Deadly duos
18th January
Watford come to Swansea tonight spearheaded by a free scoring striker partnership in the shape of Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo.
The twin-terrors have fired in 20 goals between them this season.
The Hornets arriving in Swansea with a deadly duo strike force brings back some thrilling, if not always comfortable memories.
When I first started supporting the Swans back in the late 1970s, we always seemed to be vying for promotion with the Hornets as the clubs raced to be the first to complete a meteoric rise from the old Fourth to First Divisions.
The clubs were involved in some exciting encounters, particularly at the old Vetch Field, including John Toshack's first game as Swans manager - a cracking 3-3 draw in the old Fourth Division.
One of Watford's scorers that night was a lanky centre forward by the name of Ross Jenkins. On the bench was a certain Luther Blissett.
The following season, the pair really came to the fore, as both the Swans and Watford were to meet again in the Third Division.
The Vetch encounter was once more a goalfest with the Swans this time running out 3-2 winners. Jenkins was again on the scoresheet, this time joined up front by Blissett.
The pair went on to form a devastating partnership to plunder 66 goals between them that season, with Jenkins finishing top scorer with 37.
Their combination earned both players a place in Watford folklore, and also gained Blissett England honours and a fairy-tale move to AC Milan.
While Deeney and Ighalo's deadly duo-type strike partnership is more rare these days, they were all the rage back in the 1970s and 80s when Jenkins and Blissett ruled the roost.
John Toshack, who managed the Swans during those classic encounters against Watford in the late '70s had previously been one half of possibly the most famous strike partnerships in English football.
Toshack teamed up with England striker Kevin Keegan to form the archetypal "Little and Large" partnership of the big target man and the smaller partner working off him... as Jenkins and Blissett would emulate.
The partnership was so successful it moved Toshack to poetry in his book of rhyme: Gosh it's Tosh!
"The scourge of defenders all over the land,
He relied upon me to lend him a hand,
We worked together; a perfect pair,
Down on the ground and up in the air,
Though we played two entirely opposite roles,
Six seasons together brought two hundred goals,
We were never short of a trick or surprise,
We were once mistaken for Morecambe and Wise."
Between 1971 and 1977, the dynamic duo fired Liverpool to some of their greatest successes of the decade.
Kevin Keegan said of his Welsh international partner: "Tosh was a wonderful player to play alongside. He aerial ability was fantastic and I always knew that he was going to win the high balls. From then on it was just a question of me reading which way the ball was going to go and from those situations we created many chances."
Such was their uncanny understanding on the pitch, some people suggested they were using telepathy.
Team-mate Phil Thompson recounted in his autobiography: "Tosh and Kevin Keegan were now in overdrive. People had said they were telepathic and Granada TV chose to test it out.
"They sat facing each other in the TV studio, each holding a card up so the other could not see the symbol it carried. Everyone was completely astonished when they each guessed exactly right, calling out "square" or "triangle" or whatever it was.
"The truth was, they could see each other's cards in reflected glass, but it was a great laugh and enhanced their telepatic reputation."
Of course, this wasn't the only profitable partnership the Anfield club enjoyed featuring a Welsh centre forward.
Although different in style, the Ian Rush/Kenny Dalglish combination was equally effective. Rush and Dalglish helped win the League and FA Cup Double in 1986, but their most successful season was in 1982-83, when they banged in 50 goals between them.
There are have been many other exciting partnerships since then, including Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton at Blackburn, who once shared 58 goals in a season.
Over the years, the traditional partnership became less fashionable, but it certainly seems to be making something of a comeback with the success of the likes of Deeney and Ighalo.
Hopefully, Ash and Co will be able to emulate the Swans team of 1979 in outgunning Watford's twin strikers.
As I recalled earlier, Ross Jenkins grabbed a goal for Watford that night, but a certain young Swansea striker by the name of Alan Curtis scored twice for the home side in the 3-2 win.
Wouldn't it wonderful if Curt, in the latest of his many roles for the Swans, could inspire the Swans to sting the Hornets once again tonight?
C'mon you Swans!