fa cup - 1991

Route to the Final : -

Round 3 05.01.1991 Blackpool A 1 - 0 Stewart 9,563
Round 4 26.01.1991 Oxford United H 4 - 2 Mabbutt, Lineker, Gascoigne 2 31,665
Round 5 16.02.1991 Portsmouth A 2 - 1 Gascoigne 2 26,049
Round 6 10.03.991 Notts County H 2 - 1 Nayim, Gascoigne 29,686
Semi-Final 14.04.1991 Arsenal Wembley 3 - 1 Lineker 2, Gascoigne 77,893

 

Match Details : - 

NOTTINGHAM FOREST  v  TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

Date : -  Saturday 18th May 1991

Venue : -  Wembley Stadium

Crowd : -  80,000

Weather : -  Bright, warm

Referee : -  Roger Milford (Bristol)

Score : -

Nottingham Forest 1 2 Tottenham Hotspur

Goalscorers : -                   

Pearce 16 Stewart 55, Walker (o.g.) 94

(after extra time - 90 mins: - Score 1 - 1)

 

Teams : - 

Nottingham Forest : - Crossley; Charles, Walker, Chettle, Pearce;  Crosby, Parker, Clough, Keane; Glover (Laws 108), Woan (Hodge 62).

Tottenham Hotspur : -  Erik Thorstvedt; Pat van den Hauwe, Gary Mabbutt, Steve Sedgley, Justin Edinburgh; David Howells, Paul Gascoigne (Nayim 17), Paul Stewart, Paul Allen; Gary Lineker, Vinny Samways (Paul Walsh 82).

Match Report : -  
 

Spurs made heavy weather of winning this FA Cup Final, but then that is the Tottenham way !!

Never ones to take the easy route to victory, Spurs had teetered on the edge of going out of business during this Cup run and only the mercurial Paul Gascoigne's brilliance had seen Spurs through to the final.  He had been the inspiration in all the FA Cup ties and had scored goals along the way that would live in the memory and the final would also be be remembered for Gazza's actions.  The tide of emotion that the club had swept top the final on seemed to affect Gascoigne the most and it was he who was so pumped up for this match that he almost ended his involvement in the first few minutes. 

In winning the ball out on the right touchline, he followed through with his foot up and caught Garry Parker in the chest. Referee Milford let him off with a lecture, but it had not sunk in when he scythed down Gary Charles as the Forest defender ran across the face of the Spurs penalty area in the 13th minute.  He received a yellow card for the tackle, Forest got a free-kick on the edge of the box and Gascoigne got a lot of treatment on his knee before standing up to join the defensive wall.  When Nottingham Forest's captain took the dead ball kick, Glover pulled Gary Mabbutt off the end of the wall and the ball flew past Thorstvedt to give Forest the lead in the 16th minute.

Gascoigne paid for his rash challenge, which many Forest fans though deserved a red card, when he had to leave the field on a stretcher shortly after the match restarted, as he could not put any weight on his leg, because his ligaments had gone.  Nayim came on to replace him and Spurs set about getting back into the game.

After 25 minutes Gary Lineker had a goal chalked off for offside, although he was not and then five minutes later, he was in on Mark Crossley, when the keeper brought him down in the box.  Penalty, but no red card, despite the goalie being the last man.  Up stepped Lineker and put the ball to the keeper's left, where he dived and kept the ball out.

Half-time came and went, with Spurs needing an early goal to get back into the match, but they were reliant on David Howells to save them, clearing the ball off the line from Roy Keane's effort.  It came ten minutes after the interval, when Nayim found Paul Allen, who put Paul Stewart in on the right hand side of the box and he drilled a low shot across Crossley that hit the stanchion inside the net and put Tottenham on level terms.

With the game becoming very cagey, the final moved into extra-time.  With the game even at the end of 90 minutes, Brian Clough stood in the tunnel beneath the Royal Box, while Venables geed up his team.  Having never won the FA Cup, the nation were behind Cloughie's side, but in extra time, there was only ever one team who were going to win.

Paul Walsh hit a great effort that drifted over the keeper, but hit the bar and bounced back only for it to be put behind by Stuart Pearce for a corner.  Nayim took it and Stewart met it at the near post to flick it on.  As Gary Mabbutt ran in at the far post, he was poised to head the ball home, but defender Des Walker (a former Spurs apprentice) beat him to it and buried the ball past his own keeper to give Tottenham the lead for the first time in the game.

The remainder of extra time failed to produce much of note and against the odds, Tottenham Hotspur were to have their name engraved on the FA Cup for the eighth time.

Spurs were a viable proposition now and Venables and Sugar took over the club, but for Paul Gascoigne there were months of rehabilitation before he got his move to Lazio, although he was never to regain the talents that he displayed in the cup run in this year.  This was to be his last game for Spurs

Comments : -  

Winning goal-scorer Des Walker started his career as a junior at Tottenham.

At the end of the 90 minutes, Brian Clough chose not to talk to his team as they prepared for extra-time.

Spurs fans did not occupy the Tunnel End.

Princess Diana was the guest of honour who presented the trophy to Gary Mabbutt.

 

What they said about the final : -  

Gary Mabbutt : "Everything seemed to go against us in the first half.  Paul's (Gascoigne) injury meant a lot of adjustments but we rallied, kept working hard, kept playing the way we believed the game should be played and managed to turn it around.  When the final whistle went and, as captain, I led the team up the stairs to pick up the trophy, it was a proud moment."

Captain Gary Mabbutt celebrates with the FA Cup

 

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