When the footballing fixture revolution comes around and BTLM finds itself in charge, FA Cup replays will be the first against the wall. We’ve never really bought into all that FA Cup mythologising and although we grudgingly tolerate the competition, we really have no time for dragging out ties that can’t find a winner at the first time of asking. Extra-time, penalty kicks, the two managers wrestling naked in front of a fire on bearskin rugs – whatever criteria you prefer to find a winner is fine by us, just as long as you get things done and dusted in one sitting.
And yet without replays we wouldn’t have had the particular pleasure of watching Wolves entertain Crystal Palace in the Sixth Round of the 1994-95 competition – a game of great goals and the latest in our regular series dedicated to such matches. The first game at Selhurst Park had finished a nondescript 1-1 draw and as the pair took to the field at Molyneux for a second attempt to find a winner, no-one could have imagined what an extraordinary masterclass in brilliant finishing they were about to witness.
The game finished 4-1 in favour of the visitors and all five goals scored that night were truly special and quite different in their fabulous execution. If you have a penchant for long-range strikes, overhead kicks, penalty box acrobatics, full-length diving headers or devastating counter attacking; all are catered for in this game. Those of you nostalgic for the good old days when perfectly hit shots would lodge themselves in the goal stanchion are treated to not one, but two examples here.
So sit back and enjoy the best (and only) advert there’s ever been for FA Cup replays.
Great stuff, thanks.
Who would win a fight between stuck in the stanchion and in off the underside from distance ?
Football has always been a great game. Some wonderful goals scored in this game. Epic