Great FA Cup Runs No.4

Chesterfield’s FA Cup run in 1997 went largely unnoticed by the majority of the nation until the Semi-Final stage, disappearing under the radar in the early rounds as they avoided all of the big guns.

The first game on their FA Cup run was a 1-0 victory at home to Bury, who had won the Third Division the season before.

Mark Williams goal was enough to send Chesterfield through to the Second Round.  They were rewarded with a home tie against Scarborough who were at the wrong end of the Third Division.

Kevin Davies and Anthony Lormor scored for Chesterfield to send them into the Third Round.

The Third Round draw is always exciting for fans of the lower league as that is the round when the big clubs come in.  Chesterfield’s ball came out as a home team and dreams of a glamour tie against Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea were immediately quashed as Bristol City’s ball came out of the velvet bag.

City were brushed aside with relative ease as Jonathan Howard scored a brace to send Chesterfield through to the Fourth Round.

Bolton Wanderers were the first team that Chesterfield played from a higher division, after The Spireites were drawn away to them in the Fourth Round.  This was the only time that Chesterfield played away in the whole run.
The home side were widely expected to progress to the Fifth Round, as they sat top of the First Division. In fact, they only spent three weeks of the entire 1996/97 season off the top of the table with a total of 98 points!

Chesterfield upset the odds and beat Wanderers 3-2 at Burnden Park.  Kevin Davies bagged a hat-trick in what turned out to be the last FA Cup tie to be played at the famous old ground.
Davies opened the scoring as early as the seventh minute but Scott Taylor levelled the scores just before the quarter of an hour mark.
Kevin Davies then added a second on 50 minutes before completing his hat-trick with a quarter of an hour remaining. Scott Green scored after 89 minutes to give Chesterfield a nervy last few minutes but the Second Division side held on for a famous win.

Premiership strugglers Nottingham Forest were to the visitors in the Fifth Round and the Chesterfield fans must have fancied their chances.  Forest were in 17th position in the Premiership and ended the season relegated at the bottom of the table.
The history books suggested that this round would be the stumbling block as it was the furthest that the club had ever gone in the competition.
They had reached the Fifth Round on three previous occasions, in 1933, 1938 and 1950.

Mark Crossley was sent off for a foul in the Forest box. Bryan Roy was sacrificed in order for Alan Fettis to come on in Crossley’s place.
Tom Curtis scored from the resulting kick with the only goal of the game to send Chesterfield to the Quarter Finals.

All of the bigger teams had been knocked out earlier in the competition, leaving Chelsea, Derby, Middlesbrough Sheffield Wednesday and Wimbledon of the Premiership, Portsmouth of the First Division and Chesterfield and Wrexham of the Second.

Yet again, the draw was kind to Chesterfield as they were drawn at home to Wrexham. This was the best possible draw for them to progress to the Semi-Finals.
Some Chesterfield fans were hesitant as they had lost to Wrexham in the previous season’s FA Cup, losing 3-2 at Wrexham’s Racecourse Ground.

Those fans had nothing to worry about though as midfielder Chris Beaumont scored the only goal of a tense match. The two Second Division sides in front of 8,735 fans at Saltergate.

Chesterfield were paired with Middlesbrough and Chelsea drew Wimbledon in the other Semi Final. Old Trafford was chosen as the venue for the Chesterfield vs Middlesbrough tie.

A near-capacity crowd of 49,640 were at Manchester United’s ground to watch a pulsating Semi-Final.
Andy Morris scored with a tap-in from close range to Chesterfield the lead after 54 minutes. Middlesbrough’s goalkeeper Ben Roberts then gave away a penalty on the hour mark, which was rifled home by Chesterfield captain Sean Dyche.

Four minutes later, Fabrizio Ravanelli got a goal back for Middlesbrough before a moment of real controversy.
Jonathan Howard, scorer of both goals in the Third Round victory over Bristol City, hammered in a shot that hit the underside of the bar and crossed the line. However, referee David Elleray decreed that the ball hadn’t gone in. This decision still wrangles amongst Chesterfield fans to this day and rightfully so.

Craig Hignett levelled the game for Middlesbrough from the penalty spot with twenty minutes to go after Juninho was brought down by Sean Dyche.

The game went to Extra-Time and Gianluca Festa scored in the first-half to give Middlesbrough the lead for the first time in the match.
Then with one minute left on the clock, Jamie Hewitt scored with a looping header to force a replay.

Sadly for Chesterfield, there was only going to be one winner in the replay as Middlesbrough ran out 3-0 winners. Mikkel Beck, Fabrizio Ravanelli and Emerson scored for the Premiership side to put them through to their first FA Cup Final.

Chesterfield’s FA Cup run of 1997 captured the hearts of the nation. Although they fell short at the final hurdle, the team of 1997 will never be forgotten by Chesterfield fans and football enthusiasts alike.

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