David Fairclough scored twice and helped create Liverpool's other goal in a 3–0 victory at Manchester City on 19 April 1976. The Easter Monday win kept Bob Paisley's side at the top of the First Division, with just one league match left to play.
Liverpool had beaten Stoke City 5–3 at Anfield two days earlier. Fairclough, a scoring substitute in that match, now started at Maine Road. He joined a line-up which also included Kevin Keegan, John Toshack and Steve Heighway, while Brian Hall was named as substitute. The attendance was 50,439.
Despite the eventual margin, neither side scored in the first half. Fairclough later explained in a contemporary newspaper interview that he had twice preferred to pass to Toshack and Keegan after finding shooting positions. Both had encouraged him to try scoring himself. His account described a young forward learning when to take responsibility alongside Liverpool's established attackers.
The breakthrough did not arrive until the 73rd minute. Fairclough supplied Heighway, whose goal finally separated the teams. For most of the remaining time, Liverpool's lead was still only one: the final score would be shaped by two goals almost at the end.
Fairclough scored in the 88th minute and again in the 89th. The teenager who had recently settled the Merseyside derby had now made a decisive contribution from the starting eleven. He had been involved in every Liverpool goal, making one before adding two of his own.
The result completed a productive holiday programme: two victories, eight goals scored and four points collected under the league's two-points-for-a-win system. Liverpool's total stood at 58 from 41 matches, one point ahead of Queens Park Rangers, who had also played 41.
There was still work to do before the championship could be claimed. Liverpool's remaining league fixture was away to Wolverhampton Wanderers on 4 May, with the first leg of the UEFA Cup final against Club Brugge intervening. At Maine Road, however, Heighway and Fairclough had ensured that the Easter matches produced the maximum return.