1995–96 FA Cup

1995–96 FA Cup

The FA Cup Trophy
Tournament details
Country	England Wales
Defending champions	Everton
Final positions
Champions	Manchester United (9th title)
Runners-up	Liverpool
Tournament statistics
Top goal scorer(s)	Dave Powell (9 goals)
← 1994–95 1996–97 →

The 1995–96 FA Cup (known as The FA Cup sponsored by Littlewoods for sponsorship reasons) was the 115th staging of the FA Cup. The competition was won outright by Manchester United, who won the final through a goal from Eric Cantona five minutes from the end of the game. It gave Manchester United a league and cup double after they secured their third league title in four years. It was also United's third straight FA Cup Final.

The tournament began with teams from non-league football competing in preliminary and qualifying rounds in order to make it to the competition proper. Details of the qualifying tournament and all the rounds through to the final are available at FA Cup archives. Teams from Divisions 1 to 3 entered at the first round, while Premiership teams entered in the third round.

The topscorer in the competition was Dave Powell of Gravesend and Northfleet, who scored 9 goals.

Most participating clubs that were not members of the Premier League or Football League competed in the qualifying rounds to secure one of 28 places available in the first round.

The winners from the fourth qualifying round were Blyth Spartans, Spennymoor United, Marine, Telford United, Barrow, Northwich Victoria, Colwyn Bay, Witton Albion, Runcorn, Nuneaton Borough, Rushden & Diamonds, Canvey Island, Stevenage Borough, Wisbech Town, Hayes, Burton Albion, Hitchin Town, Bromsgrove Rovers, Slough Town, Kingstonian, Farnborough Town, Bognor Regis Town, Sutton United, Newport (IOW), Gravesend & Northfleet, Dorchester Town, Ashford Town (Kent) and Cinderford Town.

Rushden & Diamonds, Canvey Island, Stevenage Borough and Cinderford Town were appearing in the competition proper for the first time, although the emergence of Rushden & Diamonds sparked an interest in predecessor outfit Irthlingborough Town's unexpected Cup qualification back in 1906-07. Of the others, Colwyn Bay and Burton Albion had not featured at this stage since 1987–88 and Wisbech Town had not done so since 1965-66.

Gravesend & Northfleet completed a seven-round run through this season's tournament, defeating Godalming & Guildford, Molesey, Carshalton Athletic and Marlow to earn their place in the main draw. They then saw off Colchester United and Cinderford Town before going out to Premier League side Aston Villa at Villa Park.

The 48 teams from the Football League Second and Third Divisions entered in this round along with the 28 non-league clubs from the qualifying rounds and Woking, Kidderminster Harriers, Altrincham and Enfield who were given byes. The round included two clubs from Step 8 of the English football pyramid: Canvey Island from the Isthmian League Second Division and Wisbech Town from the Eastern Counties League Premier Division.

The matches were played on 11 November 1995. There were ten replays, with two ties requiring a penalty shootout to settle them. Fulham's 7–0 victory over Swansea City was an FA Cup record margin of victory against a team from a higher division.

The second round of the competition featured the winners of the first round ties. The matches were played on 2 December 1995, with six replays and one penalty shootout required. The round featured two teams from Step 7 of English football: Bognor Regis Town from the Isthmian League First Division and Cinderford Town from the Southern League Southern Division.

Teams from the Premier League and the Football League First Division entered the competition in this round. The initial matches were played on the weekend of 6-7 January 1996, with fourteen ties going to replays and one of those requiring penalties to settle the result. Gravesend & Northfleet, from the Southern League Premier Division at Step 6 of English football, was the lowest-ranked team in the draw.

The fourth round ties were played with the thirty-two winners of the previous round. The matches were originally scheduled for Saturday, 27 January, although only four matches were played that weekend, and only two of these matches resulted in a victory for one side. There were seven replays but no penalty shootouts. The round included seven clubs from the Second Division (Step 3): Walsall, Crewe Alexandra, Swindon Town, Shrewsbury Town, Brentford, Oxford United and Peterborough United.

The fifth-round matches were scheduled for 17 February. There were five replays and one penalty shootout. Swindon Town was again the lowest-ranked team in the round.

The four quarter-final ties were scheduled to be played on the weekend of 9 and 10 March 1996. There were two replays, between Liverpool and Leeds and Wimbledon & Chelsea. These were played on 20 March 1996.

This was a rare occurrence of all eight quarter-finalists being from the top division.

9 March 1996
15:00 GMT

Chelsea	2–2	Wimbledon
M. Hughes 70' Gullit 80'		Earle 54' Holdsworth 81'

Stamford Bridge, London

Attendance: 30,805

11 March 1996
20:00 GMT

Manchester United	2–0	Southampton
Cantona 49' Sharpe 90'

Old Trafford, Manchester

Attendance: 45,446

13 March 1996
19:45 GMT

Nottingham Forest	0–1	Aston Villa
		Carr 26'

City Ground, Nottingham

Attendance: 21,067

20 March 1996
19:45 GMT

Wimbledon	1–3	Chelsea
Goodman 39'		Petrescu 20' Duberry 79' M. Hughes 84'

Selhurst Park, London

Attendance: 21,380

20 March 1996
19:45 GMT

Liverpool	3–0	Leeds United
McManaman 57', 73' Fowler 83'

Anfield, Liverpool

Attendance: 30,812

The semi final ties were played at neutral venues on 31 March 1996. Manchester United and Liverpool beat Chelsea and Aston Villa respectively to reach the final. At this stage, Manchester United were top of the league and looking good bets for a unique second double two years after their first one, while Liverpool were hopeful of a similar triumph as they were third in the league and still in with a slim chance of a second double 10 years after their first one.

Just weeks before accepting the role as England manager, Glenn Hoddle watched his Chelsea side throw away their chances of major trophy late in the season for the third year running, one year after losing in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup semi-finals and two years after losing the FA Cup final.

Aston Villa's defeat ended their hopes of emulating Arsenal's 1993 triumph of an FA Cup/League Cup double, as they had lifted the League Cup the previous weekend.

31 March 1996
13:30 BST

Manchester United	2–1	Chelsea
Cole 55' Beckham 59'	Report	Gullit 35'

Villa Park, Birmingham

Attendance: 38,421

Referee: Stephen Lodge (Barnsley)

31 March 1996
16:00 BST

Liverpool	3–0	Aston Villa
Fowler 16', 86' McAteer 90'	Report

Old Trafford, Manchester

Attendance: 39,072

Referee: Paul Durkin (Portland, Dorset)

A late goal from Eric Cantona, United's top scorer and the FWA Player of the Year just a year after being vilified for the assault on a spectator which saw him banned from football for eight months, saw a United side featuring some of the Premier League's youngest players clinch a 1–0 win over Liverpool to become the first team to win the double twice, two years after their first double.

11 May 1996

15:00 BST

Liverpool	0–1	Manchester United
	Report	Cantona 85'

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 79,007

Referee: Dermot Gallagher (Oxfordshire)

For the eighth consecutive season in the United Kingdom, the BBC were the free to air broadcasters while Sky Sports were the subscription broadcasters.^{[citation needed]}

The matches shown live on the BBC were:

• Chelsea 1-1 Newcastle United (R3)

• Sheffield United 0-1 Aston Villa (R4)

• Manchester United 2-1 Manchester City (R5)

• Leeds United 0-0 Liverpool (QF)

• Manchester United 2-1 Chelsea (SF)

• Manchester United 1-0 Liverpool (Final)

The matches shown live on Sky Sports were:

• York City 0-1 Notts County (R1)

• Wycombe Wanderers 1-1 Gillingham (R1)

• Farnborough Town 0-4 Brentford (R1 Replay)

• Bradford City 1-2 Preston North End (R2)

• Kingstonian 1-2 Plymouth Argyle (R2)

• Brighton & Hove Albion 0-0 Fulham (R2 Replay)

• Derby County 2-4 Leeds United (R3)

• Sunderland 1-2 Manchester United (R3 Replay)

• Queens Park Rangers 1-2 Chelsea (R4)

• Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur (R4 Replay)

• Nottingham Forest 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur (R5)

• Port Vale 1-2 Leeds United (R5 Replay)

• Manchester United 2-0 Southampton (QF)

• Liverpool 3-0 Leeds United (QF Replay)

• Liverpool 3-0 Aston Villa (SF)

• FA Cup at BBC Sport
• FA website