Partisan Belgrade's 1984 Comeback Against QPR as a Comeback Example

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What a sad day that was for Alan Mullery's team of Bannister, Byrne et al!

Eurosports - World Cup - Great Sporting Turnarounds
England face South Africa in Saturday's World Cup final a shade over five weeks after being humbled 36-0 by the Springboks in the pool phase. Do Brian Ashton's men have any hope of a remarkable reversal of fortunes in Paris? Here's six moments from history to give you hope.

WEST GERMANY 1954
Puskas, Kocsis and Hidegkuti ran riot as Hungary beat West Germany 8-3 in the group phase of the 1954 World Cup final. Two weeks later the final appeared to be going the same way as the Magic Magyars took a 2-0 lead inside eight minutes. But the Germans were on level terms a mere ten minutes later and six minutes from the end Helmut Rahn drove home the winner.

CRYSTAL PALACE 1990
Crystal Palace's return to the top flight saw them thumped 9-0 at Anfield in the fifth game of the season with eight difference players on the scoresheet. Less than seven months later the sides met again at Villa Park in the FA Cup semi-final. Liverpool held a 1-0 lead at half-time but a late Andy Gray equaliser levelled the match at 3-3 and took the game into extra-time where the winner was scored by Eagles midfielder Alan Pardew.

PARTIZAN BELGRADE 1984
QPR cruised through the first leg of their UEFA Cup second round match at Loftus Road, winning 6-2 courtesy of goals from John Gregory, Wayne Fereday, Simon Stainrod, Warren Neill and a Gary Bannister double. But it was all different in the old Yugoslavia as Partizan won 4-0, scoring all their goals in the opening 64 minutes. Manager Alan Mullery got the boot soon after.

ENGLAND 2005
Lest not forget the first Ashes Test two years ago was finished on the fourth afternoon - Glenn McGrath had torn through England's batting, Australia had won by 239 runs and the satchel swingers had the price of a 5-0 whitewash lower than a home series victory. Seven weeks later, Michael Vaughan was lifting the small urn after victories at Edgbaston and Trent Bridge and Andrew Flintoff was staggering onto a bus.

BOSTON RED SOX 2004
The Red Sox found themselves 3-0 down in the American League Championship Series against arch-rivals, the New York Yankees. In Game 4, the Red Sox found themselves facing elimination, trailing 4-3 in the ninth inning before going on to win the game on a two-run home run by David Ortiz in the 12th inning. They then took the series 4-3 - only the third time in US professional sports history that a team had come back to win a seven game series when down by three.

LEICESTER TIGERS 2004
Just to show it can be done in rugby, rhe Tigers' European Cup hopes had looked down and out when they lost 33-0 away at Ulster but the Midlanders produced a rousing reverse six days later at Welford Road. Tries from centre Leon Lloyd, Neil Back and Jaro van der Westhuyzen sealed the points for Dean Richards side in a thumping 49-7 victory - a 75 point improvement in a week! Eurosports

BACKGROUND

Other accounts of that terrible day: QPR's 1984-85 UEFA Cup "run"

From "Top 20 Greatest Comebacks"
"...12. Partizan Belgrade - Queens Park Rangers 2-6 and 4-0 (1984)
UEFA Cup second round. In London, it was a cat and mouse game. QPR pushed the Partizans into the box and kicked them into the net together with the ball. Six times. Only once before had a team come back from four goals down in Europe and that was in the early sixties. QPR was very vulnerable away from home and Partizan knew it. Mance, Kalicanin, Jesic and Zivkovic created a miracle before 55,000 fans who never stopped believing." Report

BBC - The Great Comebacks
QPR 6-6 Partizan Belgrade (1984)
QPR went to Belgrade confident of earning a place in the third round of the Uefa Cup.
They had cruised through the first leg at Loftus Road 6-2 but they fell 1-0 down within five minutes of the away tie.
They conceded again before half-time and two goals in the second period completed their misery as Partisan went through on away goals.
Less than two months earlier Rangers had fought back from 4-0 and 5-3 down to draw 5-5 at home to Newcastle - but this time the boot was on the other foot. BBC