By Simon Wright – Follow
me on Twitter @Siwri88
The
FA Cup, the world’s greatest football competition has returned this weekend
with the first round proper and in a new series for the website from round one
until the final at Wembley next May; I will share my memories of what has made
the competition so special to me and many football fans up and down the land.
These
stories can be one of personal achievement, a huge surprise against the odds,
even something like a game played in freezing temperatures or a weekend where
the underdog ripped up the formbook.
The
second memory in this series takes the readers back to 1995 and another
difficult and painful night from 12 yards for Chris Waddle as Sheffield
Wednesday took on Wolves in a fourth round replay.
Waddle’s
career had been one of plenty of promise but had never quite fully hit the big
time. In 1990, he was the other fall guy alongside Stuart Pearce in the World
Cup semi-final as England agonisingly came up short against West Germany.
Waddle then experienced more heartache on penalties a year later as his
Marseille side lost the European Cup final on penalties to Red Star Belgrade,
although he didn’t take a spot-kick in the shootout itself.
A
move to Sheffield Wednesday ahead of the new Premier League era produced a
fresh breath of life into his career. Waddle won the Football Writers’ Award in
1993, scored a tremendous free-kick in the Sheffield derby FA Cup semi-final
and reached two domestic cup finals. Sadly for Waddle, both of these saw
Wednesday come up short against Arsenal.
In
January 1995, Waddle’s men were drawn at home to Wolves (home shirt pictured) in the fourth round of
the competition. The visitors worked hard at Hillsborough to hold their more
prestigious hosts to a scoreless draw. This was helped by a dramatic penalty
save from goalkeeper Paul Jones to deny Chris Bart-Williams in the 87th
minute of the first tie. The match went back to Molineux but Wolves had just
come off the back of a 5-1 beating by Bolton Wanderers in the first division
just a few days earlier. The Yorkshire side were on a good run domestically
after their customary slow start and had climbed into the Premier League’s top
eight.
The
Sky cameras were in force for the return match and it was the home side,
managed by former England managerial flop Graham Taylor who drew first blood.
David Kelly scrambling home the opening goal after Kevin Pressman failed to
deal with a testing corner kick. The game was tight and tense, with few
goalscoring opportunities. Sheffield Wednesday eventually drew level with Mark
Bright finding the target on his way to becoming top scorer for the club for
the third successive campaign. With the teams still struggling to be separated
in extra-time, a shootout was required to see who would progress to a fifth
round home tie with Leicester City.
Wolves
made a dreadful start to the lottery of the shootout. Neil Thompson struck the
crossbar and Pressman then saved from Neil Emblem. Bright, Guy Whittingham and
then Pressman himself smashed the visitors into a 3-0 lead and an almost
unassailable advantage. It didn’t look like Waddle was going to be needed.
Unsurprisingly, the veteran midfielder had not volunteered to take a penalty
but was asked by boss Trevor Francis to be the reserve taker should it get past
the required five shots at goal. The experienced Gordon Cowans made no mistake
and then it started to unravel for Wednesday. Andy Pearce smashed his penalty
onto the bar and then Bart-Williams tried his luck again against Jones. The
goalkeeper was once again equal to the midfielder’s efforts. Somehow, Wolves
had pulled the dire situation only moments earlier back to 3-3 and Waddle was
called upon.
He
didn’t look confident at all walking up to the Molineux spot and his effort was
fairly weak. Jones made a comfortable save and it was left for striker Don
Goodman to hammer the winning penalty past the despairing Pressman and seal a
wonderful win for Wolves from an almost impossible scenario just moments
earlier. They beat Leicester in round five before being defeated in a sixth
round replay by Crystal Palace. Despite finishing as Division One top scorers
with 77 goals, they missed out on the play-offs though and consequently, a
place in the top flight. Wednesday’s season crumbled on the back of this
result. They slipped to 13th in the final table and Francis left his
post as manager at the end of the campaign.
Even
in a penalty shootout, always expect the unexpected and for Chris Waddle, it
was another tough evening in a career that promised so much but ultimately
delivered so little.
What happened to some of
the key figures on that day?
David
Kelly would go on to play in the Premier League with Sunderland in 1996-97 but
failed to score a single goal in the top flight. He retired from playing in
2002 after spells at Tranmere Rovers, Mansfield Town and Derry City. Today, he
is the deputy manager at Nottingham Forest. Don Goodman, who settled the shootout
on this great Molineux night, played over 600 Football League games in a career
that spanned two decades. He now covers Football League matches as a
commentator for Sky Sports. Wolves manager Graham Taylor had two more
managerial spells with former clubs in Watford and Aston Villa before quitting
the game in 2003. He is still a regular pundit for BBC Radio Five Live.
Sheffield
Wednesday manager on the night, Trevor Francis took over at Birmingham City and
became the commentator for Sky’s Monday Night Football for several seasons
after 1995. He experienced more pain in a cup final in 2001 when his Birmingham
side were beaten in a shootout by Liverpool in the Worthington Cup. He survived
a heart attack last year and is working as a pundit for Al Jazeera. Chris
Waddle still plays semi-professional football and has also moved into the media
industry as a regular co-commentator for ESPN. Chris Bart-Williams went on to
play for both Nottingham Forest and Charlton Athletic in the Premier League and
is currently as assistant coach for women’s team SoccerPlus Connecticut in the
United States.
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