There are few football fans who do not love a great FA cup upset, there have been many since this great competition begun in 1871, to name a few; Wimbledon beating the mighty Liverpool in 1988 and of course last year’s winners Wigan toppling the free spending Man City. But there are a few truly great stories that do not receive as much press and attention as I believe they deserve. So I thought I would get nostalgic and take a trip down FA cup memory lane. FA cup fever is real and great cup runs can re-galvanize teams, embarrass the big guns, bring towns together and most of all have fans jumping up and down on the sofas, hoping the underdogs can keep going.
Laurie Sanchez’s Wycombe Wanderers were in the old division two and no one could have predicted the events of Wanderers cup run. They certainly had some scares on their way, they nearly crashed out in round two and three but won both ties via replies. Pundits and reporters alike started to take notice when they survived a reply against Wimbledon to win on penalties and to make it through to the Quarter finals. The road looked bleak for the team 60th in the league rankings, as Sanchez only had 16 fit players out of squad of 26 and they were away from home against a premiership team who had a good defensive record but their luck was about to change.
Once Muzzy Izzet equalised for City, everyone was waiting for the Premiership team to take control of the game and expecting Wycombe to tire but the underdogs upped their work rate and refused to let the opportunity slip. Then as a last throw of the dice, Sanchez decided to throw on his latest signing Roy Essandoh. The player who was only there because his agent contacted Wycombe after he saw the SOS advertisement posted by Wycombe on Teletext! FA cup folklore was about to have its newest addition, with a towering leap Essandoh headed the ball home! The travelling fans were in dreamland and after a few nerve wrenching minutes the referee but all the fans out of their misery. The lower league team were one match away from the final! In all the drama of the game, Sanchez was sent off and had to watch the end of the game via a monitor in the tunnel, this game represented everything the FA cup is about and a game which I will always remember.
Matt Palmer
Follow on Twitter @mattpalmersport
This is an extract from an article which first appeared on Opinion Football http://opinionfootball.com/fairy-tale-fa-cup/
Memory added on January 20, 2021
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