Brian Belton.
December 1st 1965
I saw the second round, second leg game of West Ham’s defence of the European Cup Winners Cup at the Olympiakos Bowl in Greece.
West Ham literally got a firecracker of a welcome from the 45,000 crowd, they were throwing them around the huge stadium well before the match, lobbing them at the West Ham players as they inspected the pitch before the boys from Upton Park got changed.
That was about an hour prior to the kick off. A thunder-flash was burning away in Jim Standen’s goal as he took up his place and the bombardment continued throughout the game.
Injuries meant that Martin Peters was moved to centre-forward. The side that took the field was Jim Standen, Joe Kirkup, John Charles, Eddie Bovington, Ken Brown, Bobby Moore, Peter Brabrook, Martin Peters, Johnny Byrne, Geoff Hurst and John Sissons.
Both Standen and Hurst had been suffering with stomach bugs. This was part of the reason why Geoff played mostly a defensive role in the match.
As the teams took the field the hot afternoon was filled with a deafening chant of O-lym-pi-akos! O-lym-pi-akos! from the massed ranks of the Greek supporters. This created a strange contrast to the calm Aegean Sea in the background.
The 126 claret and blue supporters did a good job in replying and the sound of Bubbles drifted over the landscape like a light sea mist. I’ve got a lovely bunch of coconuts hit the air a little harder.
From the off it was clear that the Greeks were going to go with their rough and uncompromising style.
The Greek World Cup skipper, Polychoronu, was quick to make his mark and he chose to make it on Martin Peters, giving him a nasty gash on his shin that looked the better part of a foot long, after just 20 minutes. Peters had gone down but only for a few seconds, and though most fans wouldn’t be aware of it, his fellow professionals in England knew him to be a hard player.
While Martin was on the deck Polychoronu allowed himself a smirk towards his teammates, however the smile left his face as he sensed a cold stare grinding into him. He caught Hammers Iron defender John Charles’ emotionless gaze and for a moment froze, he knew instinctively that he was now a marked man.
In the Easterly maze of life where John, Martin Peters and I were born, you looked after your own. It was just a matter of time now. Vengeance may well be the Lord’s but Polychoronu was Charlo’s; the hunter had become the hunted.
The Hammers had a couple of first-half shots, one, from Peters was particularly unlucky, being just inches wide, but the first goal was a bit fortunate. Stefanakos missed a chip forward by Sissons and Peters scored with an angled shot that was deflected past Fronimidis by a defender.
Martin was to say later that he had meant it to go to Johnny Byrne.
As the teams went in at half time it was clear that East Londoners were not doing too well. Too many passes out of defence were going astray.
West Ham’s second goal was an Irons special. It was just a few minutes after the kick-off for the second half that Byrne sent John Sissons away. The Middlesex boy jinked around a couple of defenders and flighted a perfect cross to the head of Maestro Martin Peters. As with his first goal, Peters’ effort was greeted by the Greek crowd with almost perfect silence. The West Ham supporters, of course, went mad and for a few moments the strains of Knees Up Muvver Brown echoed around the otherwise hushed Hellenic arena.
Eddie Bovington scored a strange own goal just three minutes later, sending a lofty ball past the unbelieving Standen. At this, the Piraeus crowd erupted into an eye-bolting, arm-waving, jumping up and down, screeching mass.
This reaction was doubled when Polychoronu converted a penalty. Ken Brown was picked out as the offender by the Russian referee Bahramov. The decision was a complete mystery. Even the usually sedate Ron Greenwood questioned the Soviet official (Geoff Hurst would meet this man again in the incarnation of the linesman who helped him make history in the summer of 1966).
But it was too little too late as far as the Greeks were concerned and West Ham’s home leg margin of victory never looked threatened unlike Polychoronu.
Late in the match the Greek skipper gathered the ball close to West Ham’s left touchline. Polychoronu saw Charlo coming in from a long way off. John had started his run from 30 yards. But the prey was helpless. There was nothing he could do but wait; the fates had spoken. John hit his target like the last tram out of Custom House on New Year’s Eve.
Where I was standing gave me close up experience of the strike. The Greek flew high and long, he would have had enough time in the sky to catch a glimpse of the faces wincing in the crowd in expectation of the coming damage. The sickening thud with which he hit the ground was only rivalled by the cavernous crash John had made on impact.
As play continued and Polychoronu lay motionless, the Olympiakos defender Pavlidis, as if his mind were made up to settle scores, made for John. However, he seemed to quickly reassess matters as the boy from E16 turned to face him.
Somehow Polychoronu staggered upright as the final whistle of the tie blew, but that was not the end of the epic. It continues in form of legend, as there are those on the shores of the Aegean who still tell of the dark and handsome lad from the West "with eyes of fire and a soul of flame".
After the match Greenwood identified Standen as man-of-the-match, pointing out the magnificence of two saves in the first part of the game. He said that Jim had been outstanding. Ron also praised the rest of his men for facing up to the more than intimidating crowd, but Martin Peters was the hobbling hero.
The British Eagle Britannia aircraft West Ham flew back to London in bore the name, 'Justice'. Justice is something you give, but like power, it also needs to be taken and the brave Hammers had made sure justice had been done.
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