IT'S A PENALTY AND A PLAY OFF

In 1986 , this day was Maradona's "Hand of God" moment! Talksport is running through "great moments".... here's a few.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ccNkksrfls

The penalty kick was not introduced into English football for a while as the glorious Football Association  believed that NO FOOTBALLER, being a gentleman, would meaningly break any the LAWS . Eventually, the penalty kick was first introduced by the Irish FA in the 1890/91 season with the Scottish FA following in January 1891. The FA introduced it into the English game at the start of the 1891/92 season.

On Saturday May 3rd 1924, the last day of the football season, Cardiff City needed a win their final game to become Football League champions. At 0-0 against Birmingham City, Cardiff were awarded a penalty but Len Davies missed it. As a result Huddersfield Town pipped them for the title on goal average.

The first FA Cup match to be decided on penalties was between Birmingham City and Stoke City at St Andrews on August 5th 1972. An unusual date for an FA Cup match, but it was one of only five fixtures held to decide who would finish third and fourth in the previous season's FA Cup. The match was goalless but Birmingham won 4-3 on penalties. The previous season, 1971-2 season, saw FA Cup semi-finals between Arsenal and Stoke City, 1-1 then 1-2 to Arsenal in the replay and Leeds Utd and Birmingham City 3-0. Leeds won the Final 1-0 at Wembley.

Of all the FA’s daft ideas, the FA Cup third-place play-off must be among the worst. No one remembers the runners-up, do they? then who cares who came third or even worse, fourth. These were, and are, the forgotten FA Cup ties. The first play-off was in 1970, between that season’s beaten semi-finalists, Manchester United and Watford. The game was played on a Friday night at Highbury, the day before the Cup final. United won 2-0; 15,105 people watched. And were they impressed? Not arf!

“As an aperitif for the FA Cup final,” wrote Norman Fox in the Times the next day, “the play-off failed for no more subtle reason than that it was a non-event between two losers.” There was heavy rain and an “unreal atmosphere”. On the same day, two real games took place in the First Division. The play-off was squeezed in alongside, presumably in the hope no one noticed. Precious few cared, even the Times sports pages gave more space to the rackets report.

The next season was worse. The beaten semi-finalists were Stoke City and Everton and naturally, the FA played the game on a Friday night at Selhurst Park in south London, attracting 5,000; the same night, more people watched a mid-table Fourth Division game between Colchester and Stockport. Neither the Times nor the Sun carried a match report of Stoke’s 3-2 win.

Stoke’s Evening Sentinel, though, reported “entertainment worthy of a better response than a meagre crowd”. Despite that, the paper was more concerned with Stoke’s upcoming entry into the second-ever Anglo-Italian Cup. Trips to Roma and Verona, it seemed, were more exciting than a Friday night at Selhurst Park, playing for a scant consolation prize. (Stoke, as it turned out, won at Roma and lost at Verona, so didn’t make the final.)

It wasn't until 1991, that the rules were changed to allow the shoot-outs in the main competition itself, with the first penalty decider being between Rotherham and Scunthorpe, on Tuesday November 26th 1991. After drawing the First Round match 1-1 at Scunthorpe, the shoot-out followed on from the 3-3 draw in the replay at Millmoor, Rotherham won 7-6.

When you get a penalty you just aim to hit it hard into the back of the net don't you? Well, not if your name is Johan Cruyff who did this for Ajax in 1982 with the help of Jesper Olsen...must be seen! https://youtu.be/tJB2AUWPplY

At Highbury, on Saturday 22nd October 2005, when Arsenal entertained Manchester City in the Premier League, Robert Pires and Thierry Henry proved that they were not in the Cruyff/Olsen class....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhA3wcvrgyY  and some others.