My first Cup Final, the one I remember
and saw on a black and white TV at home, was on May 4th,
when Aston Villa overcame Manchester United in 1957 at Wembley, in
front of 100,000.
Villa, a mid-table First Division side,
were not favourites. United, prior to the dreadful Munich Air Crash,
were full of hope and good players and were already League Champions.
Players such as Duncan Edwards, Bobby Charlton, Bill Foulkes and
Ray Wood in goal, were sure to carry home the trophy.
But Peter McParland, an Irish
international winger barged into Ray Wood, breaking the goalie's
cheek bone and caused him to leave the pitch after only six minutes.
There were no substitutes in those days and Villa played against 10
men for the rest of the game. Wembley Cup Finals had a reputation of
such injuries, Jimmy Meadows in 1955, Bert Trautmann in 1956, Harry
Gregg in 1958, Roy Dwight in 1959, Dave Whelan in 1960 and so on.
Did somebody say that the FA has common
sense and set the laws of the game to be fair and functional? When
were substitutes introduced?
Centre-half Jackie Blanchflower, whose
brother Danny was later to lead Spurs to a Cup and League double in
1960-1, went in goal and made some fine saves but even though United
scored late in the match, Villa were triumphant, winning 2-1. This
was the seventh Cup Final win for Villa and they denied United the
Double.
So now Villa have a Cup Final to play
on May 30th. Their first chance of winning FA Cup silver
for 58 years. Only Arsenal to beat then, Tim Shearwood.
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