The 1986–87 FA Cup was the 106th season of the world's oldest

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

knockout competition, the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

. The competition was won by

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

, who beat

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

3–2, after extra-time, in the final at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. It was Tottenham's only defeat in eight finals up to that point. The tournament started in August 1986, with non-league teams competing in the qualifying rounds.

First round proper

Teams from the Football League Third and

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

entered in this round plus

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port in the Borough of Halton in Cheshire, England. Its population in 2011 was 61,789. The town is in the southeast of the Liverpool City Region, with Liverpool to the northwest across the River Mersey. ...

Frickley Athletic Frickley Athletic Football Club is a football club based in South Elmsall, West Yorkshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Westfield Lane. History Although the club itself claims it was formed in 1910, the team was activ ...

and Telford United, were given byes. The first round of games were played over the weekend 15–16 November 1986, with the exception of the Bristol Rovers – Brentford game. Replays were played either in the midweek fixtures on 17th-18th or on 24th.

Second round proper

The second round of games were played over 6–7 December 1986, with replays being played on 9th–10th.

Third round proper

Teams from the Football League First and

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

entered in this round. Most of the third round of games in the FA Cup were played over the weekend 10–11 January 1987. Various matches and replays were played as late as 31 January, however. Holders Liverpool were eliminated by Luton Town.

Fourth round proper

The fourth round of games were played mainly over the weekend 31 January – 1 February 1987. All other ties took place on 3–4 February.

Fifth round proper

The fifth set of games were played over the weekend 21–22 February 1987, with the first set of replays on 24th-25th.

Sixth round proper

The sixth round of FA Cup games were played over the weekend 14–15 March 1987. There were no replays.

Semi-Finals

Seven time winners Tottenham Hotspur were drawn with 1984 finalists Watford for the Villa Park semi-final, which saw the

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire. The term ''nort ...

ers win 4-1 and reach their eighth final, having won all of their previous FA Cup finals. Hillsborough was the venue for the other semi-final. Leeds United, managed by their former captain

Billy Bremner William John Bremner (9 December 1942 – 7 December 1997) was a Scottish professional footballer and manager. Regarded as one of the game's great midfielders, he combined precision passing skills with tenacious tackling and physical stam ...

, were pushing for promotion in the Second Division and making their first serious challenge for a major trophy in over 10 years. Their opponents were Coventry City, who had never reached an FA Cup semi-final before. In a closely fought game, Coventry won 3–2. ----

Final

After two minutes,

Clive Allen Clive Darren Allen (born 20 May 1961) is an English former professional Association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), forward for seven different London clubs. Allen was a prolific striker throughout his career ...

scored his 49th goal of the season, heading past keeper Steve Ogrizovic at the near-post from a

Chris Waddle Christopher Roland Waddle (born 14 December 1960) is an English former professional football player and manager. He currently works as a commentator. Nicknamed "Magic Chris", football journalist Luke Ginnell wrote that Waddle was "widely ackn ...

cross. Within seven minutes though, Coventry were level through Dave Bennett, a Cup Final loser in 1981 for

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

at the hands of Spurs. Tottenham were back in front five minutes before the break through past defender

Gary Mabbutt Gary Vincent Mabbutt (born 23 August 1961) is an English former footballer who made more than 750 professional appearances, first playing for Bristol Rovers and going on to play 619 games for Tottenham Hotspur, despite being diagnosed with type ...

. Midway through the second half Coventry were level again – Bennett's cross from the right was met by striker

Keith Houchen Keith Morton Houchen (born 25 July 1960) is an English former professional footballer and football manager. A forward, he scored 184 goals in 687 league and cup games. He started his professional career at Hartlepool United in February 1978, ...

with a diving header. The scores stayed level until full-time and the game went into extra time. Six minutes in, Mabbutt scored an

own goal An own goal, also called a self goal, is where a player performs actions that result in them or their team scoring a goal on themselves, often resulting in a point for the opposing team, such as when a football player kicks a ball into their own ...

after

Lloyd McGrath Lloyd McGrath (born 24 February 1965) is an English retired professional footballer. A hard-working midfielder, McGrath made his senior debut for Coventry City F.C., Coventry City on 28 April 1984 in one of their heaviest defeats ever - an 8- ...

centred the ball and it took a deflection off of the Spurs defender's knee and over keeper

Ray Clemence Raymond Neal Clemence, (5 August 1948 – 15 November 2020) was an England international football goalkeeper and part of the Liverpool team of the 1970s. He is one of only 31 players to have made over 1,000 career appearances, and holds the r ...

References

External links

The FA Cup
at TheFA.com
FA Cup
at BBC.co.uk
FA Cup news
at Reuters.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:1986-87 FA Cup FA Cup seasons Fa Cup, 1986-87 1986–87 domestic association football cups