1987 FA Cup Final

Event

FA Cup 1986–87

Coventry City	Tottenham Hotspur

3	2

Date

16 May 1987

Venue

Wembley Stadium, London

Referee

Neil Midgley (Manchester)

Attendance

96,000

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1988 →

The 1987 FA Cup Final took place on 16 May 1987 at Wembley Stadium. It was contested between Coventry City and Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs were appearing in their third final in seven seasons, having won the trophy in 1981 and 1982 and were strong favourites, while unfancied Coventry were appearing in their first ever domestic cup final. Spurs were going for a record eighth victory and had never lost a final. In an exciting match, Coventry eventually triumphed 3–2 after extra time.

BBC commentator John Motson stated it was "the finest Cup Final I've had the pleasure of commentating on". It was a clean, good-willed yet well-contested final, with no bookings and high-quality football being produced by both sides. Both teams exercised quick, neat passing ability interspersed with exciting wing play and it was generally considered a good advertisement for English football. In marked contrast to the modern game, all but one of Coventry's players were English, the exception being Welsh international David Phillips, while eight of the Spurs starting eleven were also English.

Spurs played the game in their new kit for the following 1987–88 season but with white shorts instead of blue. Due to a mix up only half of the Spurs players wore the Holsten sponsorship on their shirts.

Tottenham had been knocked out of the Football League Cup in the semi-finals and had finished third in the league, and so, having spent most of the season challenging for a unique domestic treble, they ended it with no major trophies at all. Aside from the Third Round against Bolton Wanderers, Coventry had progressed to the final impressively, by winning all of their games away from home, including victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford (Alex Ferguson's first FA Cup loss with United).

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