The 1965 Football League Cup Final, the fifth to be staged since the competition's inception, was contested between

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

and

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

over two legs. Leicester, the holders, were aiming to become the first side to retain the trophy while Chelsea were seeking to become the first London side to win it. Chelsea won 3–2 on aggregate, with all the goals coming in the first leg.

Route to the final

Chelsea

Match reviews

The final was contested over two home-and-away legs, as was customary for the League Cup at the time.

First leg

The first leg took place on 15 March 1965 at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea's home ground. Chelsea took the lead in the match twice, first through

Bobby Tambling Robert Victor Tambling (born 18 September 1941) is an English former professional association football, footballer, who played as a Forward (association football), forward, most notably for Chelsea F.C., Chelsea, Crystal Palace F.C., Crystal Pa ...

and then through a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

by captain

Terry Venables Terence Frederick Venables (born 6 January 1943), often referred to as El Tel, is an English former football player and manager, and an author. During the 1960s and '70s, he played for various clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Queen ...

, but Leicester City equalised on both occasions, via defender

Colin Appleton Colin Harry Appleton (7 March 1936 – 31 May 2021) was an English footballer and manager. He was captain of the celebrated Leicester side nicknamed the "ice kings" which chased the double in 1962–63 and he also captained the club to their f ...

and forward

Jimmy Goodfellow James Goodfellow (16 September 1943 – 22 April 2020) was an English professional Association football, footballer and manager. A midfielder, he scored 39 goals in 535 league and cup appearances in a 13-year career in the English Footbal ...

. With ten minutes left, Chelsea's

Eddie McCreadie Edward Graham McCreadie (born 15 April 1940) is a Scottish former footballer who played at left-back, mainly for Chelsea. He later became a football manager. Career McCreadie started his footballing career with amateur Scottish side Drumchapel ...

received the ball on the edge of his own

penalty area The penalty area or 18-yard box (also known less formally as the penalty box or simply box) is an area of an association football pitch. It is rectangular and extends 16.5m (18 yd) to each side of the goal and 16.5m (18 yd) in front of it. With ...

and went on a sixty-yard run, dribbling past several Leicester players before slotting the ball past goalkeeper

Gordon Banks Gordon Banks (30 December 1937 – 12 February 2019) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he made 679 appearances during a 20-year professional caree ...

. The match ended 3–2 in Chelsea's favour. This was in spite of the fact that Chelsea only had ten players on the pitch for most of the match, after

Allan Young Allan Robert Young (20 January 1941 – 8 December 2009) was an English professional footballer, playing mainly as a central defender. Start of career He began his career as a junior with Arsenal, turning professional in April 1959. His fir ...

– in his first and only appearance of the season – had suffered an early injury. (Substitutions were not allowed at the time.) McCreadie was actually Chelsea's starting left-back by trade; however, due to an injury to forward

Barry Bridges Barry John Bridges (born 29 April 1941) is an English former professional association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), forward in the Football League for Chelsea F.C., Chelsea, Birmingham City F.C., Birmingha ...

, Chelsea manager

Tommy Docherty Thomas Henderson Docherty (24 April 1928 – 31 December 2020), commonly known as The Doc, was a Scottish football player and manager. Docherty played for several clubs, most notably Preston North End, and represented Scotland 25 times betw ...

had been forced to deploy McCreadie as an emergency forward, instead of in his usual spot, for the first leg.

Second leg

McCreadie's goal in the first match would ultimately prove to be the difference in the tie. The second leg was played at Leicester's

Filbert Street Filbert Street was a football stadium in Leicester, England, which served as the home of Leicester City F.C. from 1891 until 2002. Although officially titled the City Business Stadium in the early 1990s, it remained known almost exclusively by ...

on 5 April and ended in a 0–0 draw, giving Chelsea a 3–2 aggregate win and the League Cup championship. Although Leicester applied strong pressure and were in control of much of the match, they were unable to make a critical breakthrough in their home leg, as both sides kept clean sheets. Chelsea centre-halves Frank Upton and John Mortimore – neither of whom had played in the first leg – performed admirably in the second leg and were instrumental in preventing Leicester from creating chances. For Chelsea, this marked the first-ever domestic cup title in the club's history (they would not win their first

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 ...

until

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

Players and officials

First leg

Second leg

Sources:

References

External links

League Cup 1965
at The English Football Archive
First leg facts
at soccerbase.com
Second leg facts
at soccerbase.com

at Football Focus {{Leicester City F.C. matches League Cup Final League Cup Final EFL Cup Finals League Cup Final 1965 League Cup Final 1965 League Cup Final League Cup Final League Cup Final