It was March 1986 and I was at Wembley Stadium for the Full Members Cup Final.
The competition also became known as “The Simod Cup” from 1987 to 1989 and then the “Zenith data Systems (ZDS) Cup” from 1989 to 1992. This tournament was introduced due to the ban on English clubs after the Heysel disaster the previous year.
The match was held on Sunday 23rd March and the inaugural final was contested by Chelsea and Manchester City. It should be noted that both teams had played the day before in the old First Division.
Chelsea had beaten Southampton 1-0 and City drew 2-2 with their arch rivals Manchester United. However, ten players from each side featured in both games over the weekend.
I went to the match with my father. City took the lead in the ninth minute through Steve Kinsey before Chelsea equalised in the 23rd minute through David Speedie.
Chelsea took the lead through Colin Lee in the 36th minute and that was the score at half-time.
In the second-half Chelsea went further ahead through David Speedie in the 51st and 58th minute (giving him his hat-trick) before Colin Lee made the score 5-1 to Chelsea in the 79th minute.
Everyone thought the game was over (in Kenneth Wolstenhome’s words!!), but that was not to be the case as Mark Lillis pulled one back in the 85th minute, followed by a Doug Rougvie own goal in the 89th minute, the result of a deflected shot by Mark Lillis, making the score 5-3.
City were then awarded a penalty in the 89th minute, which was duly converted by Mark Lillis. Had Doug Rougvie’s own goal been credited to Lillis it would have become the fastest hat-tick in Wembley history.
No further goals were scored, so the match finished 5-4 to Chelsea.
An amazing game.
By Ross Balaam
