The third round of the FA Cup is where the minnows are given a chance to swim with the sharks, and try not to be swallowed too quickly. There is sometimes magic in the air for those lesser clubs, where a fairy godmother waves a magic wand and lets the sharks be eaten by the minnows. In our case, it’s the minnows of Luton who should have been devoured easily, just as an appetiser on the way to a meatier course. I’m sure that I’m not the only one who was feeling more than just a little bit nervous before this match, based on some previous experience of the so-called “magic” of the FA Cup.

During the mid 1950’s, Liverpool were a team in transition. Unfortunately at that time it was a transition downward to the old Division Two after the club’s worst defensive record of all time in the 1953-54 season. The total at the end was 9 wins, 23 losses, 10 draws, 97 goals against and not surprisingly with those numbers, dead last in the top division and on the way down. The Reds were then mired in the Second Division with hardly any chance of climbing back up. Several years later, in the 1958-59 season, the Reds were performing at their most mediocre with only 10 points from their first 11 matches. Even considering that it was two points for a win in those days, it is still a poor start to a season. One of the early losses was a 5-0 thrashing at Huddersfield, a club managed by a certain Mr. Shankly. Things only got worse in January ’59 when Liverpool travelled to Worcester City of the Southern League for the third round of the F.A. Cup. The 2-1 loss is considered to be the most humiliating experience of all time for the club. Ronnie Moran tells the story of how this was definitely the worst time in his playing career. The club had hired two coaches to carry the managers and players in one, and the wives and girlfriends in the other. After the match, it was already going to seem like a long miserable trip home when the players' bus broke down. So, they all piled onto the other bus and had an even more unpleasant journey home, packed in like sardines. I don’t have any record of what the cause of the breakdown was, but it would have been symbolic to say the least if it had been the wheels that had fallen off. The result was obviously a disaster for Liverpool, but was one of those “magic moments” that lives on for Worcester and all other lower league clubs. The Reds would just as soon forget about this match, but Worcester has chosen to celebrate it with the sale of a special edition “retro” shirt to commemorate this historic occasion.

The Mighty Reds were not looking so mighty back in those days. The League Championship had been theirs a respectable five times before the end of the 1940’s, but there had been no great success in the FA Cup. The best efforts before then had been the two final appearances, losing to Burnley in 1914 and to Arsenal in 1950. The early exit from the F.A. Cup in 1959 was definitely a turning point in the club’s history. By the end of the year, that certain Mr. Shankly had joined Liverpool FC as manager, and the fortunes turned around almost immediately. The return to the First Division came less than three seasons later in 1962, and the FA cup was finally ours for the first time in 1965. Since then, we’ve managed to win it five more times, and losing in the final to take runners-up medals another four times.

So we come to this year’s competition, the 125th anniversary of the FA Cup. We’ve certainly had our high points and our low points in this competition; I can remember many disappointments such as the 1971 final against Arsenal where we should have won after Steve Heighway scored a spectacular goal early in extra time, but lost 2-1. Worse than that was the 1988 disaster against Wimbledon. The Reds had become undisputably the Mighty Reds that season with a record tying 29 game unbeaten run to start the season. The League Championship was wrapped up early, and the trip to Wembley should have been a formality to give the Reds a second “Double” in three years. The “magic” that day was on the Wimbledon side as the Reds failed to produce their championship form and went down 1-0 losers on the day.

There have been many other disappointments and surprise results over the years. One of the worst for me was the 1-0 loss at Watford in the sixth round in 1969-70. That was another turning point in the club’s history, with Shankly deciding to make major changes in the squad, before going on to greater glory in the following few years before his retirement shortly after his second FA Cup victory : a 3-0 demolition of Newcastle.

The most recent shock result has to be the 1-0 loss at Burnley last year. That was a miserable match, played by a weakened side on a waterlogged pitch. It is sometimes the poor conditions that cause the surprise results. It’s not usual for top league players to have to play on bumpy pitches that are full of puddles and pot holes. The home side can often have the advantage by being used to those conditions, and making it work for them. They also have the advantage of being the underdog and having no pressure whatsoever in the match. For them, losing is pretty much expected. Should they produce a draw or even a win, then it will be the main story on the next day’s sports pages. They can really be said to have nothing to lose in these matches, and everything to gain. The potential gains are especially important financially as the large crowds can bring in some windfall profits for the smaller clubs. There was one year where a non league club was drawn to play at home against a Premier League club, but asked for permission to play away instead. That request was purely motivated by the amount of money to be made by playing in the much larger stadium, with a loss on the field already conceded before a ball was kicked.

This year’s competition opened up with a trip to Luton. This club also figured in a shock result back in the glory days of the 1980’s. The 1985-86 season ended with us winning both the League and the FA Cup – the famous “Double” in Kenny Dalglish’s first season as player-manager. We were drawn against Luton in the third round of the 1986-87 season and were obviously favourites to go through. But, we lost 3-0 in a second replay after being held scoreless away and then again at home. That was not the end of them. A few years later, early in 1991, manager Kenny Dalglish resigned after failing to put Everton out of the Cup after a replay at Goodison. Our next league match was away to Luton, with the faithful servant Ronnie Moran as caretaker manager. We lost 3-1, and that was the start of another mediocre period in the Reds history.

It was probably just as well that I wasn’t able to see this latest match. My work schedule prevented me from making it downtown to watch at LSPH, and not having it televised at home meant that I couldn’t even tape it. My worst fears would have been coming true by the end of the first half when we managed to blow a 1-0 lead on a curler from Gerrard, and were shocked to be 3-1 down. Second half heroics saved the day with two goals from Sinama-Pongolle and two from Xabi Alonso. After watching the highlights, all I can say is that at least it must have been entertaining for the neutrals. In fact it turns out that this match had set a record with 8.4 million viewers watching, which is more than for any FA Cup matches last year, except for the final. Xabi’s second goal, making it 5-3 and putting the match beyond doubt, possibly set a record for distance with a shot from about 60 yards. With the score at 4-3 for the Reds late in the match, Luton ‘keeper Beresford had come up to put pressure on from a Luton corner. As the ball was cleared, Beresford was not quick enough to react, allowing Alonso to take control of the ball, and shoot from his own half into the empty net. A 5-3 win at the end of the day, but where was our defence in this match? It was clear that neither Rafa nor Stevie G. were happy with the performance. Monday’s draw for the 4th round places us away to Portsmouth later this month. Let’s hope it’s a better performance that this one or we’ll be saying an early goodbye.

The next few weeks bring us some crucial matches. This Saturday, January 14th, we host Tottenham (live on Sportsnet 7:00 am). A good result in this one will see us put some distance between us and them, and solidifying our third place position with those two extra matches still to be played. After that is a trip to Man Ure on the following Sunday, January 22nd. A good result there will have us chasing second place, and again we will still have those two more matches to play. Then, to round off the month, we will have the FA Cup trip to Pompey. By that time there could be several new faces lining up on each side, depending on what happens during the remainder of the transfer period. Let’s hope for some significant additions to the squad by that time.

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