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May 1986 Everton - Liverpool 1 - 3 FA Cup Final |
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Back row: Bruce Grobbelaar, Kenny Dalglish, Mark
Seagraves, Jan Molby, Paul Walsh, Bob Bolder, Sammy Lee, Mark Lawrenson, Ian Rush, Kevin
MacDonald, Ronnie Whelan, John Wark.
Front row: Steve McMahon, Steve Nicol, Craig Johnston, Jim Beglin, Alan Hansen,
Steve Nicol.
WITH almost an hour played in the
1986 FA Cup Final, it looked as though Liverpool's hopes of becoming only the third club
this century to achieve the League and Cup double had been dashed, just as their rivals,
Everton, had seen the double snatched from their grasp 12 months earlier.
The Reds trailed to a 28th-minute goal scored by Gary Lineker, Everton's England
striker and the 1986 Footballer of the Year. And such had been the Goodison Park club's
hold on the game after Lineker's strike, that there seemed little way back for a Liverpool
side which, after a promising opening, had struggled to make an impact on the game.
But if the Reds have made one thing clear over the years, it is that they can never
be discounted until the final whistle. And so it turned out on this marvellous occasion of
the first all-Merseyside FA Cup Final. Liverpool's Danish star, Jan Molby, chose that
moment to stride forward from midfield and fashion moves which Rush and Johnston finished
in clinical manner.
Liverpool, without Gillespie who had reported sick on the eve of the Final, elected
to play Lawrenson in the number-two shirt and to do without the services of a sweeper.
It seemed to work well enough for the opening ten minutes but when Lineker, at the
second attempt, swept home Reid's beautifully-judged through ball, the Reds lost control
of the game.
They regained a toe-hold 12 minutes into the second half when Everton's right-back,
Stevens, was guilty of a sloppy pass which was intercepted by Beglin. He sent Molby away
and the Dane played a simple pass forward. Rush seized on the chance and tucked the ball
past Mimms from an acute angle.
Yet within four minutes, the Blues could curse their luck when Grobbelaar, having
been hopelessly stranded in no-man's land, performed wonders by getting back to tip
Sharp's looping header over the crossbar.
It was the turning point of the game and two minutes later, Liverpool were ahead.
Again, Rush and Molby were involved. The Welshman found the Dane and after Dalglish had
unsuccessfully tried to make contact, it was left to Johnston, unmarked at the far post,
to side-foot the ball home.
Six minutes from time, with Everton having bravely replaced defender Stevens with
striker Adrian Heath, Rush made certain of the double, driving home Whelan's pass after
more good work from Molby.
Everton complained that, as early as the 20th minute, they might have had a penalty when
Nicol appeared to foul Sharp; and they claimed that Dalglish had been offside when
Johnston put the Reds in front.
But once Liverpool had nosed ahead, there was little doubt over the outcome.
Football, too, had emerged victorious after one of the best Wembley Finals for years.
As the Cup was paraded around Wembley, the fans chanted for Dalglish, at the same
time remembering another Scottish manager of Liverpool. In a moving tribute, the strains
of 'Shank-ly, Shank-ly', reverberated throughout this famous ground.
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