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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, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
knockout competition, the
FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...
. The competition was won by
Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...
, who beat
Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...
3–2, after extra-time, in the final at
Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...
. 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.


Qualifying rounds

Most participating clubs that were not members of the
Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...
competed in the qualifying rounds to secure one of 28 places available in the first round. The winners from the fourth qualifying round were
Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...
, Caernarfon Town,
Spennymoor United Spennymoor United Association Football Club was an association football club based in Spennymoor, County Durham, England. History Spennymoor United Association Football Club was formed in 1904 as an amalgamation of Spennymoor Town and Weardale ...
, Whitby Town, Nuneaton Borough,
Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth ca ...
, Stafford Rangers,
Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. The club is known as 'the ...
, Kettering Town, Halesowen Town,
Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town and civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district, in the county of Hertfordshire, England. It is in the London metropolitan area, London commuter belt, near the border with Essex, just west of the ...
, Woodford Town, Bromsgrove Rovers, Chelmsford City, Enfield,
Wealdstone Wealdstone () is a district located in the centre of the London Borough of Harrow, England. It is located just north of Harrow, London, Harrow town centre and is south of Harrow Weald, west of Belmont, Harrow, Belmont and Kenton, London, Kenton, ...
, Aylesbury United,
Welling United Welling United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, England. The most prominent aspect of the club is its men's first team, who play in the , the seventh level of the E ...
, Slough Town, VS Rugby, Farnborough Town,
Bognor Regis Town Bognor Regis Town Football Club is an English football club based in Bognor Regis, West Sussex. Nicknamed 'The Rocks’, the club is an FA Chartered Standard Community club affiliated to the Sussex County Football Association. They currently co ...
, Fareham Town,
Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...
, Maidstone United, Bath City,
Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...
and
Ton Pentre Ton Pentre () is a village in the Rhondda, Rhondda Valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Historic counties of Wales, Historically part of Glamorgan, Ton Pentre, a former industrial coal mining village, is a district of the comm ...
. Appearing in the competition proper for the first time were Caernarfon Town, Woodford Town, Welling United and Ton Pentre. However, Caernarfon Town's accomplishments brought back memories of predecessor club Caernarfon Athletic's famous FA Cup run in 1929-30 while Woodford Town was the first club from that Essex community to feature in the main draw of the Cup since
Woodford Bridge Woodford Bridge is part of the East London suburb of Woodford, in the London Borough of Redbridge. It is located on an old road between Chigwell and Leytonstone. Notable features Its notable features include St Paul's Church, Woodford B ...
in 1883-84. Of the others, Southport and Woking had last featured in the first round in 1978–79, Spennymoor United had last done so in 1977-78 and Bromsgrove Rovers had last done so in 1956-57. In a season where the Football League abolished its annual re-election system and allowed for automatic promotion and relegation between the
Football Conference The National League of English Football Clubs is a professional Association football, football league in England that consists of 72 teams, divided equally between the National League (division), National League North and National League South ...
and the Fourth Division, 13 Conference clubs (out of 22) featured in the main draw of the FA Cup. Ironically, the season's Conference champions
Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...
, who would benefit from the new system and be promoted into the Football League in 1987, were eliminated from the Cup in the first qualifying round by unheralded
Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...
outfit Goole Town.


First round proper

The 48 teams from the Football League Third and Fourth Divisions entered in this round along with the 28 non-league qualifiers and
Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester, southwest of Sale, Greater Manchester, Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2021 United Kingdom ce ...
,
Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and Runcorn Docks, cargo port in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England. Runcorn is on the south bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. It is upstream from the port of Live ...
,
Frickley Athletic Frickley Athletic Football Club is a football club based in South Elmsall, West Yorkshire, England. They are members of the and play at Westfield Lane. History The club was formed on 30 July 1908, and became a member of the South Yorkshire Lea ...
and Telford United who 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 in the midweek fixtures on either 17th-18th or on 24th. Three clubs from Step 8 of the English football pyramid featured in the draw: Whitby Town and Spennymoor United from the Northern League and Woking from the Isthmian League Second Division South. They were the lowest-ranked teams in the round as the
Welsh League The Welsh League was the first club rugby league competition in Wales.Lush (1998), pg. 19 Its inaugural season was in 1908/09 when four additional teams were formed to join Ebbw Vale RLFC and Merthyr Tydfil RLFC, which allowed a league tournam ...
(which included Ton Pentre) was the highest-standard football competition in Wales until 1992. (* Ton Pentre was competing exclusively in the Welsh Football League National Division, outside the English football system.)


Second round proper

The second round matches were played on 5–7 December 1986, with the exception of the Cardiff City-Brentford fixture, which was played on the following Tuesday due to the timing of Brentford's first round replay against Bristol Rovers. Replays were played on 9th–10th. The round included four clubs from Step 6 of the English football system: Caernarfon Town and Chorley from the
Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...
, Chelmsford City from the
Southern League Premier Division The Southern League is a football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from East Anglia, the South and Midlands of England, and South Wales. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and e ...
and Slough Town from the
Isthmian League Premier Division The Isthmian League () is a regional football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 88 teams in fo ...
.


Third round proper

Teams from the Football League First and Second Divisions entered in this round. Most of the third round of games in the FA Cup were played over the weekend 10–11 January 1987, however various matches and replays were played as late as 31 January. Holders Liverpool were eliminated by Luton Town. Caernarfon Town was again the lowest-ranked team in the round, while Caernarfon, Maidstone United and Telford United were the last non-league clubs left in the competition.


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. Four teams from the Fourth Division remained in the draw: Preston North End, Cardiff City, Aldershot and Swansea City.


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. Walsall and Wigan Athletic, from the Third Division, were the lowest-ranked teams in the round.


Sixth round proper

The sixth round of FA Cup games were played over the weekend 14–15 March 1987. There were no replays; each game was won by the away team. Wigan Athletic was the last team from the first round left in the competition.


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 and the City of London. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshi ...
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 Association football, footballer who played for Leeds United F.C., Leeds United, Hull City A.F.C., Hull City, and the Scotland national football team, Scot ...
, 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 Steven Ogrizovic (born 12 September 1957) is an English football coach, former professional footballer and cricketer. As a player, he was a goalkeeper from 1977 until 2000, the last 16 years of which were at Coventry City. Nicknamed "Oggy", he ...
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 had a spell as Burnley manager during the 1997–98 season, but has not returned to coaching since. Largely since retiring he h ...
cross. Within seven minutes though, Coventry were level through Dave Bennett, a Cup Final loser in 1981 for
Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...
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 typ ...
. 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 occurs in sports when a player performs actions that result in scoring points for the opposition, such as when a Association football, footballer puts a ball into their own net. In some parts of the world, the term has become a met ...
after Lloyd McGrath 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 English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he is one of the few players to have made over 1,000 career ...
.


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 The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...