Queens Park Rangers v Coventry City

hoops
With 10 minutes to go, Givens struck again with
a fierce volley into the roof of the net as Derby’s
defenders appealed for offside.
Dave Thomas made it 3-1 to Rangers before
Givens completed his hat-trick in the 89th
minute by touching home following a great run
by Stan Bowles on the right-hand side.
In his Sunday Times match report, Brian James
wrote: “Givens, who took three of the goals, having
harassed Derby into conceding one of them, will
attract praise for the most obvious contribution.”
A master in the air and fleet-footed on the ground,
Limerick-born Givens originally moved to QPR
from Luton Town for £40,000 in July 1972. He went
on to make 294 appearances in a hooped shirt
and hit the net 101 times. Another 19 goals were
registered in his 56 caps for the Republic of Ireland.
Looking back on his time at QPR, Givens said:
“That was the most enjoyable spell of my playing
career. The attitude of our team was to attack,
we only ever thought about hitting the back of
the net.
“I feel lucky and privileged to have played under
R’s manager Dave Sexton. He was exceptional as
a coach and ahead of his time.
“After we had played on a Saturday, Dave
would fly over to Holland or Germany on a
Sunday to watch matches at places like Ajax or
Mönchengladbach. Then he would bring ideas
back that we would work on in training on the
Monday at QPR, so those tactics that he had
seen abroad would be put into our game.
“I remember many English managers went over
to World Cups and things like that, but I don’t
think there was anyone at that time who did what
Dave did with watching European club matches.
Therefore I would say he was the best person I
ever worked with.”
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