Ipswich Town Beat Arsenal
Arsenal tends to lose matches. Sometimes they tend to lose them in big spots where they shouldn’t. The 1978 FA Cup final was one such match where they should have won. Just like with everything at the time, the seventies were weird. There was still some romanticism about the sport still left, and a little club just north of London was going to become the biggest club in the country for a bit, in Nottingham Forest. Liverpool was dominate, Leeds was trying to win everything in sight, and there was a group of players the English National team should have used but didn’t. Oh and the sport was trying to grow in America with a bunch of aging and underrated stars.
Then there was Ipswich Town, which was lead by then Bobby Robson, a former West Brom, and Fulham forward. Robson who had just been sacked at the end of the 1968 calendar year. The following year while scouting for then Chelsea manager Dave Sexton at Portman Road, he bumped into Ipswich Town Director Murray Sangster. He was offered and took the job. In the seasons that followed, the club only finished lower than sixth place once in the First Division. That was the year they beat Arsenal in the FA Cup.
This was one heck of an Arsenal side. They had ex-Newcastle Legend Malcolm MacDonald, Liam Brady, Pat Jennings, David O’Leary, and the ever present Alan Hudson. Many of these players were part of the Double winning side years before, and would go on to be part of a triple FA Cup final set of appearances. MacDonald had played in some memorable FA Cup matches in his time at Newcastle.
Now Ipswich wasn’t a pushover or a minnow. They were a solid First Division club. They had the players and the tactics to stay in the league. This was the time period where Leeds and Forest were great too. However, Ipswich was just another club going about collecting cups. This would be the start of the cup collecting.
In the semi finals both clubs advanced through by scoring three goals on their opponent. Ipswich put three past West Brom’s goalkeeper to win 3-1 at Highbury. Arsenal put three past Leyton Orient’s goalkeeper at Stamford Bridge.
The final should have been a high scoring match. However, it became a defensive match. Ipswich settled down and took the game to Arsenal after the Gunners had a great start getting two corners in the early minutes. The Tractor Boys began to overwhelm the midfield of Arsenal with Liam Brady having a hard time. As he must have not been game fit, as Arsenal manager Terry Neill had to take Brady off in the middle of the second half for Graham Rix.
For all this good work that Ipswich was having, they couldn’t crack the goalmouth. John Wark had two great shots on goal in the second half to only be stopped by Pat Jennings. George Burley also went close too, but couldn’t get the goal to go in either. But finally Roger Osborne’s moment in history would come as Ipswich striker David Geddis faked out most of Arsenal to get the ball up field from the half-way line. Geddis fired it in, to be deflected by Willie Young into the path of Roger Osborne, who calmly put it in the back of the net for the famous 1-0 win.
This would be the last final for Ipswich, they’d make the semi finals again. Years later they’d win the UEFA Cup. Bobby Robson would end up taking the England job before coaching on the continent. At the end of his career he’d come back to England and coach Newcastle, where he is loved. John Wark would end up leaving Portman Road for Liverpool in the 80s. Mick Mills would end his career with Stoke as a player/manager. George Burley would go onto a managerial career, and Paul Mariner would move to the States to finish his career. He coached in Major League Soccer for a bit, and can be seen on ESPN as a pundit.
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