1978 Football League Cup Final

The 1978 Football League Cup Final was the eighteenth League Cup final, and was contested between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. The initial match resulted in a 0–0 draw at Wembley Stadium on 18 March 1978.^[1] The replay was four days later at Old Trafford,^[1] and saw John Robertson score from the penalty spot after a foul by Phil Thompson on John O'Hare, which TV replays confirmed was actually outside the penalty area. Another refereeing decision caused further controversy when an equalising goal from Liverpool's Terry McDermott was ruled out for handball, despite TV replays again confirming that the decision was wrong, with McDermott controlling the ball not with his arm, but taking it cleanly on his chest before hammering a thunderbolt past future England goalkeeper Chris Woods. The contentious 1–0 score-line was enough to win the cup for Forest, who thus became the first club to achieve a League and League Cup double.

In the latter game, one of his last for Liverpool, stalwart Ian Callaghan received the only booking of his long and illustrious career for the Merseyside club, as the red mist descended, fuelled by the dubious refereeing decisions which had been made. Tommy Smith famously stated in an interview immediately after the game that the referee "should be shot".

Match details

Nottingham Forest

Liverpool

Nottingham Forest Red shirts/White shorts/Red socks	0–0 (final score after extra time)	Liverpool White shirts/Black shorts/White socks
Manager: Brian Clough Team: 1 Chris Woods (GK) 2 Viv Anderson 3 Frank Clark 4 John McGovern (c) 5 Larry Lloyd 6 Kenny Burns 7 Martin O'Neill 8 Ian Bowyer 9 Peter Withe 10 Tony Woodcock 11 John Robertson Substitute: 12 John O'Hare Scorers: None	Half-time: 0–0 Competition: Football League Cup (Final) Date: 15.00 GMT Saturday 18 March 1978 Venue: Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 100,000 Referee: Pat Partridge Match rules: 90 minutes. 30 minutes extra-time if necessary. Match replayed if scores still level. One named substitute.	Manager: Bob Paisley Team: 1 Ray Clemence (GK) 2 Phil Neal 3 Tommy Smith 4 Phil Thompson 5 Ray Kennedy  91' 6 Emlyn Hughes (c) 7 Kenny Dalglish 8 Jimmy Case 9 Steve Heighway 10 Terry McDermott 11 Ian Callaghan Substitute: 12 David Fairclough  91' Scorers: None

Source for team line-ups:^[2]

Replay

Nottingham Forest

Liverpool

Road to Wembley

Nottingham Forest

Forest's route to the final included victories over First Division teams West Ham United, Aston Villa and Leeds United (beating the latter 7–3 on aggregate in the semi-final). They also beat city rivals Notts County.^[1]

Liverpool

Liverpool were drawn at home to First Division teams in their first 3 rounds, although they needed a replay to beat Coventry City. They then beat Third Division Wrexham in the quarter-final, before edging out Arsenal 2–1 on aggregate in the semi-final.

References

External links

• LFC History Match Report (Replay)