Veterans relive highs and lows of final clash

Veterans re-live highs and lows of final clash

May 2 2006

THE first all-Merseyside FA Cup Final was recreated at Anfield yesterday. Phillip Smart took a trip down memory lane

By Phillip Smart , Daily Post

AT THE end of a week in which John Prescott has shown that an increasing waistline, receding hairline and advancing years are no barrier to enjoyment, it was perhaps fitting that veterans of Liverpool and Everton should meet at Anfield to show there is still life in the old dog.

A reprise of the 1986 all-Merseyside FA Cup final saw the two sides clash once again in aid of the Marina Dalglish Appeal which aims to fund the building of an oncology unit at University Hospital Aintree.

It is testament to the worthiness of the cause, and the respect in which the two Merseyside clubs hold each other , that the participants came from far and wide to take part.

Liverpool's Steve Nicol flew in to Manchester Airport from Boston on the morning of the game before catching a taxi which whisked him to Anfield just in time for kick-off.

Steve McMahon, a Liverpool substitute in the 86 final, was so desperate to be in the line-up for the re-match that he spent 24 hours on a flight from Sydney, where he is currently coaching, just to be involved.

And Everton's Gary Lineker put his own well-documented personal difficulties and injury problems to one side to pull on a blue shirt once again.

Though Lineker lasted barely a minute before being substituted his gesture was well appreciated by the 33,000 crowd and his brief run-out had at least given him the opportunity to line up against Match of the Day sidekicks Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson.

Lineker's departure actually set the tone for the rest of the game with Kenny Dalglish and Hansen also departing the action before half time, and a flurry of further substitutions as the match wore on and the energy sapping Anfield pitch took its toll.

In the build-up to the game, Dalglish had joked that the only thing that still fitted him from 20 years ago were his boots, and it was clear from the outset that few of the players are as fit today as they were back then.

In fact, judging by the burly shape of Jan Molby it was difficult to say whether Everton skipper Kevin Ratcliffe was only joking when he quipped that the Blues veterans had been training extra hard just to be able to run round the big Dane.

The game - which was preceded by a minute of applause for Everton legend Brian Labone who died last week and Denise McAllister, the wife of former Liverpool star Gary, who lost her battle with cancer earlier this year - naturally did not live up to its illustrious predecessor. The pbutting of time and the terms on which the two local rivals were coming together meant that this was never going to be a derby clbuttic.

The usual tension, pressure and controversy had to take a back seat as a relaxed, almost sedate, atmosphere permeated proceedings.

But Steve McMahon and Peter Reid showed they have lost little of their appetite for a bit of combat, even if the pbutting of time means they are not the same physically imposing midfield generals who inspired their teams to glory in the mid-80s.

The watching Steven Gerrard couldn't help but giggle when Reid and McMahon locked horns in full view of referee Mark Halsey who also struggled, but ultimately failed, to suppress a grin at their antics.

Dalglish, unable to resist the lure of a run out in front of the adoring Kop, later returned to the action along with John Barnes, these days a wide man in more ways than one.

But despite the array of talent on display, the game never really got going until the final stages. There was ample comedy though, with John Bailey, Steve Nicol and Dalglish himself all tumbling Charlie Chaplin-s tyle, and Bruce Grobbelaar up to his usual tricks in the Liverpool goal.

Everyone in the crowd wanted a goal, but with the clock ticking down and energy levels diminishing it seemed their wishes would not be rewarded.

That was until a minute before time when John Durnin - a ringer in the Liverpool team - scored a dramatic last ditch winner which was miraculous simply because there was still someone on the pitch at that late stage who still had the energy and inclination to sniff out a goal.

After the final whistle was blown both sets of players remained on the pitch to take the acclaim of the crowd, and also to savour the moment.

It was, as Dalglish later stated, "a great day and a great occasion for a great cause", but probably not one that many of the players will be looking to repeat soon, given their dishevelled state as they departed the pitch.

"It was fantastic and the turn-out here today just shows what the people of Merseyside are like when they get behind a cause. I'm off for a rub down with an iron brush," said Kenny.

The all-Merseyside FA Cup final has become one of the most celebrated occasions in sporting history as it showed the rest of the football world that it was possible to stage such a mbuttively important match between rival teams without even a hint of trouble.

It is an occasion of which fans of both Liverpool and Everton remain justifiably proud.

The legacy of this encounter continued yesterday and it should mean the building of the oncology unit at Aintree moves a step closer.

A sorry memory for at least one died-in-the-wool Everton supporter

And here's how our football writer Ian Ross reported the original, back in 1986

Liverpool 3 Everton 1

I AM confident Howard Kendall won't mind my revealing an amusing ifa highly prophetic tale he unfolded just minutes after his Everton side had cruised into a third consecutive FA Cup Final at the expense of Sheffield Wednesday.

Sipping a well-watered scotch in the Villa Park annex, he informed a back-slapping press corps that 24 hours earlier a man he knew to be a devout Evertonian had made his way up to the club's training ground.

Having donned his most impressive lost puppy-look, the die-hard Goodison regular announced he would be willing the Yorkshiremen to victory.

Knowing all too well Liverpool would encounter precious few problems in overturning Southampton at White Hart Lane, he said he couldn't bear the prospect of a derby defeat beneath the twin towers.

While appreciating his beloved Everton would have a fair chance of landing the Cup at the expense of the old enemy, he believed it just wasn't worth the risk.

As I write, the man in question is quite probably still locked away in some North London drinking den, lamenting the fall of his heroes and desperately trying to erase Saturday, May 10, 1986 from his memory.

He shouldn't feel too downhearted because the aftermath of the first-ever all-Merseyside FA Cup Final is certainly no time for morbid reflection.

He should be proud of the city's two magnificent football teams. He should rejoice at the moving comradeship displayed over the weekend and he should be eternally grateful he wasn't born in Manchester, where long-term success is something remembered only by those who require sticks to aid their journey to either Old Trafford or Maine Road.

The man who coined that most over-used of sporting cliches which states Wembley is no place for losers hit the nail right on the head. Everton were beyond consoling as Alan Robinson's piercing whistle brought down the curtain on a match I personally found totally absorbing.

As Kenny Dalglish and his superb side embraced all and sundry to signal an historic, stunning double, the blue-shirted warriors who had craved a silver lining to what had been a season full of hope, crumbled to the turf.

They had blown it and they knew it. They had let Liverpool off the hook and they knew it. They had foolishly provided the spark to light a fire which was to totally envelop them. And they knew it.

When Liverpool struck back Everton were, for all intents and purposes, in command. They had taken the lead and seemed destined to more than double their advantage when, in an almost masochistic manner, they presented a distinctly out-of-sorts opponent with an escape route.

Liverpool are past-masters at exploiting weaknesses.

The general feeling afterwards was that had Everton adopted what would have been an untypical defensive policy in a bid to protect their lead, they would possibly have held out. Liverpool were simply not playing well and poor performances have been few and far between since Christmas. But Howard Kendall has built a side which will always push up given the opportunity. In the 10 minute period after the interval Everton poured forward in increasing numbers in search of a second, person goal. That was arguably their undoing.

Having shaded the opening period they had shaken off the disappointment of not being granted a penalty in the 18th minute to make the breakthrough after 28 minutes.

Peter Reid's inspired long pbutt sent Gary Lineker charging free down the centre with Alan Hansen in pursuit. The England striker inevitably won the chase, hitting his first shot against Bruce Grobbelaar, the rebound into the corner of an unguarded net.

Everton's highly impressive post-break purple patch was climaxed by a neat move which ended when Kevin Sheedy drove fractionally wide of a post.

Thereafter Liverpool found cohesion and rhythm.

They began to string moves together, work as a unit and began to threaten.

A truly remarkable side, they spent several minutes exerting their new-found authority before turning the screw.

After 57 minutes, Gary Stevens gave the ball to Ronnie Whelan who fed Jan Molby. The big Dane lurched forward before delivering the sweetest of pbuttes into the path of Ian Rush who rounded Mimms before sliding home.

Five minutes later the same two players joined forces to completely outwit a stricken defence and set up Johnston, who gleefully smashed home from close range.

Liverpool's operation was complete six minutes from the end when Rush drove home Whelan's beautifully judged chip.

Football can be a very cruel game but justice was undoubtedly done in the end.

EVERTON: Mimms, Stevens, Van Den Hauwe, Ratcliffe, Mountfield, Reid, Steven, Lineker, Sharp, Bracewell, Sheedy. Sub: Heath (72 mins for Stevens).

LIVERPOOL: Grobbelaar, Nicol, Beglin, Lawrenson, Whelan, Hansen, Dalglish, Johnston, Rush, Molby, MacDonald. Sub: McMahon.

REFEREE: Alan Robinson.