1988 FA Cup Final

1988 FA Cup Final
Event	1987–88 FA Cup
Date	14 May 1988
Venue	Wembley Stadium, London
Referee	Brian Hill (Northamptonshire)
Attendance	98,203
Weather	Sunny
	← 1987 1989 →

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

The result was one of the biggest shocks in the history of the competition as the London side won 1–0 to win the cup for the only time in their history; they had just completed their second season in the Football League First Division and had only been in the Football League for 11 years.^[3]^[4] The final also featured the first penalty save in an FA Cup final (by Dave Beasant from John Aldridge) and the first goalkeeper (Beasant) to captain an FA Cup-winning side.^[5] It was the last FA Cup final to be broadcast by both ITV and the BBC, which had happened since 1958. Wimbledon's victory ended Liverpool's bid to become the first team to win the Double twice.^[6]^[7] This feat was eventually achieved by rivals Manchester United in 1995–96, when they earned their second domestic double.

Road to Wembley

^[8]

Liverpool

Home teams listed first.

Round 3: Stoke City 0–0 Liverpool

Replay: Liverpool 1–0 Stoke City

Round 4: Aston Villa 0–2 Liverpool

Round 5: Everton 0–1 Liverpool

Round 6: Manchester City 0–4 Liverpool

Semi-final: Liverpool 2–1 Nottingham Forest (at Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield)

Wimbledon

Home teams listed first.

Round 3: Wimbledon 4–1 West Bromwich Albion

Round 4: Mansfield Town 1–2 Wimbledon

Round 5: Newcastle United 1–3 Wimbledon

Round 6: Wimbledon 2–1 Watford

Semi-final: Wimbledon 2–1 Luton Town (at White Hart Lane, London)

The build up

Liverpool were the winners of Division One and were the giants of England in the 1980s. Wimbledon finished seventh in the table but were more expected to finish much lower than that position. Liverpool were highly expected and favoured to win the trophy as they were a top class team with talent and skill while Wimbledon were just a pub team from South London and were given very little hope on beating the overwhelming Merseysiders and lifting the trophy.

Match summary

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.^[9] 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, though replays showed that Goodyear won the ball cleanly, but Aldridge's penalty was saved by Beasant's diving save to his left, thus becoming the first keeper to save a penalty in a Wembley FA Cup final.^[10] The Londoners survived more pressure from Liverpool to secure their first major trophy and a notable upset in FA Cup Final history. Dave Beasant also became the first goalkeeper to receive the FA Cup as captain.^[11]^[12]^[13] After the final whistle John Motson who was commentating for the BBC delivered his famous line: "The Crazy Gang have beaten the Culture Club."^[14]

Europe

Wimbledon were unable to compete in the 1988–89 European Cup Winners' Cup, due to the ongoing ban on English teams from European competitions, following the actions of a group of Liverpool supporters in the 1985 European Cup Final Heysel disaster. At the time of the final, it was hoped that the ban would be rescinded, but after a number of incidents involving English fans during the 1988 European Championships, the FA withdrew their application for readmission.^{[citation needed]}

Match details

Liverpool v Wimbledon

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
RW	8	Alan Cork	56'
LW	11	Dennis Wise
CF	7	Terry Gibson	63'
CF	9	John Fashanu
Substitutes:
DF	12	John Scales	63'
FW	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

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External links

Game facts at soccerbase.com
LFC History Match Report

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v t e FA Cup
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History Trophy List of finals FA Cup Third-fourth place matches Semi-finals Final referees Winning managers Non-English clubs Non-league clubs in the 5th Round

v t e Liverpool F.C. matches
FA Cup Finals	1914 1950 1965 1971 1974 1977 1986 1988 1989 1992 1996 2001 2006 2012
League Cup Finals	1978 1981 1982 1983 1984 1987 1995 2001 2003 2005 2012
FA Community Shields	1922 1964 1965 1966 1971 1974 1976 1977 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1988 1989 1990 1992 2001 2002 2006
UEFA Champions League Finals	1977 1978 1981 1984 1985 2005 2007
European Cup Winners' Cup Final	1966
UEFA Cup Finals	1973 1976 2001
UEFA Super Cups	1977 1978 ~~1981~~ 1984 2001 2005
Intercontinental Cups	~~1978~~ 1981 1984
FIFA Club World Championship Final	2005
Other matches	Ajax 5–1 Liverpool (1966) 1983–84 European Cup semi-final 1986 English Super Cup Final Liverpool 0–2 Arsenal (1989) Liverpool 9–0 Crystal Palace (1989) Liverpool 4–3 Newcastle (1996)

v t e Wimbledon F.C. matches
FA Cup Final	1988
FA Community Shield	1988

1988 FA Cup Final

Contents

Road to Wembley

Liverpool

Wimbledon

The build up

Match summary

Europe

Match details

References

External links

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