Iconic Moments in Football No.1
Dave Beasant saves a penalty to win the FA Cup for Wimbledon,
FA Cup Final 1988
Dave Beasant dives to his left to save John Aldridge’s penalty
The 1988 FA Cup Final was the footballing version of David against Goliath. That very cliche gets banded around in football all too readily but in this case it most certainly rings true.
Liverpool won the league title in 1987/88, 9 points ahead of Manchester United who finished second. Wimbledon finished in a respectable 7th position, 33 points behind Liverpool.
Wimbledon had only been in the Football League since the start of the 1977/78 season. In the season before Wimbledon were elected to the Football League, Liverpool had won the European Cup, the First Division championship and reached the FA Cup Final.
In Wimbledon’s 11 seasons in the Football League, they had been promoted 3 times and reached the First Division in 1986. Liverpool on the other hand had won 7 league titles and 3 European Cups and 4 League Cups.
Wimbledon were the real underdogs going into the game especially as Liverpool were the League champions.
Against all the odds, Wimbledon took the lead in the first half with a header from Lawrie Sanchez. They kept hold of their lead until they gave away a penalty in the 60th minute which was to be taken by John Aldridge.
Aldridge hit the penalty to Beasant’s left and the Wimbledon keeper guessed right and pushed the ball away. It was the first time that a penalty had been save in an FA Cup Final.
Wimbledon held on for the remaining half an hour and won the cup for the first and only time in their history. Dave Beasant lead his team mates up the steps and lifted the famous trophy, becoming the first goalkeeper to lift the Cup as captain in the process.
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