Wembley Stadium London
Everton Southall, Stevens, Van De Hauwe, Ratcliffe, Mountfield, Reid, Steven, Gray, Sharp, Bracewell, Sheedy
After 78 minutes of less than spectacular football, the referee (a retired police inspector Peter Willis) sent off Kevin Moran after a tackle on Peter Reid making Moran the first player (and only to date) to be shown the Red Card in an FA Cup Final. The tackle was at worst a booking as Reid's momentum had made it appear worse than it was. Moran could not believe he was going to be sent off and such was his anger he had to be restrained by Frank Stapleton.Losing Moran had the effect of spurring United on and they were still fighting hard to score in extra time, with Jesper Olsen and Gordon Strachan in particular menacing Everton's defence and Paul McGrath holding things together at the back. It was a demonstration of pure resilience and spirit by United, who were not going to let the injustice deny them the cup. As so often happens, when a team goes down to 10 men they play much better and their opponents find them more difficult to break down. United became quicker to the ball and more determined in their tackling, the missing player meant each player had to concentrate more and put greater effort into his game.
After 110 minutes of play, United finally achieved a breakthrough from Norman Whiteside. Whiteside took the ball on his own down the wing and when it looked like he had nowhere left to go, hit a magnificent curling shot form 25 yards which beat Everton keeper Neville Southall to his right post. Whiteside recalls "Mark Hughes found me with a great pass and I made my way to the penalty area and could see Neville Southall hanging by this near post. I used the defender as a screen so Neville didn't have enough time to reach the ball". From then on, 10 man United had to withstand a nerve-shattering seige as Everton desperately tried for a goal, which thankfully never came. Ron Atkinson was quoted as saying it was "arguably the best Cup win any side will have at Wembley". It was undoubtedly the high point in his five years as manager at United.
merci beaucoup
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