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Forty years on and I still remember how it felt drubbing ‘mighty’ Leeds

Soar like an eagle: Best, right, climbs above Leeds United defender Gordon McQueen to score a towering header in a 1974 league match at Upton Park

Tomorrow marks the 40th anniversary of my goal that helped West Ham United beat Leeds United 3-1 at Upton Park in front of 38,416 supporters.

When it was brought to my attention I remembered the day clearly, my header was either side of Trevor Brooking and Bryan “Pop” Robson strikes. Leeds back then were a superb team, incredibly physical, that many sides had problems coping with.

Personally, I didn’t struggle though. Quite the oppostite. I rather enjoyed sticking the ball in the back of the net against Leeds and the other so-called big boys that were supposedly better then the team we had.

You always want to play against the best, and when you get the chance you can’t just sit back and simply enjoy the occasion.

It’s important that you are ready to make the most of it and my mentality was to not let my club or country down by the way I played.

It’s amazing to have these memories in your life because to come from a country the size of Bermuda, and have success in English football, was a wonderful feeling.

I was the type of player that wasn’t afraid of anyone, I just wanted to play so it’s great that people, especially in England, still remember my footballing exploits.

If you were a good player or people were talking about you, I wanted to play against you to test myself to see how good I was.

I hope the intensity that I played with is mirrored by those players in today’s game at Somerset Cricket Club when a Clyde Best XI take on a Cyrille Regis XI as part of the United Nations International Day of Remembrance for Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

Even though I won’t be playing — those days are over for me, sadly — I will be there on sidelines instilling a positive mood in the team.

Hopefully my team can go on and beat Cyrille’s boys! In my mind, at least, I’d love to pull my boots on and show the players how the game should be played.

One thing I will do, however, is tell my players that we are coming to win. If they are out just to pose then they shouldn’t be playing.

Cyrille Regis, the former West Bromwich Albion and England striker, is a legend of the game, especially to the fans of those teams he played for. It will be fantastic to sit back and chat to him about our playing careers and the good old days. It really is great to have a former player of Cyrille’s reputation return to the Island.

As for the English scene, I wasn’t surprised to see Arsene Wenger lose his 1,000th match in charge of Arsenal against Chelsea last weekend, but I was shocked by the 6-0 scoreline.

That’s how the game goes, I guess, and although Arsenal play fantastic football they need a hard man in the middle of the park. They need someone who can get among the bullies and bully them.

The likes of Patrick Vieira, of Arsenal, and Roy Keane, of Manchester United, were so vital to those teams in setting the tone physically.

These are the ingredients in all great teams, who also have one or two players that don’t fit the norm but bring a crucial balance.

Arsenal also need to have another quality striker because you can’t have your top striker only managing 14 to 16 goals a season.

Liverpool have two scorers in Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge who find the net regularly, and that’s why they have been successful this term.

Arsenal didn’t help themselves in midweek at home against Swansea City with a disappointing 2-2 draw.

And they have a incredibly tough game at home today when they take on title rivals Manchester City.

City are in fine form and it will be a tall order for Arsenal to beat them at the moment.

This match is crucial for Chelsea, who are three points ahead but have played two matches more that City.