It was the longest FA Cup
Semi-Final tie in history, lasting for an incredible four matches. The season is 1979-1980 and Arsenal were the
defending Cup holders having beaten Manchester United in an exciting Final the
year before. There was the prospect of
the first ever all-Merseyside Final as both Liverpool and Everton had made it
this far, and were drawn apart too.
Current League Champions and league leaders, Liverpool were up against
Arsenal, who were also chasing a place in the European Cup Winners’ Cup Final
having come up against Juventus at the Semi-Final stage. In the other Semi, Everton would meet West
Ham, then a Second Division side.
Liverpool had reached
this round beating Grimsby, Nottingham Forest, Bury and Tottenham without
conceding a goal. Arsenal had negotiated
their way past Cardiff, Brighton, Bolton and Watford, needing replays against
Cardiff and Bolton to progress. These
two had already met in the Charity Shield when Liverpool put on a brilliant
performance to win 3-1. The two then
played out a goalless draw at Highbury in November. That was the precursor to what was to follow.
For Arsenal the FA Cup
Semi-Final in April 1980 was their 57th match of the season with
Liverpool embarking on their 52nd match. The first meeting was at Hillsborough in
front of over 50,000 fans. It was a
tight-tense affair where neither side played particularly well or dealt with the
pressure of the occasion, and it was a drab goalless draw.
Back in those days
replays came along three days later and so the whole circus moved to Villa Park
on the following Wednesday where David Fairclough put Liverpool in front
shortly after half-time. But just over
10 minutes later his goal was cancelled out by Alan Sunderland. After another period of extra time the two
couldn’t be separated and would now go to a Third Replay again at Villa Park.
As if this marathon cup
tie wasn’t enough the two clubs broke off from their FA Cup exploits to play a
league match at Anfield. Kenny Dalglish
opened the scoring early in the first half but Brian Talbot equalised to force
yet another draw. The following
Wednesday saw Arsenal pull off a famous victory over Juventus in Turin when
substitute Paul Vaessen scored a late winner.
In the League Liverpool extended their lead at the top of the table with
a win over Stoke City. Both clubs then
suffered draws in league games at the weekend, before they were back to lock
horns at Villa Park on the Monday.
Fixtures were coming
thick and fast, as they often did in those days. Nearly 43,000 packed into Villa Park where
just before the game began a fan ran onto the pitch, pulled his trousers down
and bared his bum. This was all
forgotten pretty soon as Alan Sunderland scored the fastest goal in a
Semi-Final. It was timed at 13 seconds
and was the first time Arsenal had been in front in the tie. The Gunners remained in front deep into
injury time and then Kenny Dalglish grabbed a dramatic equaliser for force yet
another period of extra time. Neither
side could find a breakthrough so they would meet again on Thursday.
Highfield Road, Coventry
was chosen for the venue of the Third Replay.
Coventry had just played Aston Villa there on the Tuesday and remarkably
two days later, Liverpool and Arsenal turned up to try and settle this
Semi-Final. West Ham had long since
booked their place in the Final after beating Everton late in extra time in
their replay. The whole country was
gripped with the drama of this never-ending story, and already there were
discussions over various ways settle the tie.
Brian Talbot put Arsenal
in front after 11 minutes and this time they managed to hang on. Both the two sides and the country were
physically drained, and it had been a marathon never to be seen again. These days the tie would be settled on the
day with a penalty shootout and other rounds just go to the one replay. What foreign managers would’ve made of this
tussle is uncertain but you cannot imagine them putting up with it for very
long.
Two days later Liverpool
travelled back to Anfield and beat Aston Villa, 4-1 to retain their League
title. Arsenal, on the other hand,
remained in Coventry as they had a league match at Highfield Road on the
Saturday and won 1-0. It was Coventry’s
final match of the season, yet Arsenal still had three more to play as well as
two Cup Finals. The following Monday
they drew at home to Nottingham Forest and then had just 5 days to prepare for
the FA Cup Final against West Ham. They
were beaten by a Trevor Brooking goal and then four days later were beaten in a
penalty shootout by Valencia in the European Cup-Winners’ Cup Final when Graham
Rix’s final penalty was saved.
By the time the seaon had
finished Arsenal had played 27 cup ties to go with their 42 league matches and
a Charity Shield game. An incredible 70
games and not a trophy in sight. In
comparison, Liverpool had played 60 and Nottingham Forest played 65 but both
had trophies to remind them of their exploits.
Saturday 12th
April 1980, Hillsborough, Sheffield.
50,174
FA Cup Semi-Final
LIVERPOOL (0) 0
ARSENAL (0) 0
LIVERPOOL : Clemence; Neal, Thompson, Hansen, Irwin; Case
(Fairclough), Lee, Souness, R.Kennedy; Johnson, Dalglish
ARSENAL : Jennings; Rice, O’Leary, Young, Nelson (Walford); Price,
Talbot, Brady, Rix; Stapleton, Sunderland
Wednesday 16th
April 1980, Villa Park, Birmingham. 40,679
FA Cup Semi-Final, Replay
ARSENAL (0) 1 (Sunderland
62)
LIVERPOOL (0) 1 (Fairclough
51)
LIVERPOOL : Clemence; Neal, Thompson, Hansen, Irwin; Lee, Souness,
R.Kennedy; Johnson, Fairclough, Dalglish
ARSENAL : Jennings; Rice, O’Leary, Young, Walford; Price, Talbot,
Brady, Rix; Stapleton, Sunderland
Monday 28th
April 1980, Villa Park, Birmingham. 42,975
FA Cup Semi-Final, 2nd
Replay
LIVERPOOL (0) 1 (Dalglish
90)
ARSENAL (1) 1 (Sunderland
1)
LIVERPOOL : Clemence; Neal, Thompson, Hansen, A.Kennedy
(Fairclough); Lee, McDermott, Souness, R.Kennedy; Johnson, Dalglish
ARSENAL : Jennings; Rice, O’Leary, Young, Devine; Price, Talbot,
Brady, Rix; Stapleton, Sunderland
Thursday 1st
May 1980, Highfield Road, Coventry. 35,335
FA Cup Semi-Final, 3rd
Replay
ARSENAL (1) 1 (Talbot 11)
LIVERPOOL (0) 0
LIVERPOOL : Clemence; Neal, Thompson, Hansen, Cohen; Lee,
McDermott, Souness, R.Kennedy; Johnson (Fairclough), Dalglish
ARSENAL : Jennings; Rice, O’Leary, Young, Devine; Price, Talbot,
Brady, Rix; Stapleton, Sunderland
No comments:
Post a Comment