Sunday’s FA Cup 4th Round replay against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge will be the fifth occasion since the War that Brentford have participated in a round four re-match. Games against Leicester City in 1946/47, and against Luton Town in 1951/52, both went to a third match while Aston Villa in 1952/53 and Oxford United in 1963/64 settled the encounters in their favour at the second time of asking.
All of those replay excursions signalled the end of Brentford’s Cup run for the season and the only time a 4th Round FA Cup tie has ended in success was in the not-too-distant past when Martin Allen’s 2005 Bees travelled to Hartlepool, after the first game at Griffin Park had ended 0-0, and came away with a 1-0 win courtesy of a 48th minute goal from Isaiah Rankin after Stephen Hunt had squandered an early penalty.
One game, however, that didn’t need a replay to settle affairs was the memorable encounter with Manchester City, 4th Round opponents at Griffin Park on Saturday 28th January 1989.
Brentford 3, Manchester City 1.
The result made national headlines…
THE BEES SINK CITY!
TWO-GOAL GARY THE CUP HERO
SHEER BLISS
BLISSETT’S DAY AS BEES CRUSH CITY
City were a mere Second Division side at the time but their line-up nonetheless included a host of well-known names including recent ÂŁ0.25 million signing Gary Megson, England under-21 internationals Andy Hinchcliffe and Paul Lake, goalkeeper Andy Dibble, midfielder Neil McNab and striker Trevor Morley to name but a few.
On the day, Brentford were simply too strong for their illustrious opponents and the outcome was a convincing victory.
As The Chronicle’s Jim Levack describes them in his match report of the time, the memories come flooding back…
…”Two-goal Gary Blissett fired the bullets that powered Brentford into the last 16 of the FA Cup and left high-flying Manchester City dazed on Saturday. The Manchester-born striker scored twice to send the home team through to a 5th Round tie at Blackburn Rovers.”
… “Brentford did not just beat the 1982 Cup finalists, they humiliated them with a slick display of aggressive football that made light of the heavy pitch. From the first minute, roared on by a fiercely partisan 12,100 crowd, they went at their supposed superiors with venom.”
… “After 10 minutes, the first chapter of the fairytale was complete. A neat through ball came from bustling Andy Sinton, in to the livewire Richard Cadette on the left of the box. His way to goal looked barred by England under-21 defender Andy Hinchcliffe but in a flash the Bees striker dropped his shoulder, leaving four markers for dead before sending a low cross into the box and Gary Blissett beat defender Brian Gayle to the ball to hammer home past the helpless Andy Dibble.”
…”Four minutes before the break, good work from Smillie earned a corner on the right. A perfectly-flighted ball from Cockram was headed clear by Gayle into the path of skipper Keith Jones on the edge of the area. He tried with his left foot but the ball rebounded back for a second swipe and he drilled a superb shot past the fully-stretched Dibble.”
… “In the 67th minute, Blissett cracked the final nail in the coffin. Great work from Sinton saw him speed away from the centre-spot quagmire to the edge of the area where he checked before laying the ball off to Stanislaus. He outpaced right-back Mark Seagraves before sending in a low cross to the near post – Hinchcliffe mis-kicked, Dibble fumbled, but there was Blissett to bundle the loose ball home and send the champagne corks popping.”
As for Manager’s Steve Perryman’s simple but honest analysis of the Cup run?
… “I would gladly swop Cup success for getting this Club into Division Two”
Some things never change!
