Coventry City v Tottenham Hotspur: 1987 FA Cup final – live!

Half-time advertising break … featuring Withnail driving a Vauxhall Astra! Making time, presumably. Turns out he didn’t need that cigar commercial after all.

And so a wonderful half of to-and-fro attacking football comes to an end. As expected, the favourites Spurs are leading, but Coventry are giving them one hell of a game. They came from behind at half-time to beat Spurs at Highfield Road in December; can they repeat the trick on the biggest day in the club’s history? David Pleat’s fine side will be pleased enough, but they’ll know this is far from over.

45 min: Kilcline launches long. Mabbutt’s clearing header is useless. Regis intercepts on the edge of the D and makes a nuisance of himself, the ball breaking to Pickering who takes a touch to the left and, falling backwards a la Bennett, goes for goal. But he can’t get enough whip on the shot, allowing Gough to make an excellent sliding block. Clemence gathers.

44 min: Ardiles forces a corner off Downs. The same man swings one in from the right but it’s easily claimed by Ogrizovic.

43 min: Hoddle chips down the right for Waddle, who can’t quite get the better of McGrath on the edge of the box. Then Hughton has a probe, but he’s forced to turn tail as well under pressure from Downs. Both of the Tottenham goals have originated from this flank, and yet the Coventry left-back Downs has been one of the best players on the pitch. Funny old game, as one of Tottenham’s old strikers likes to point out.

42 min: Coventry kick off again, and soon lose possession. Spurs stroke it around in the continental fashion. Coventry have probably been the better side so far, yet look at the scoreline. That’s understandably taken a bit of puff out of the Sky Blue sail.

Paul Allen scampers down the right. He’s flipped into the air by Pickering, and this is a chance for Hoddle to send a free kick into the Coventry area. He swishes an outswinger into the mixer. Ogrizovic comes to claim and gets nowhere near. Neither do Peake and McGrath, occupied by Gough. The ball drops to Kilcline and Mabbutt, both facing the empty net, eight yards out. Mabbutt sticks out a leg and diverts it home! Or did that come off the shin of Kilcline, attempting to nick it clear? Replays, shown from several angles, aren’t exactly conclusive. Let’s go with the BBC’s assessment. Mabbutt’s it is!

40 min: Phillips breathes a huge sigh of relief as nothing comes of the resulting corner. But Spurs are soon roaring back at Coventry, and …

39 min: Waddle teases Pickering out on the right wing, but Pickering does just enough to stop him scampering down the touchline. Waddle opts to check back, then sprays a low diagonal pass into the area from a deep position. There are no Spurs players anywhere near the ball, but Phillips takes a heavy touch in attempting to cushion it back to Ogrizovic, and clumsily sends the ball out for a corner on the left. A groan from the Coventry faithful. That’s extremely careless.

38 min: Spurs aren’t dealing with high balls very well this afternoon. Here they get themselves in another almighty pickle when Downs launches a long free kick into the box. Houchen wins the first header. Of course he does. Then Pickering, to his left, swivels, spins Hughton, and sends a bobbler into the arms of Clemence from ten yards. He should have given Clemence a real problem there. Spurs need to up their game at the back.

37 min: Hodge dribbles down the left and sends a shot-cum-cross towards the top corner. Ogrizovic is forced to fingertip over the bar with great uncertainty. A look of panicked relief washes over his face. Nothing comes of the resulting corner.

36 min: Waddle cuts in from the right, drops a shoulder, and sends the ball off towards Hanger Lane. “This might be a day of firsts,” suggests Simon McMahon. “We might not have the glamour of Wembley, or indeed Chas n Dave, but this week could be the greatest in the history of Dundee United. Like Coventry and the famous old trophy, we’re looking to claim our first ever Scottish Cup (currently 0-0 v St. Mirren at Hampden), and on Wednesday it’s the second leg of the UEFA Cup final v Gothenburg at Tannadice. Immortality beckons!” Good luck with that, Simon, our fingers are crossed for you.

35 min: So having said that … Waddle dribbles down the right and falls over beside the D, but he’s not getting the free kick he wanted. Clean challenges by both Peake and Pickering. Then the ball’s humped into the centre circle. Gough should deal with it, but lets Regis spin away from him far too easily. Regis eats up the turf. He’s got Bennett to his right, but opts instead to thread a delicious pass between the hastily backtracking Mabbutt and Hughton, setting Gynn free! Gynn enters the box and whistles a shot towards the bottom left. It’s a good effort, but not a great one, a little bit too close to the keeper. It allows Clemence to make a fine stop, and Mabbutt whacks clear.

34 min: Waddle has another crack from distance. It’s straight at Ogrizovic. Spurs are beginning to assert themselves for the first time in this final.

33 min: The carefree end-to-end nonsense continues apace. Phillips launches a long free kick into the Spurs box. Regis knocks down towards Bennett, in a perfect position to replicate his goal, but Hodge is alive this time and heads away acrobatically. Hoddle sets Spurs off on the counter. Waddle drops a shoulder out on the right and rasps a rising shot towards the near post from a tight angle. Ogrizovic refuses to be beaten like that, though he makes a meal of parrying and gathering, and nearly spills the ball out for a corner. Soon enough, Spurs are coming at Coventry again, Mabbutt channelling his inner Beckenbauer with a glorious run down the middle. He attempts a full-tilt one-two with Ardiles, but for once the Argentinian maestro’s radar is a little wonky, and a heavy return pass sails straight through to the keeper. Shame for Spurs: a huge gap at the heart of the Coventry defence there.

32 min: Waddle opens his legs and grooves down the middle of the park, before whipping a low and fierce shot straight at Ogrizovic. Fortunately for Coventry, the keeper has managed to screw his previously loose head back on tight, and this time deals with the situation without unnecessary drama or emotional tumult.

31 min: I’m really not sure how this is still only 1-1. This can’t end 1-1.

30 min: Gynn dribbles down the middle of the park, but not for the first time this afternoon, Ardiles assumes control with candy-divestment ease. Such a well-timed challenge. He rolls a pass up the centre for Hoddle, who spins and draws his man, before flicking the ball past him for Ardiles, who has kept running and is now in a lot of space. He’s got Paul Allen to his right, and a flick inside will send the midfielder clear on goal. Peake sticks out a boot, it’s all he can do. And he manages to deflect the ball away from Allen and back to Ogrizovic. What an interception! And that should be the end of that, but Coventry, attempting to play out from the back in the continental style, nearly concede in farcical circumstances! Ogrizovic, taking reception of a backpass, decides to go on a C64 International Soccer style dribble upfield! He eventually clanks a dreadful pass straight to Hoddle, who attempts to dispatch it into the unguarded net from 40 yards. Fortunately for the keeper, Peake has read the danger and is back covering. He blocks and taps the ball to the right, assuming his keeper will flop on it when he gets back to his box. But Ogrizovic somehow overruns it, and Peake’s lay off isn’t perfect either, and Clive Allen scampers away with the ball! The net’s still unguarded, but Allen is forced wide by Peake and lashes the ball into the side netting. Coventry dodged a bullet there. Had that resulted in a goal, it would without question be the stupidest ever conceded in an FA Cup final.

29 min: Spurs go straight back up the other end, Hodge skedaddling down the left and winning a corner. Hoddle wands it in, but Ogrizovic races off his line and claims with great certainty.

28 min: Gynn’s corner is headed behind by Gough. Pickering to take this next one from the left. He sends it in deep. Houchen wins a header at the far post, but can’t get any direction or power on it.

27 min: … Hoddle finds Gough, ten yards out. The defender powers a header goalwards, but it’s deflected into the sky by pop-single flautist Peake, and Ogrizovic plucks from the middle of a melee, under severe pressure from both Clive Allen and Hodge. Then the keeper sends Bennett gliding down the right with a quicksilver throw. Spurs are light at the back, and thankful that Thomas puts in a fine tackle to block Bennett, just as the winger dropped a shoulder with a view to scooting past and romping clear. Gynn picks up the loose ball and continues down the right himself, winning a corner for the Sky Blues. This is end-to-end football at its finest!

26 min: This is much better from Tottenham, who are beginning to regroup. Regis, at full pelt down the inside left, is stopped unceremoniously by a fine Ardiles tackle. Ardiles strides upfield and fizzes a pass down the right for Waddle, and suddenly Coventry are on the back foot. Waddle, Hoddle and Paul Allen combine to win a corner. From which …

24 min: Nothing much is coming off for Spurs up front. Waddle sends Hodge scampering down the left, but there’s only Clive Allen in the middle and Hodge is unable to find him with a speculative cross. Coventry will be much the happier team right now.

22 min: Ardiles takes a quick free kick in midfield and sends Waddle off on the right. Waddle shuttles the ball inside for Hodge, who looks for Clive Allen in the middle, but the flag goes up for offside. This is breathless. Both teams are piling forward, with little thought to hang about in midfield. And what’s this? Coventry have the ball in the net! Philips sends a long throw into the Spurs box from the right. Houchen flicks on, then with a deft brush of the eyebrow, Regis steers a gentle header towards the bottom left, past Clemence and in. That’s such a tidy finish! But the flag goes up, because Houchen had shoved Thomas in the back to win the first header. Nobody bothers complaining too much, but you’ve seen teams get away with those. It was a sly little shove, and far from obvious.

21 min: Downs fires a flat diagonal free kick towards Kilcline, who heads back across goal for Pickering. Shame that didn’t fall to either Regis or Houchen, because Pickering sends a very weak header straight at Clemence. That was a well-worked free kick and an extremely good chance.

20 min: Downs hassles Paul Allen out on the left wing, near the corner flag, and strips him of possession. He hooks into the box. Ardiles heads clear. Pickering lobs it back in. Mabbutt heads out powerfully, Hodge helping it away. But then Allen again comes off second best in a tussle with Downs, conceding a free kick out on the left with a clumsy aerial challenge.

19 min: Ardiles dummies to allow Waddle to blooter the free kick goalwards. It clears the wall but also the crossbar. Not a million miles away, but always clearly too high and an easy call for Ogrizovic.

18 min: Hoddle and Hodge combine down the left to win a corner. Hoddle takes it himself, but it’s a bit of a non-event. Coventry half clear, and Spurs come again, Hoddle and Ardiles probing down the left, Waddle crossing far too deep. But now it’s Coventry who can’t get out of their final third, and Pickering comes clattering into Hoddle in the ungainly fashion. This’ll be a free kick, 30 yards out, in a central position.

16 min: Downs clips Waddle out on the right. Waddle takes the free kick and finds Hoddle, with his back to goal, just to the right of the D. He juggles the ball cleverly with his chest, before spinning like a ballerina and stroking a chip down the channel. But there’s nobody there. Shame, because if he’d have set Ardiles free, as was his intent, that could have been an assist for the ages.

15 min: Regis goes barrelling down the right, free in acres, but he’s adjudged to have unfairly bowled Mabbutt to the ground. Mabbutt gets up looking a little rattled. Spurs have been second best for most of the game so far.

14 min: This is a bit better from Spurs, and again the attack is instigated by Waddle, who wanders down the right before firing a low pass inside for Hoddle. He lays off for Paul Allen. There’s a little space down the channel, but Allen can’t find Hodge with his first-time pass. A neat sequence, though, Tottenham’s first promising move since the opening goal.

13 min: Another Coventry free kick. Spurs can’t get out of their own half. Downs’ delivery isn’t so hot this time. From a central position he launches long for Regis, just inside the box on the left. Regis does well simply to get his eyebrows on it. Goal kick. Spurs go long themselves, Waddle spraying a lovely diagonal ball from the right, nearly springing Hodge clear down the middle. Pickering does well to stand firm and guide the ball back to Ogrizovic.

12 min: The Coventry fans are going large. “We’re gonna win the cup!” At the moment, their team looks equally full of belief. Waddle concedes a free kick out on the Coventry left with a high foot. No malice. Downs takes, and sends another fine ball in from deep. Houchen rises highest in a packed box, and flashes a header wide right. Clemence might have had some work to do had that been on target. Houchen will mark that down as a missed opportunity.

11 min: Coventry are high on life at the minute. Phillips rakes one down the right. For a second, Houchen and Pickering are two-on-one with Thomas. If Houchen plays the correct flick inside, Pickering will be clear in the box. Instead he takes a touch down the flank before looping in a cross that Clemence nearly fumbles over his head and into the top left! Fortunately Hughton is on point to hack clear, with McGrath lurking. This is such good fun … although I’m not 100 percent sure Clemence is on board with the entertainment that’s being laid on.

10 min: Really, that is no more than Coventry deserve for their response to going behind so early in the biggest match in their history. That was such a composed finish. And what pressure Coventry put Spurs under! It’s been quite the final already, with two goals and two tales of redemption – Allen’s 1982 nightmare and now Bennett’s 1981 misery – ticked off in the first nine minutes! Wembley is banging.

Pickering whips the free kick into the mixer. There’s some head tennis. Gough hacks clear, but poorly, only finding Gynn 30 yards out. Gynn slips the ball wide left for Regis who centres for Houchen. Gough manages to only half-clear again. The ball drops to Phillips, who has a dig. That’s blocked, but Coventry come back again. Spurs can’t get out! Kilcline rolls a pass to Downs on the left touchline. Downs one-twos with Regis, then sends a cross in from a deep position. Houchen rises above Ardiles – hardly a fair fight – to flick on. The ball falls perfectly to the feet of Bennett, eight yards out. He nips ahead of a dozing Hodge and rounds the out-rushing Clemence on the left, before flicking the ball into the empty net while falling over backwards. All in one sweet, balletic move. What grace! What a game we have here!

8 min: Gynn charges down Ardiles, then races after the loose ball. He zips along the right touchline and looks to have the better of Thomas, but just as he prepares to scoot past, he’s upended. Free kick. From which …

7 min: McGrath strides down the middle before drifting right, nearly completing a cute one-two with Bennett, only for Mabbutt to break it up with a well-timed tackle. This match is being played at 100 miles per hour, and it’s extremely open to boot.

6 min: Gynn takes. It’s not much cop, too deep and wide, and it’s an easy clearance for Gough. Downs tries to rescue the attack by hooking down the left, but Regis, in plenty of space, can’t get the fiercely-hit pass under control. Goal kick.

5 min: “It’s a goal against Coventry,” says former Sky Blue manager, chief executive and chairman Jimmy Hill on BBC Television, “but it might make it a great final, because the other team have to come back. Coventry have to attack now, and so it’s opened it up right at the start, which is probably the best thing that could ever happen in a game at Wembley.” He’s easy to mock, Jimmy Hill, but the man knows a thing or two. And you can hear the excitement dripping from every word, even if his old club haven’t exactly had the perfect start. Good old Jim. Coventry prove him right almost immediately, Bennett and Regis taking turns to dribble down the middle, then laying off to Downs on the left. Downs crosses deep, forcing a slightly out-of-position Clemence into tipping out for a corner on the right.

4 min: Wembley is bouncing! The Spurs fans are doing most of the singing right now, naturally. But the Coventry support will be enthused by their team’s reaction to that early stunner. Pickering makes good down the left and crosses long. For a second it looks like Houchen’s chest down might break to Bennett and send him free into the box down the inside-right channel, but Bennett can’t sort his feet out in time and Spurs swarm.

3 min: That was a fine goal. Wonderful old-fashioned wingplay by Waddle, and a superb diving header by 1987’s poacher supreme. That’s Allen’s 49th strike of the season, and who’d bet against the Footballer of the Year making the half-century now? He’s got plenty of time left to get it, having scored that one after a mere one minute and 49 seconds. Still not a patch on Newcastle United’s Jackie Milburn, who notched after 45 seconds against Manchester City in 1955. A nightmare start for the underdogs, who get the game going again on the front foot, Phillips launching long down the right, Gynn clattering into Clemence who had come out quickly to claim.

Hoddle swings it into the mixer, where Gough is lurking. Houchen rises above the big defender but can only head down to Clive Allen, with his back to goal on the corner of the six-yard box. Allen blocks Peake, who falls to the ground, but the referee sees nothing wrong with it. Gynn toe-pokes it away from Allen but the ball only falls to Waddle on the right. Waddle drops a shoulder, turns Downs inside out and whips a glorious medium-height cross to the near post, where Allen flashes a header into the right-hand side of the net! Ogrizovic had no chance whatsoever. What a start by the favourites!

1 min 23 sec: McGrath nips away at Hoddle’s heels as Spurs probe down the right. A free kick in a dangerous position. And from it …

And we’re off! Spurs get the ball rolling, and immediately Hoddle embarks on a direct dribble down the middle. This guy’s good! But he’s no Maradona, and eventually he’s stripped of possession. Houchen has a meander down the right but doesn’t really go anywhere either. Front-foot attacking intent on display from both sides already. Like it.

The weather today really is gorgeous. A sunshine cup-final, the perfect way to start the British summer. The players go through their pre-match routines. We’ll be off very soon!

The teams are out! Abide with me, fast falls the eventide. Coventry are in their blue-and-white striped shirts and dark blue shorts, sponsored by Granada Bingo. Spurs are in pristine white, sponsored by Holsten. At least some of the team are: five players have shirts with no sponsor on them at all! A lovely throwback to the days before football’s dignity took a diving header out the window, but we can’t imagine their sponsor will be raising a glass of unpleasant syrupy ale to that. Apparently a batch of the sponsored shirts were either too tight or too large. They had one job, etc. What a fiasco. Spurs will be hoping their day improves from this point onward.

A fantastic atmosphere already at sun-drenched Wembley, all 98,000 inside the grand old stadium giving it plenty. There are a couple of sassy placards in the Spurs end: “Chris Waddle sells more dummies than Mothercare” and “Gough puts the ‘ouch’ in Houchen”. Some big talk there. Let’s hope the lads deliver on those promises.

There’s a fair chance we could see a few goals this afternoon, if recent history is anything to go by. Let’s go back to late December, when Spurs visited Highfield Road in the First Division. Spurs boss David Pleat recalled that game earlier this week in conversation with our very own David Lacey: “At half-time we were luckily in front, courtesy of Clive Allen. After 20 minutes of the second half Coventry led 3-2, courtesy of Ray Clemence, Richard Gough and Gary Mabbutt. Coventry did not try to sit on their lead. They came at us like lunatics trying to make it 4-2. With six minutes to go, Nico Claesen pulled the score back to 3-3 and our players were convinced we could win the game because we’d had them on the rack for 15 minutes. We went at them as they had gone at us … and then Cyrille Regis scored their winner.” Well this augurs well. More please, Coventry! More please, Spurs!

On ITV, John Helm has a word with the aforementioned unfortunate Coventry right-back Brian Borrows. An understandably downbeat interview from his hospital bed in Leamington Spa. But the poor young man rallies to finish strongly, sending the following positive vibes to his team-mates: “I’d like to wish you all the best, lads! I know you’re gonna win it!”

The cup-final songs are excellent this year. Go For It City features a virtuoso whistle solo by Trevor ‘At His’ Peake …

… while Chas, Dave and the drummer from Chas ‘n’ Dave celebrate “David Pleat and his blue-and-white army” in their usual vocally dexterous style. A deep cut for those who enjoyed Rabbit.

Both clubs had to make decisions at right-back. Coventry’s Brian Borrows hurt his knee against Southampton last week and as expected misses out. He’s currently in hospital, recovering from an operation. David Phillips moves back from midfield to deputise; Micky Gynn, usually a livewire sub, starts in his place. Spurs go with Chris Hughton; their first choice Gary Stevens is only fit enough to make the bench.

Sky Blues winger Dave Bennett will be hoping it’s second-time lucky in the cup final, having been on the losing side with Manchester City in 1981 against today’s opponents. Tottenham artist-in-residence Glenn Hoddle, who has designs on a move to the continent, will be desperate to sign off with a flourish.

Up front, Clive Allen will be hoping to add to his unreal haul of 48 goals in all competitions this season. He’s Tottenham’s most likely match-winner, and will be hoping for better luck than he had as a QPR player in 1982, when he twisted his ankle very early on and missed both second half and replay.

Coventry will look to their most recognisable name, Cyrille Regis, for heroics. But it should be noted that the much less heralded Keith Houchen is their cup go-to guy this season, having scored the winner at Manchester United, two at Sheffield Wednesday, and another against Leeds in the semi.

Coventry City: Steve Ogrizovic, David Phillips, Brian Kilcline, Trevor Peake, Greg Downs, Micky Gynn, Nick Pickering, Lloyd McGrath, Dave Bennett, Cyrille Regis, Keith Houchen.
Subs: Graham Rodger, Steve Sedgley.

Tottenham Hotspur: Ray Clemence, Chris Hughton, Richard Gough, Gary Mabbutt, Mitchell Thomas, Paul Allen, Steve Hodge, Ossie Ardiles, Chris Waddle, Glenn Hoddle, Clive Allen.
Subs: Nico Claesen, Gary Stevens.

Referee: Neil Midgley (Manchester).

On Tuesday 15 December 1970, the 12th episode of the second series of Monty Python’s Flying Circus aired on BBC1 at 10.10pm. Several sketches destined to become legendary were premiered that evening. Spam, for example, or the one about the Hungarian phrasebook that deliberately mistranslates “Can you direct me to the station?” as “Please fondle my buttocks”. Cutting-edge entertainment that earned a thumbs-up from this very paper:

“My hovercraft is full of eels.”
“Monty Python gets better and better!”

Also part of that episode: World Forum, with guests Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Che Guevara and Mao Zedong. Ostensibly a summit meeting of political heavyweights, it quickly transpires that World Forum is in fact a quiz, and most of the questions are about football, stumping the communist intellectuals entirely. Quizmaster Eric Idle asks Guevara: “Coventry City last won the FA Cup in what year?” A look of bewilderment washes across the revolutionary’s face. “I’m not surprised you didn’t get that,” Idle smiles unctuously. “It was in fact a trick question, Coventry City have never won the FA Cup.”

Sixteen-and-a-half years on, Coventry finally have the chance to ruin that particular punchline for eternity. They’ve reached the FA Cup final for the very first time in their 104-year history. In some style, too, winning at Manchester United and Sheffield Wednesday, then seeing off Billy Bremner’s resurgent Leeds United in a five-goal thriller at Hillsborough. George Curtis and John Sillett’s team have enlivened this year’s FA Cup from the get-go; only the partial would begrudge them a maiden victory today. They go into this final as underdogs, and as such a fair chunk of the nation will be behind them this afternoon.

Mind you, plenty of neutrals will be behind Tottenham Hotspur as well. David Pleat’s team have been this season’s most entertaining side by some distance, Glenn Hoddle and Chris Waddle mesmerising, Clive Allen relentless. But much good it’s done them so far. Everton outlasted them in the race for the title, while Arsenal won a Littlewoods Cup semi-final marathon of such rich narrative bedlam that somebody very clever will surely base a book around it some day. In a parallel universe, Spurs are looking to complete an unprecedented domestic treble; back on Planet Reality, they’re searching for that elusive piece of silverware, just one prize to reward their stellar efforts during the season. Most expect them to get the job done today, especially as Tottenham’s record in FA Cup finals is sheer perfection: seven wins out of seven.

But this is the FA Cup, and you just never know. Kick off is at 3pm. It’s on!