Great FA Cup Runs – No.1

Due to lack of any football for the foreseeable future, the regular Monday article ‘Officially Speaking’ by Keith Hackett won’t be seen for a while .
I have decided to write a new article to be published every Monday. It is called ‘Great FA Cup Runs’ and is a review of FA Cup runs from the past.

This series doesn’t always feature Cup winners. It may feature club’s historic runs that fell just short, meaning their players weren’t able to climb the steps at Wembley to lift the famous cup.

The first Cup run in this series maps out Everton’s FA Cup win in 1995, their last trophy win to date.
Everton had a fantastic spell in the 1980’s, winning the title twice and the European Cup Winners Cup.  They appeared in three successive FA Cup Finals in 1984, 85 and 86, as well as reaching the 1989 Final.  They only lifted the Cup once out of these four Wembley visits, beating Watford 2-0 in the 1984 Final.

Everton’s FA Cup run in 1995 started back on 7th January with a 1-0 win at home to First Division Derby County.
A single goal from Andy Hinchcliffe separated the two sides. The defender hit a hard shot from the edge of the box into the bottom corner of the net to send the Premier League side through to the Fourth Round.

Every time an FA Cup draws comes around, there is always a few cliches thrown around. ‘A potential banana skin’ would have best described Everton’s Fourth Round tie as they were paired with Bristol City.
City were second from bottom in the First Division going in to the game but did have home advantage.

A capacity crowd of 19,816 watched on at Ashton Gate to see Everton win their second FA Cup tie by a single goal.
The hosts outplayed Everton on the day but didn’t take their chances. The only goal of the game came from Everton’s Matty Jackson. He latched on to a headed clearance from City’s Matt Brown, chested the ball down before rifling in a volley from 20 yards out.

It was back to Goodison Park for the visit of Norwich City in the Fifth Round. City were struggling at the wrong end of the Premier League table and were resoundingly beaten 5-0 by a rampant Everton side.
Five different scorers found the back of the net on that February afternoon. Anders Limpar, Joe Parkinson, Paul Rideout, Duncan Ferguson and Graham Stuart rounded off an impressive display to put Everton into the last eight of the competition.

In the Sixth Round, Everton were rewarded with their third home game out of four. This would arguably be their toughest tie yet as they were drawn against Newcastle United.
Newcastle were riding high in the Premier League, sitting 3rd in the table. They were having a fantastic second season back in the top flight and were one of the favourites to win the Cup.

Tottenham Hotspur were already in the Semi-Final, having won 2-1 at Liverpool the day before. Crystal Palace and Wolves played out a 1-1 draw, with the replay arranged for 11 days later.
In the final Quarter Final tie, Manchester United beat QPR on the same day as Everton’s match with Newcastle.

The tie was decided after 66 minutes when captain David Watson headed home in front of the Gwladys Street End.
David Unsworth whipped in a high free-kick from the touchline, almost by the halfway line. Duncan Ferguson leapt up and headed the ball on, Newcastle defender Marc Hottiger flicked the ball up and experienced defender David Watson headed in.
It was a soft goal for Newcastle to concede. The defence should have done a better job by clearing the free-kick in the first place. Pavel Srnicek in the Newcastle goal didn’t get a strong enough glove on the header and the ball trickled into the net. Everton didn’t care though, they were into the Semi-Final!

Tottenham Hotspur were to be Everton’s opponents in the Semi-Final and Elland Road was the chosen venue. Crystal Palace and Manchester United played out the other Semi-Final at Villa Park.

Tottenham were the favorites going in to the game but fell behind after 35 minutes.
Matty Jackson, scorer of the winner in the Fourth Round, headed in a near post header from a corner to give Everton the lead.

Everton were gifted a second goal when Tottenham’s goalkeeper Ian Walker mishit a clearance. Paul Rideout raced through but hit a shot straight at Walker but it fell kindly for Graham Stuart who tapped the ball into an open goal.

Tottenham were handed a lifeline when Everton captain Dave Watson brought down Teddy Sheringham in the box.
Jurgen Klinsmann made no mistake from the spot, firing past Neville Southall. The Welsh keeper went the right way but couldn’t reach Klinsmann’s penalty. This was the first goal that Everton had conceded in the FA Cup all season.

Everton new boy Daniel Amokachi sealed the win with two goals in the final ten minutes. Both were from counter attacks, lead by Anders Limpar after Tottenham tried in vain to get back in the game.
It was later revealed that Joe Royle didn’t agree for Amokachi to go on as substitute. The Nigerian international took it upon himself to go on! It’s just as well considering he scored twice!

Everton went into the 1995 Final as outsiders despite their opponents Manchester United missing their main talisman.  Eric Cantona had been banned for six months after an altercation with a Crystal Palace fan in March.

United were unable to beat West Ham United on the final day of the league season, thereby handing the title to Blackburn Rovers.  They were still favourites though, having won the League and Cup Double the previous season.

The game wasn’t a classic by any means, and Everton won the game thanks to a close-range header from Paul Rideout.
Anders Limpar broke on the counter-attack, taking the ball from deep inside his own half before flicking the ball to Matty Jackson on his right.
Jackson cut inside, past Garry Pallister and squared the ball to Graham Stuart who crashed a shot off the underside of the bar.
As the ball dropped down, Rideout jumped up with United’s Denis Irwin. He beat Irwin to the ball and headed past Steve Bruce and Peter Schmeichel on the United goal line.

The underdogs had won the Cup. Former Everton player Joe Royle had masterminded the Cup win and remains the last manager to have lifted a trophy for the club.
The closest Everton have got to winning anything since was in 2009 when they lost 2-1 to Chelsea. Louis Saha broke the record for the fastest FA Cup Final goal that day with a goal after 24 seconds, but Chelsea came back to win 2-1.

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