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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 Par ...
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 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. 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 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 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 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 Roa ...
, 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 ...
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, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...
. 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 Salford to the west. The two ...
, 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 English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or r ...
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 ...
, whilst Everton replaced Jones with Mike Bernard and Dobson with
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 ...
. Additionally
Jim Pearson Jim Pearson (born 24 March 1953 in Falkirk) is a Scottish former footballer. Pearson played for St Johnstone, Everton and Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon ...
came on as a substitute for Hamilton.League Cup Finals – results and line-ups at rsssf
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Second Replay


Match details

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