The 1977 Football League Cup Final was played between

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

and Everton and required three games to decide the winner, the only time this has happened in the League Cup. The first match took place 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 ...

on 12 March and the game ended in a goalless draw. The replay on 16 March was only marginally better as the teams again played out a draw, this time at Hillsborough the home of

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

. The game ended 1–1 with both goals scored by Everton players with

Bob Latchford Robert Dennis Latchford (born 18 January 1951) is an English former footballer who played as a centre forward. He made more than 500 appearances in the Football League, playing for Birmingham City, Everton, Swansea City and Coventry City in t ...

's last-minute equaliser nullifying

Roger Kenyon Roger Kenyon (born 4 January 1949) is an English footballer who played as a defender for Everton between 1967 and 1979 . He also played for the NASL team Vancouver Whitecaps during his career. He was part of the Everton side that won the Firs ...

's earlier own-goal. The second replay took place at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

on 13 April. The game is probably best remembered for a 40-yard goal from Villa centre-half

Chris Nicholl Christopher John Nicholl (born 12 October 1946) is an English-born former Northern Ireland international footballer who later worked as a coach and manager. Playing career Nicholl was born in Macclesfield. He played for Burnley (1963–1966) ( ...

, and in a 2010 poll this was voted in the Top 25 of all-time League Cup moments.

Brian Little Brian Little (born 25 November 1953) is an English football manager and former player. As a player, Little was a striker who spent his entire career for Aston Villa in a career that spanned from 1971 to 1980. He made 247 league appearances, ...

scored his second of the match in dramatic fashion during the dying seconds of the game to give Villa a 3–2 victory. Mick Lyons and Bob Latchford scored for Everton.

Road to Wembley

Aston Villa

Villa defeated top-level teams

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 ...

and

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

in their first two games, before a 4th round victory over

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

moved them into the last eight. Here they defeated second level

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

2–0. In the first leg of the semi-final they drew 0–0 at

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

, with the second leg also drawn (2–2), thus setting up a replay. Villa won this game 3–0 on 22 February (at

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was situ ...

) courtesy of a Brian Little hat-trick.

Everton

Conversely Everton's first two victories came against fourth level teams

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...

and

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional association football, football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they wer ...

before a 3–0 fourth round victory over First Division

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 ...

. In the quarter-finals they enjoyed a 3–0 win at

Manchester United 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 City of Salford, Salford to ...

, resulting in a semi-final clash with second level

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

. After drawing the home leg, Everton won 1–0 at

Burnden Park Burnden Park was the home of English football club Bolton Wanderers who played home games there between 1895 and 1997. As well as hosting the 1901 FA Cup Final replay, it was the scene in 1946 of one of the greatest disasters in English footba ...

on 15 February to book their place at Wembley.

Final

Match details

Replay

Match details

For the first replay Villa replaced Cropley with

Gordon Cowans Gordon Sidney Cowans (born 27 October 1958) is an English retired football player and coach. Cowans started his career at Aston Villa as an apprentice in 1974, and signed as a professional in 1976. During his time at Aston Villa, he won the Le ...

, whilst Everton replaced Jones with Mike Bernard and Dobson with

. Additionally Jim Pearson came on as a substitute for Hamilton.League Cup Finals – results and line-ups at rsssf
/ref>

Second Replay

Match details

For the second replay the line-ups were as the original game except for Villa

Ray Graydon Raymond Jack Graydon (born 21 July 1947) is an English former footballer and manager. In a 16-year professional career in the English Football League and North American Soccer League he scored 139 goals in 484 league and cup appearances. A win ...

and Gordon Cowans played instead of Gray and Carrodus, and

Gordon Smith Gordon Smith may refer to: In politics *Gordon H. Smith (born 1952), former U.S. Senator from Oregon, and current Area Authority for the LDS Church * Gordon Elsworth Smith (1918–2005), Canadian politician * Gordon Smith (academic) (1927–2009), ...

came on as a substitute for Gidman. Everton were as the original match except Neil Robinson replaced Jones and Jim Pearson replaced McKenzie, whilst Steve Seargeant came on as a sub for Pearson.

References

{{Everton F.C. matches League Cup Final EFL Cup Finals League Cup Final 1977 League Cup Final 1977 Football League Cup Final Football League Cup Final Football League Cup Final Sports competitions in Sheffield 1970s in Sheffield