1991 FA Cup Final

Event

1990–91 FA Cup

Nottingham Forest	Tottenham Hotspur

1	2

Date

18 May 1991

Venue

Wembley Stadium, London

Referee

Roger Milford (Somerset)

Attendance

80,000

The 1991 FA Cup Final saw Tottenham Hotspur win the FA Cup for a then-record eighth time, by beating Nottingham Forest 2–1 at Wembley in the 110th FA Cup Final.

Tottenham's triumph made them the first club to win the trophy eight times, though this record has since been surpassed by Arsenal and Manchester United. The win also continued the club's trend of winning major trophies in years ending in "1", although Tottenham have yet to win the trophy or reach the final in any year since.

The 1991 final was Nottingham Forest's first appearance in the FA Cup final since their triumph 32 years earlier and they have not reached the final since.

It also gave Tottenham their first campaign in a European competition - the 1991–92 European Cup Winners' Cup - of the post-Heysel era.

Road to Wembley

Nottingham Forest

Home teams listed first. Round 3: Crystal Palace 0–0 Nottingham Forest

Replay: Nottingham Forest 2–2 Crystal Palace

Replay: Nottingham Forest 3–0 Crystal Palace

Round 4: Newcastle United 2–2 Nottingham Forest

Replay: Nottingham Forest 3–0 Newcastle United

Round 5: Southampton 1–1 Nottingham Forest

Replay: Nottingham Forest 3–1 Southampton

Round 6: Norwich City 0–1 Nottingham Forest

Semi-final: Nottingham Forest 4–0 West Ham United (at Villa Park, Birmingham)

Tottenham Hotspur

Home teams listed first. Round 3: Blackpool 0–1 Tottenham Hotspur

Round 4: Tottenham Hotspur 4–2 Oxford United

Round 5: Portsmouth 1–2 Tottenham Hotspur

Round 6: Tottenham Hotspur 2–1 Notts County

Semi-final: Tottenham Hotspur 3–1 Arsenal (at Wembley Stadium, London)

Match summary

Spurs had teetered on the edge of going out of business during this Cup run and the mercurial Paul Gascoigne's brilliance had inspired Spurs through to the final. Gascoigne was so pumped up for this match that he almost ended his involvement in the first few minutes. In winning the ball out on the right touchline, he followed through with his foot up and caught Garry Parker in the chest. Referee Roger Milford let him off with a lecture, but failed to calm Gascoigne, who scythed down Gary Charles as the Forest defender ran across the face of the Spurs penalty area. Forest were awarded a free kick on the edge of the box but once again Gascoigne was let off without further punishment from the referee. Before play resumed, Gascoigne received extensive treatment on his knee before standing up to join the defensive wall.

Gascoigne paid for his rash challenge, which many Forest fans thought deserved a red card, when Stuart Pearce smashed home the subsequent free kick to give Forest the lead. He (Gascoigne) had to leave the field on a stretcher shortly after the match restarted, as he could not put any weight on his leg. It was later revealed that he had torn his cruciate ligaments. Nayim – later notable for his winning last-minute goal against rivals Arsenal in the 1995 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final – came on to replace him.

After 25 minutes Gary Lineker had a goal disallowed for offside and then five minutes later he was in on Mark Crossley, when the goalkeeper brought him down in the box. Lineker stepped up to take the resulting penalty and placed the ball to the keeper's left, where Crossley dived and kept the ball out. Crossley became only the second goalkeeper to save a penalty in an FA Cup Final after Dave Beasant for Wimbledon F.C. in 1988. After the interval, Nayim cushioned a Thorsvedt kick into the path of Paul Allen, who put Paul Stewart in on the right hand side of the box. Stewart drilled a low shot past Crossley into the corner of the net to put Tottenham on level terms.

With the game finishing at 1–1 after normal time, the final moved into extra time. Substitute Paul Walsh looped a header over the keeper, but the ball hit the bar and bounced back only for it to be put behind by Stuart Pearce for a corner. Nayim took it and Stewart met it at the near post to flick it on. As Gary Mabbutt ran in at the far post, he was poised to head the ball home, but Forest defender Des Walker beat him to it and diverted the ball past his own keeper to give Tottenham the lead for the first time in the game.

Tottenham saw out the rest of the game and won the FA Cup for the 8th time in their history.

Justin Edinburgh was the last member of Tottenham's cup winning team to leave the club, finally departing in 2000 – the same year that Nottingham Forest's Ian Woan became the last player from his team's side to leave them.

Match details

Nottingham Forest v Tottenham Hotspur

18 May 1991
15:00 BST

Nottingham Forest	1–2 (a.e.t.)	Tottenham Hotspur
Pearce 16'	Report	Stewart 55' Walker 94' (o.g.)

Wembley Stadium, London
Attendance: 80,000
Referee: Roger Milford (Somerset)

Nottingham Forest

Tottenham


GK	1	Mark Crossley
RB	2	Gary Charles
LB	3	Stuart Pearce (c)
CB	4	Des Walker
CB	5	Steve Chettle
CM	6	Roy Keane
RM	7	Gary Crosby
CM	8	Garry Parker
CF	9	Nigel Clough
CF	10	Lee Glover	108'
LM	11	Ian Woan	62'
Substitutes:
DF	12	Brian Laws	108'
MF	14	Steve Hodge	62'
Manager:
Brian Clough


GK	1	Erik Thorstvedt
LB	2	Justin Edinburgh
RB	3	Pat Van Den Hauwe
CB	4	Steve Sedgley
CM	5	David Howells
CB	6	Gary Mabbutt (c)
CM	7	Paul Stewart
CM	8	Paul Gascoigne	17'
LM	9	Vinny Samways	82'
CF	10	Gary Lineker
RM	11	Paul Allen
Substitutes:
FW	12	Paul Walsh	82'
MF	14	Nayim	17'
Manager:
Terry Venables

Match rules

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

Long-term impact on football 'fashion'

This game also saw the first appearance of the much longer 'baggy' style of shorts, sported as part of Tottenham Hotspur's new Umbro kit, which Terry Venables helped design. Though attracting some ridicule at first, the style swiftly became popular, being adopted during the early 1990s throughout English and world football by every team at every level (with, to date, no team anywhere having reverted to the 'short shorts' worn ubiquitously for some decades up to this match).

References

External links

Game facts at soccerbase.com

FA Cup

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Finals	1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

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Others	Colchester United Newport

Nottingham Forest F.C. matches

FA Cup Finals	1898 1959 1991

League Cup Finals	1978 1979 1980 1989 1990 1992

FA Charity Shields	1959 1978

European Cup Finals	1979 1980

European Super Cups	1979 1980

Intercontinental Cup	1980

Full Members Cup Finals	1989 1992

Other matches	Nottingham Forest 1–8 Manchester United (1999)

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FA Cup Finals	1901 1921 1961 1962 1967 1981 1982 1987 1991

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