1988 FA Cup final

1988 FA Cup final
Event	1987–88 FA Cup
Date	14 May 1988
Venue	Wembley Stadium, London
Man of the Match	Dave Beasant
Referee	Brian Hill (Northamptonshire)
Attendance	98,203
Weather	Sunny
	← 1987 1989 →

The 1988 FA Cup final was the 107th final of the FA Cup. It took place on Saturday 14 May 1988 at Wembley Stadium and was contested between Wimbledon and Liverpool, the dominant English club side of the 1980s and newly crowned league champions.^[1]^[2]

In one of the biggest shocks in the entire history of the competition, Lawrie Sanchez' solitary goal of the game won Wimbledon their only FA Cup final in their history; they had just completed their second season in the First Division and had only been in the Football League for a total of 11 years.^[3]^[4] The final also featured the first ever penalty save in an FA Cup final, by Dave Beasant from John Aldridge. Beasant is often mistakenly believed to have been the first goalkeeper to captain a winning side in an FA Cup Final but this honour falls to Major William Merriman of the Royal Engineers who captained his side to victory in 1875.^[5] It was the last FA Cup final to be broadcast live simultaneously by both the BBC and ITV until 2022 - this happened at every final since 1958. Wimbledon's victory ended Liverpool's bid to become the first team to win the Double twice,^[6]^[7] a feat that was eventually achieved by rivals Manchester United in 1996. The game was the last that former England international Laurie Cunningham would play in England, before his death in Spain in 1989.^[8]

Road to Wembley[edit]

^[9]

Liverpool[edit]

Round	Opposition	Score
3rd Replay	Stoke City (A) Stoke City (H)	0–0 1–0
4th	Aston Villa (A)	0–2
5th	Everton (A)	0–1
QF	Manchester City (A)	0–4
SF	Nottingham Forest (N)	2–1
Key: (H) = Home venue; (A) = Away venue; (N) = Neutral venue.

Wimbledon[edit]

Round	Opposition	Score
3rd	West Bromwich Albion (H)	4–1
4th	Mansfield Town (A)	1–2
5th	Newcastle United (A)	1–3
QF	Watford (H)	2–1
SF	Luton Town (N)	2–1
Key: (H) = Home venue; (A) = Away venue; (N) = Neutral venue.

Build-up[edit]

Liverpool had just been crowned once again as champions of the First Division and were the all-conquering giants of English football throughout the 1980s.^[10] Wimbledon had just finished seventh in the First Division that season, only their second year in the top tier. Liverpool, with a team full of international star players, were strongly expected and favoured to win the FA Cup by all the experts, as they had secured their 17th league title by playing in an exciting and flamboyant style, whereas Wimbledon, who had been playing in the semi-professional Southern Football League just eleven years earlier, were derided by many pundits as being technically limited and dismissed as relying only on their strength, and were expected to have almost no chance of beating their illustrious opponents.

Match summary[edit]

Wimbledon took the lead shortly before half-time, when Lawrie Sanchez's looping header, from a Dennis Wise free kick on the left, went across goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar and into the net.^[11] Liverpool created a host of chances, including a chipped goal over the goalkeeper by Peter Beardsley which was disallowed as the referee had already awarded a free kick to Liverpool, but were unable to find a way past Wimbledon goalkeeper Dave Beasant. The Merseysiders were awarded a penalty on the hour mark following a foul by Clive Goodyear on John Aldridge.^[12] However, Aldridge's penalty was saved by Beasant's diving save to his left, thus Beasant became the first keeper to save a penalty in a Wembley FA Cup final.^[13] The Londoners survived more pressure from Liverpool to secure their first major trophy and a notable upset in FA Cup Final history. Captain Beasant became the second goalkeeper to lift the FA Cup as a result (Royal Engineers goalkeeper and captain Major William Merriman lifted the Cup in 1875).^[14] After the final whistle John Motson, who was commentating for the BBC, delivered his famous line: "The Crazy Gang have beaten the Culture Club."^[15]

Europe[edit]

Although they had won the Cup, Wimbledon were prevented from competing in the European Cup Winners' Cup the following season due to the ongoing ban on all English teams from European competitions following the Heysel disaster in 1985. At the time of the final, it was hoped that the ban would be rescinded, but after a number of violent incidents involving English fans during the 1988 European Championships, the FA withdrew their application for readmission.^{[citation needed]}

Match details[edit]

14 May 1988

15:00 BST

Liverpool	0–1	Wimbledon
	Report	Sanchez 37'

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 98,203

Referee: Brian Hill

Liverpool

Wimbledon


GK	1	Bruce Grobbelaar
RB	4	Steve Nicol
CB	2	Gary Gillespie
CB	6	Alan Hansen (c)
LB	3	Gary Ablett
RM	9	Ray Houghton
CM	5	Nigel Spackman	74'
CM	11	Steve McMahon
LM	10	John Barnes
CF	7	Peter Beardsley
CF	8	John Aldridge	64'
Substitutes:
MF	12	Craig Johnston	64'
MF	14	Jan Mølby	74'
Manager:
Kenny Dalglish


GK	1	Dave Beasant (c)
RB	2	Clive Goodyear
CB	5	Eric Young
CB	6	Andy Thorn
LB	3	Terry Phelan
CM	10	Lawrie Sanchez
CM	4	Vinnie Jones
CM	11	Dennis Wise
RF	8	Alan Cork	56'
CF	9	John Fashanu
LF	7	Terry Gibson	63'
Substitutes:
DF	12	John Scales	63'
MF	14	Laurie Cunningham	56'
Manager:
Bobby Gould

Match rules

90 minutes
30 minutes of extra-time if necessary
Replay if scores still level
Two named substitutes
Maximum of two substitutions

References[edit]

^ Phillips-Knight, Rob (12 May 2010). "Beasant and the 'Crazy Gang' stun Liverpool". ESPN.co.uk. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
^ "English Division One 1987–1988 Final Table". statto.com. Archived from the original on 17 August 2011. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
^ Beasant, Dave (15 May 2010). "14 May 1988: The first FA Cup final penalty save". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
^ "English FA Cup Finalists 1980 – 1989". Historical Football Kits. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
^ "Quirky Facts". Goalkeepersaredifferent.com. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
^ Hosking, Patrick; Wighton, David (14 March 2004). "Caught in Time: Wimbledon's Crazy Gang chase FA Cup glory in 1988". The Times. London. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
^ Reddy, Luke (4 January 2015). "Wimbledon v Liverpool: How the Crazy Gang made FA Cup history". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
^ "Laurie Cunningham Player Statistics". Soccerbase. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
^ "FA Cup 1987–1988 : Results". statto.com. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
^ "The girl in the Gang - being Wimbledon's physio". BBC Sport.
^ "Bobby Gould recalls Wimbledon's FA Cup win". Reuters. 13 May 2008. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
^ Johnston, Clay (2 May 2020). "My favourite game: Liverpool v Wimbledon, 1988 FA Cup final". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
^ "Dave and his wombles may have done us a favor". Glasgow Herald. 16 May 1988. p. 12. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
^ "Quirky Facts". Goalkeepersaredifferent.com. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
^ "When the Crazy Gang beat the Culture Club: Wimbledon v Liverpool FA Cup flashback". Liverpool Echo. 4 January 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2015.

External links[edit]

Game facts Archived 1 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine at soccerbase.com
LFC History Match Report
Match at BBC

[1] Phillips-Knight, Rob (12 May 2010). "Beasant and the 'Crazy Gang' stun Liverpool". ESPN.co.uk. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 24 June 2011.

[2] "English Division One 1987–1988 Final Table". statto.com. Archived from the original on 17 August 2011. Retrieved 24 June 2011.

[3] Beasant, Dave (15 May 2010). "14 May 1988: The first FA Cup final penalty save". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 24 June 2011.

[4] "English FA Cup Finalists 1980 – 1989". Historical Football Kits. Retrieved 24 June 2011.

[5] "Quirky Facts". Goalkeepersaredifferent.com. Retrieved 31 October 2019.

[6] Hosking, Patrick; Wighton, David (14 March 2004). "Caught in Time: Wimbledon's Crazy Gang chase FA Cup glory in 1988". The Times. London. Retrieved 24 June 2011.

[7] Reddy, Luke (4 January 2015). "Wimbledon v Liverpool: How the Crazy Gang made FA Cup history". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 January 2015.

[8] "Laurie Cunningham Player Statistics". Soccerbase. Retrieved 6 April 2020.

[9] "FA Cup 1987–1988 : Results". statto.com. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2011.

[10] "The girl in the Gang - being Wimbledon's physio". BBC Sport.

[11] "Bobby Gould recalls Wimbledon's FA Cup win". Reuters. 13 May 2008. Retrieved 24 June 2011.

[12] Johnston, Clay (2 May 2020). "My favourite game: Liverpool v Wimbledon, 1988 FA Cup final". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 May 2020.

[13] "Dave and his wombles may have done us a favor". Glasgow Herald. 16 May 1988. p. 12. Retrieved 10 October 2012.

[14] "Quirky Facts". Goalkeepersaredifferent.com. Retrieved 16 October 2020.

[15] "When the Crazy Gang beat the Culture Club: Wimbledon v Liverpool FA Cup flashback". Liverpool Echo. 4 January 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2015.

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v t e FA Cup
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v t e Wimbledon Football Club
History	Seasons Crazy Gang Relocation to Milton Keynes
Grounds	Wimbledon Common Plough Lane Selhurst Park National Hockey Stadium
Notable matches	1988 FA Cup final 1988 FA Charity Shield
Rivalries	South London derby
Related	AFC Wimbledon Milton Keynes Dons Belfast United