1990 FA Cup final

The 1990 FA Cup final was a football match played to determine to winners of the 1989–90 FA Cup. It was contested by Manchester United and Crystal Palace at Wembley Stadium, London, England. The match finished 3–3 after extra time. Bryan Robson and Mark Hughes (2) scored for Manchester United; Gary O'Reilly and Ian Wright (2) for Palace. Wright had only just recently returned from a broken leg that kept him out of the semi-final.

In the replay, Manchester United won 1–0 with a goal from Lee Martin – the second of only two goals he would score for the club. It saw them match Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur's record of seven FA Cup triumphs. In contrast, this was the first time Crystal Palace had appeared in an FA Cup final, and they had just completed their first season back in the top flight after nearly a decade away.

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Summary

This was the first FA Cup final to be played in front of an all-seater crowd, as Wembley's remaining standing areas had been converted to all-seater in the autumn of 1989.^[1]

The month before the final, UEFA had announced that the ban on English clubs in European competitions would be lifted for the 1990–91 season, provided that England fans behaved well at that summer's World Cup. England fans duly behaved well at the tournament, and this gave the green light to Manchester United to compete in the 1990–91 European Cup Winners' Cup, which they ultimately won. It also proved to be the turning point in Manchester United's history after a few lean seasons; over the next 20 years they collected a total of more than 20 major trophies including 13 Premier League titles and 2 UEFA Champions League titles.

If Crystal Palace had won the trophy, it would have gained them the first major trophy of their history and given them European qualification for the first time as well.

The 1990 Crystal Palace team was the last all-English (John Salako was born in Nigeria but played for England in 1991) team to play in an FA Cup final, while the Manchester United team was the last team to be composed solely of players from the United Kingdom to win the FA Cup final.

The 1990 FA Cup win was the third time Bryan Robson had been in the winning side in an FA Cup final; he had also now scored a total of three goals in FA Cup finals. He was the only player left from the 1983 FA Cup winning team, in which he had scored two goals in the final replay. He left the club just after their 1994 FA Cup final win, but was denied a fourth FA Cup winner's medal as he was not included into the squad for the final.

Manchester United's squad had changed so much since the appointment of Alex Ferguson as manager in November 1986 that Mark Hughes (bought back from Bayern Munich in 1988 after one year with Barcelona and another with the German side) was the only player in the team other than Robson still at the club who had featured in the 1985 FA Cup-winning side.

Manchester United did not play a single home game during their successful FA Cup campaign – this is the only time this has happened in the history of the FA Cup.^[2]

Route to the final

In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first.

Manchester United		Round	Crystal Palace
Opposition	Score	Round	Opposition	Score
Nottingham Forest (A)	1–0	3rd	Portsmouth (H)	2–1
Hereford United (A)	1–0	4th	Huddersfield Town (H)	4–0
Newcastle United (A)	3–2	5th	Rochdale (H)	1–0
Sheffield United (A)	1–0	6th	Cambridge United (A)	1–0
Oldham Athletic (N) (R) Oldham Athletic (N)	3–3 (a.e.t.) 2–1 (a.e.t.)	SF	Liverpool (N)	4–3 (a.e.t.)
Key: (H) = Home venue; (A) = Away venue; (N) = Neutral venue; (R) = Replay.

First game

The first game on the Saturday was an open attacking affair. Both teams had been involved in dramatic high-scoring semi-finals and the final started the same way. On 17 minutes, Crystal Palace took the lead when Gary O'Reilly headed in from a free-kick, via Gary Pallister's head, despite the attempt of Jim Leighton to save the ball on the line. Manchester United hit back on 35 minutes. Brian McClair made a run down the right wing and floated a cross to the back post, where captain Bryan Robson was waiting to head goalwards. His header flicked off John Pemberton's shin and evaded Palace goalkeeper Nigel Martyn. It was 1–1 at half-time.

In the second half, Manchester United went ahead for the first time in the game, when a cross-shot from Neil Webb found its way to Mark Hughes who fired low into the corner. Palace manager, Steve Coppell made a game-changing substitution when he brought on Ian Wright, who had an immediate impact when he went on a mazy run past two Manchester United defenders and slotted a calm shot past Leighton. 2–2. Extra time loomed but not before Mike Phelan saw his clever chip hit the crossbar.

Extra time was needed for the second final in a row, and it was Palace who scored first, when John Salako floated a cross to the back post. Leighton hesitated for a second, which allowed Wright to volley home for his second goal of the game. 3–2 to Crystal Palace. However, the scoring was not over, and in the second period of extra time, Wallace provided the through ball for Hughes to chase, and he calmly angled the ball past the onrushing Martyn to make it 3–3.

Replay

The main story of the replay was that Alex Ferguson decided to replace Jim Leighton in goal, with Les Sealey. Sealey made three important saves to keep Palace at bay, in a tough-tackling match. Leighton only played one more match for Manchester United, against Halifax Town in the Football League Cup on 26 September 1990.

The match itself was not as eventful as the first game, finishing 1–0. Manchester United won by a single goal scored by defender Lee Martin. He chested down a Neil Webb pass and fired high into the net, past Martyn in goal. Bryan Robson held aloft the Cup for the third time as captain. Manchester United joined Tottenham Hotspur as the only clubs to have won multiple FA Cup Final replays.^[3]

It was Manchester United's first major trophy under the management of Alex Ferguson. It is often debated that he would have been sacked if United had lost the match, although Ferguson claimed in his 1999 autobiography Managing My Life that the club's directors had assured him earlier in the season that his position as manager was secure; although naturally disappointed with the lack of progress in the league, they understood the reasons for this, namely the long-term absences of several key players due to injury.

Cup final song

Manchester United's squad recorded "We Will Stand Together" for their appearance, whilst the Palace team recorded a version of the club's anthem "Glad All Over".

Match details

Original final

12 May 1990

15:00 BST

Crystal Palace	3–3 (a.e.t.)	Manchester United
O'Reilly 18' Wright 72', 92'	Report	Robson 35' Hughes 62', 113'

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 78,000

Referee: Allan Gunn (Sussex)

Crystal Palace

Manchester United



GK	1	Nigel Martyn
RB	2	John Pemberton
LB	3	Richard Shaw
CM	4	Andy Gray	117'
CB	5	Gary O'Reilly
CB	6	Andy Thorn
RM	7	Phil Barber	69'
CM	8	Geoff Thomas (c)
CF	9	Mark Bright
LM	10	John Salako
CM	11	Alan Pardew
Substitutes:
FW	12	Ian Wright	69'
DF	14	David Madden	117'
Manager:
Steve Coppell



GK	1	Jim Leighton
CM	2	Paul Ince
LB	3	Lee Martin	88'
CB	4	Steve Bruce
RB	5	Mike Phelan
CB	6	Gary Pallister	93'
CM	7	Bryan Robson (c)
RM	8	Neil Webb
CF	9	Brian McClair
CF	10	Mark Hughes
LM	11	Danny Wallace
Substitutes:
FW	12	Mark Robins	93'
DF	14	Clayton Blackmore	88'
Manager:
Alex Ferguson

Match rules

90 minutes.
30 minutes of extra-time if necessary.
Replay if scores still level.
Two named substitutes.
Maximum of two substitutions.

Final replay

17 May 1990

Crystal Palace	0–1	Manchester United
		Martin 59'

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 80,000

Referee: Allan Gunn (Sussex)

Crystal Palace

Manchester United



GK	1	Nigel Martyn
RB	2	John Pemberton
LB	3	Richard Shaw
CM	4	Andy Gray
CB	5	Gary O'Reilly
CB	6	Andy Thorn
RM	7	Phil Barber	64'
CM	8	Geoff Thomas (c)
CF	9	Mark Bright
LM	10	John Salako	79'
CM	11	Alan Pardew
Substitutes:
FW	12	Ian Wright	64'
DF	14	David Madden	79'
Manager:
Steve Coppell



GK	1	Les Sealey
CM	2	Paul Ince
LB	3	Lee Martin
CB	4	Steve Bruce
RB	5	Mike Phelan
CB	6	Gary Pallister
CM	7	Bryan Robson (c)
RM	8	Neil Webb
CF	9	Brian McClair
CF	10	Mark Hughes
LM	11	Danny Wallace
Substitutes:
DF	12	Clayton Blackmore
FW	14	Mark Robins
Manager:
Alex Ferguson

Match rules

90 minutes.
30 minutes of extra-time if necessary.
Penalty shoot-out if scores still level.
Two named substitutes.
Maximum of two substitutions.

References

^ "FA Cup Final 1990". Archived from the original on 18 December 2010. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
^ "The hardest FA Cup of all". The Guardian. 5 February 2003. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
^ Ross, James M. (6 August 2020). "England FA Challenge Cup Finals". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 8 August 2020.

Sources

1990 Finals

External links

Line-ups

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1989–90 in English football

« 1988–89

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National teams

League
competitions

Levels 1–4	Football League (First Division, Second Division, Third Division, Fourth Division, play-offs)
Level 5	Football Conference
Levels 6–7	Isthmian League (Premier, One) Northern Premier League (Premier, One) Southern League (Premier, Midland, Southern)
Levels 8–9	Isthmian League (Two North, Two South) Combined Counties League (level 8 only) Eastern Counties League (Premier, One) Essex Senior League (level 8 only) Hellenic League (Premier, One) Kent League (level 8 only) Midland Football Combination (level 8 only) North West Counties League (One, Two) Northern Counties East League (Premier, One) Northern League (One, Two) South Midlands League (Premier, One) Spartan League (Premier, One) Sussex County League (One, Two) United Counties League (Premier, One) Wessex League (level 8 only) West Midlands (Regional) League (level 8 only) Western League (Premier, One)

Cup
competitions

FA cups	FA Cup (Qualifying rounds, Final) Charity Shield FA Trophy (Final)
Football League cups	League Cup (Final) Full Members' Cup (Final) Associate Members' Cup (Final)

Club seasons
First Division	Arsenal Aston Villa Charlton Athletic Chelsea Coventry City Crystal Palace Derby County Everton Liverpool Luton Town Manchester City Manchester United Millwall Norwich City Nottingham Forest Queens Park Rangers Sheffield Wednesday Southampton Tottenham Hotspur Wimbledon
Second Division	Barnsley Blackburn Rovers Bournemouth Bradford City Brighton & Hove Albion Hull City Ipswich Town Leeds United Leicester City Middlesbrough Newcastle United Oldham Athletic Oxford United Plymouth Argyle Port Vale Portsmouth Sheffield United Sunderland Swindon Town Stoke City Watford West Bromwich Albion West Ham United Wolverhampton Wanderers
Third Division	Birmingham City Blackpool Bolton Wanderers Brentford Bristol City Bristol Rovers Bury Cardiff City Chester City Crewe Alexandra Fulham Huddersfield Town Leyton Orient Mansfield Town Northampton Town Preston North End Notts County Reading Rotherham United Shrewsbury Town Swansea City Tranmere Rovers Walsall Wigan Athletic
Fourth Division	Aldershot Burnley Cambridge United Carlisle United Chesterfield Colchester United Doncaster Rovers Exeter City Gillingham Grimsby Town Halifax Town Hartlepool United Hereford United Lincoln City Maidstone United Peterborough United Rochdale Scarborough Scunthorpe United Southend United Southport Stockport County Torquay United Wrexham York City

v t e Crystal Palace F.C. matches
FA Cup Finals	1990 2016
Football League play-off Finals	1989 Second Division 1996 First Division 1997 First Division 2004 First Division 2013 Championship
Full Members' Cup Final	1991
Other matches	Newcastle United 0–1 Crystal Palace (1907) Liverpool 9–0 Crystal Palace (1989)