On April 28th 2023, Wembley Stadium celebrated its 100th birthday. Having looked at some of the greatest games played at either the twin towers or under the arch, we now look back at just some of the greatest upsets witnessed at the home of football.
Read More: 100 Years of Wembley Stadium: 10 of Its Greatest Games
100 Years of Wembley: Five of Its Greatest Upsets
Swindon Town vs Arsenal
The 1969 League Cup final pitted Third Division Swindon Town against First Division Arsenal. The Gunners who had lost in the final a year earlier were expected to go one better and record an easy win. However, their underdog opponents would prove to be no pushovers.
As expected Arsenal dominated the early stages of the game but could not find a way to score and on 35 minutes against the run of play, Swindon took a shock lead. They hung on to their lead until halftime; however, from the moment they scored it was all-out defence as the Gunners took siege to their goal.
With four minutes remaining, they could hold on no longer. Striker Bobby Gould saved Arsenal’s blushes scoring the equaliser to take the game into extra time. Swindon, however, grew in confidence as the poor pitch began to tire their more illustrious opponents. The Robin began attacking and got their reward a minute before the break in extra time. With Arsenal desperate and going all-out in attack, Swindon caught them on the counter-attack to score a third and record an unlikely but famous victory.
Sunderland vs Leeds United
On May 5th 1973 football fans around the world witnessed the greatest FA Cup shock of all time. Second Division Sunderland faced the then-mighty Leeds United. Don Revie’s side had won multiple cup competitions, the league title and were the current holders of the FA Cup when they came up against Bob Stokoe’s Black Cats.
100,000 packed into Wembley expecting a United win with many hoping that Sunderland would put up a good fight. They did better than that.
Stokoe’s men were not intimated by United’s reputation or team full of internationals and deservedly took the lead through Ian Porterfield’s strike. Leeds responded and attacked the Sunderland goal; however, they found the red and white defence, especially goalkeeper Jim Montgomery tough to break. United did come close to equalising but Montgomery produced an astonishing double save, a save that has never been bettered at Wembley and is unlikely to be.
Sunderland also had chances to score again but the game remained 1-0 and the famous cup was heading to Wearside for the second time.
It has now been 50 years since that famous day but on its 30th anniversary, Montgomery spoke about his double save. He said: “The cross came in from the right, Trevor Cherry was on the far post and nodded the ball across me and I just went across and parried it out.
“I saw Lorimer coming in and I just dived into the path of the ball. It hit my hand, went on to the bar and came out.
“He had two-thirds of the goal to aim at and I just thought, ‘to hell, I’ll dive at the open space’- and it came off.”
Southampton vs Manchester United
Three years after Sunderland, another second-division side Southampton caused a huge upset against a team who were odds on to lift the cup. Manchester United were under a resurgence with Tommy Docherty in charge and had just finished the league season in third place just four points behind winners Liverpool.
The Saints, like Sunderland before them were not expected to cause the opposition too many problems, but like the Black Cats, they defied the odds to cause an upset.
United, as expected dominated the first half and with better finishing would have led at the break. The second half was much closer and both sides created chances and when United hit the post it appeared that the football gods were smiling on Southampton.
On 83 minutes Saints forward Bobby Stokes raced clear of the United defence and scored with a low strike into the bottom corner. United believed he was offside but the goal stood and Southampton won their first major trophy.
West Ham United vs Arsenal
FA Cup holders Arsenal faced a West Ham team who had finished seventh in the second division in 1980. The Gunners were clear favourites but recent history had taught fans to expect the unexpected.
It took just 13 minutes for the Hammers to take the lead in the game. England international and West Ham legend Trevor Brooking was the fastest to react in the penalty area to head the ball into the goal and give his side the lead.
Arsenal, as expected controlled the ball for much of the game but struggled to find a way through United’s stubborn defence. Late in the game West Ham almost made it 2-0. Paul Allen, the youngest player to appear in a Cup final at 17 years 256 days old, was clean through on the Arsenal goal when he was brought down from behind. The offending Arsenal defender was only shown a yellow card; however, it didn’t take long before a red card was deemed the punishment for such fouls.
Wimbledon vs Liverpool
Liverpool were the dominant force in football in the 1980’s winning multiple trophies. They were the current First Division champions and FA Cup winners in 1986 when they met Wimbledon in the 1988 final. Despite both teams being in the same league, Liverpool were overwhelming favourites to win the cup once again.
In front of over 98,000 fans and millions watching on TV, Wimbledon stunned the majority of the crowd when they took the lead in the first half thanks to a header from Lawrie Sanchez.
Liverpool created many chances one which resulted in a penalty. The Reds’ prolific striker John Aldridge was expected to score having converted all of his spot kicks that season but Wimbledon’s keeper Dave Beasant became the first to save a penalty in a Wembley FA Cup final.
Despite more pressure the Dons held on for a famous victory with goalkeeper Beasant becoming only the second to lift the cup as captain. After the final whistle, commentator John Motson delivered the famous line “The Crazy Gang have beaten the Culture Club”
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