ON THIS DAY

Hugo Lloris played in goal for Spurs in their Premier League fixture against Aston Villa on this day in 2012 so ending a remarkable record set by the goalkeeper he replaced that day, Brad Friedel. The American 'keeper had played in an amazing 310 consecutive matches in the Premier League, a record that had been set over the course of eight seasons and while with three clubs - playing for Blackburn and Aston Villa before moving to White Hart Lane. To maintain both form and fitness over that period of time is amazing and you wonder will that record ever be bettered?

David Beckham became a national villain when he was sent off against Argentina in the match that saw England eliminated from the 1998 World Cup but all that was finally forgiven on this day in 2001. Going into their final qualifier for the 2002 World Cup finals England were level on points with Germany but had a better goal difference thanks to that famous 5-1 victory in Germany. So England needed to at least match Germany's result to automatically qualify - England were at home to Greece and Germany were at home to Finland. Germany's match ended before England's - Germany drawing with Finland. So England needed to at least draw with Greece to automatically qualify but sadly the match didn't go to script and in the 93rd minute Greece were leading 2-1. But then England got a free kick. From around 30 yards on his home pitch - Old Trafford - David Beckham fired in a perfect free kick which hit the back of the net. A 2-2 draw, Beckham a national hero, England qualified for the finals automatically and Germany finished second and went to the play-offs. Was it a dream?

Hooliganism was a serious problem in the 1980s. Luton Town were particularly badly hit and their solution was to restrict entry to only those who were signed up to the Luton Town membership scheme - and that effectively banned away supporters. Maggie Thatcher supported the Luton initiative but in September 1986 the Hatters were thrown out of the Littlewoods Cup (League Cup) for refusing to offer 25% of their tickets to visiting supporters in that competition. Luton suggested a compromise - playing home matches behind closed doors - but in a lively two-hour meeting at Villa Park on Monday October 6th 1986 the League clubs came together to decide on the matter. Two motions were voted on. The first - that only Luton club members would be able to watch League Cup action at Kenilworth Road in 1986/87 - was overwhelming rejected, by 80 votes to 6. The compromise offering was that Luton play their 'home' matches at a neutral venue or switched to the away venue. That was accepted but Luton declined that offer and confirmed their absence from the League Cup in 1986/87 giving Cardiff City a walk-over in the second round tie. Ironically two days later the FA accepted the ban on away supporters at FA Cup ties at Kenilworth Road although they gave other clubs the option of banning Luton fans in home FA Cup ties against the Hatters.

Five days short of his 19th birthday Bobby Charlton made his League debut for Manchester United against Charlton Athletic, scoring twice in United's 4-2 victory in front of a 41,439 crowd at Old Trafford. In the return match against Charlton in February he scored his first League hat-trick in a 5-1 victory at the Valley. Bobby Charlton went on to make 606 League appearances for United scoring 199 goals in those matches, both being club records at the time.

A first was recorded in the Division 2 fixture between Oldham Athletic and Manchester United on this date. Oldham's Sam Wynne became the first player to score two goals for each side in Manchester United's 3-2 victory. His goals for Oldham were from a free kick and a penalty. That has only been equalled once since - Aston Villa's Chris Nichol scored all four goals in the 2-2 draw at Leicester in March 1976.

Andy Wilson scored all five goals for Middlesbrough in their 5-2 First Division victory over Nottingham Forest at Ayresome Park. Those goals helped him finish as top scorer for Middlesbrough in 1923/24 (8 League goals) despite moving to Chelsea in November for what was then a record Chelsea transfer fee of £6500. At Stamford Bridge he scored another 5 goals in 19 League appearances to finish as Chelsea's top scorer for the season as well. So top of the charts for both Middlesbrough and Chelsea - and both clubs were relegated that season. If that's not unique then I think that the fact that he played for Scotland against England at football and in later years for England against Scotland at bowls almost certainly is!