DISSAPOINTMENT AT WEMBLEY

 

 

In the '05 final, United faced Arsenal at the Millenium Stadium. The match finished 0-0 after 90 minutes, the deadlock remained unbroken at extra time and the Gunners beat us on penalties. You only have to go back a year further to find the last time United won an FA Cup final though. In '04 we faced Millwall of all teams and beat them 3-0! And unlike either of those two occassion the Double was still up for grabs this time out, and the last time to snap that up was the apocylpse squad of '99. I was about to start GCSE exams, they were on their way to the Treble!

This time out, we face Chelsea and though we beat them to the Premiership title, we haven't beaten them head to head this season. They drew 1-1 at Old Trafford and then there was that dullsville reserves game at Stamford Bridge. The last time we faced them in the FA Cup was actually way back to '99 when we followed a goalless draw in the quarter finals with a 2-0 replay win at Stamford Bridge. In '96 we beat them 2-1 in the semis at Villa Park. However, the tune to remember this time is "Come on you Reds". I can only remember watching highlights of the '94 final between the two sides(and singing along to the aforementioned tune) as a kid. We won 4-0 with Eric Cantona sticking in two identical penalties past the Chelsea goalie.

And this year, we were going to Wembley for the first time since my A Levels! The legendary stadium had reopened for the first matchup of the top two sides in the country in an FA Cup final since the 80s. It was just a pity that both sides responded to the occassional by using a 4-5-1 formation. For United that involved Carrick, Scholesey and Fletcher in central midfield and Rooney on his own up front. Hype galore for what was hoped to be a classic.

No one had told the players it was supposed to be a classic though. 4-5-1 + 4-5-1 = dullsville and that is what we got. Both sets of players were just happy to pass it around in the middle of the stadium, too nervous to have a real go at the opposition. Frank Lampard gets the credit for having the first real shot on goal during the game but with the pitch looking suspect as well this looked liable to turn into the final of embarrassment for English football as a whole.

At half time Fergie clearly realised something was wrong because the second half opened with Wayne making the Chelsea defence freak out on a regular basis. Chelsea replied in kind and soon we had something resembling a Cup final! Both sides went at each other full blast for a while though the class started to peter out after a bit. It was at this point in '96 that Cantona made fools out of the Scousers. Though the current side has more than enough players capable of a similar moment, it wasn't forthcoming and the FA Cup final went to extra time for the third year in a row(second occassion in a row for United).

United started the first half on the front foot with the Blues having to maintain their defensive integrity to see them though. The Blues had the occassional attack but the main moment of this period when Giggsy came within an inch of scoring and technically the ball went over the line but Chelsea fans would argue that their goalie was fouled in the process. Whatever, goal not given and the deadlock remained with the threat of penalties on the horizion.

It looked like Chelsea's turn to attack in the last fifteen minute of normal play but United got themselves more chances anyway, just weren't able to do anything with them. Chelsea then hammered us again and it was the Blues that broke the deadlock in the 116th minute when Lampard set up Didier Drogba to run on and stick the ball into the net. United never laid down but we can't complain too much about the result either as we could have made better use of the earlier stages of the match.

Going down a few levels though, meet Exeter City. In 1990 they won what was then known as the Fourth Division, gaining promotion to the Third Division. They were still in the third tier of English football when it was renamed the Second Division in '92 before getting relegated to the Third Division in '94. In '03 they were sent down to the Conference, renamed the Conference National in '04. They haven't looked like returning to League football since then...untill this season when they made it into the playoffs and then beat Oxford in the semis.

Guess who got his hands on tickets to the final at Wembley(along with 30000 other people from this part of England)? So, Dad and I drove to London, passed what must have been every Exeter coach out there on the way, stopped off back in Teddington, eventually got as far as Waterloo Tube station, and spent a nervy half hour with fellow City fans wondering if we were going to make it. Cue a rush through Wembley Park Tube station singing "we love you City" and we make it. Up the escalators, through the stadium typical corridors, up a flight up steps...and then I gazed at an absolutely awesome sight

 

 

Well Exeter started on the front foot nicely enough and it wasn't long till the Exeter majority of the crowd went suitably mental when Jon Chalinor crossed to his strike partner Lee Philips in the 8th minute with Philips heading the ball in. After that the Grecians came close to making it 2-0 but Morecombe provied a few headaches of their own, missing a penalty. The bulk of the rest of the half looked pretty even with nothing stopping City from coming in 1-0 up...until the 42nd minute when Garry Thompson surged into the City box to draw the game level.

Both sides had their moments in the second half with City having the early attacking spell though nothing looked like going in. Morecombe replied with their own purple patch. The game looked like it was certain to go into extra time with neither side quite able to find the killer edge. If anything, City were looking the better side but that didn't count for anything in the 82nd minute when Morecombe's Danny Carlton bisected the Exeter defence to hit the winner. The Morecombe fans gloated "you're not singing any more" and they were correct. City ended the game with 10 men. A great occassion but a not so great result. This city won't be buzzing so much now.

North of the border. Aberdeen ended their SPL campaign on a knife edge by facing Rangers at Pittodrie. It turned out not to be such a big problem. Steve Lovell and Scott Severin made sure that the Dons were 2-0 up at halftime and that never looked like changing in the second half. The Gers players probably came into this encounter not able to care less, therefore the Reds secured their first trip into Europe since 02/03, the Hearts result not even an issues, the Dons finishing four points ahead of the Edinburgh side.

So, the 07/08 SPL season finishes up looking like this. Celtic win the title which garuntees them a spot in the Champions League group stage. Rangers finish second which means that they might get to join their rivals in the European elite, but they'd have to survive two preliminary rounds first. The Dons will be the main club flying the Saltaire in the UEFA Cup but they'll be joined by an unlikely European contender, Dunfirmline, who also got relegated! Gretna have won D1 and will be the SPL new boys next year.

Click here to visit the football archive

Comments get emailed here

Click here to return to sports homepage

Click here to return to Matt G's homepage