The Greatest FA Cup FInal Goal You've Never Seen

[kushiro]

Ask any Leicester fan to name the greatest ever FA Cup Final goal and you'll get the same answer every time. But which is the best apart from that one? Ricky Villa for Spurs?  Di Matteo in 1997?  Gerrard against West Ham?

 

Ricky Villa's is probably the most celebrated of them all.  But there's one that rarely gets a mention - because very few people have ever seen it properly.

 

We first reached the final in 1949 against Wolves. No doubt you know the story - Wolves go two up, Mal Griffiths pulls one back, Ken Chisholm's 'equalizer' is ruled out by a very tight offside call, then Wolves make it 3-1. 

 

That third was scored by Sammy Smyth, and it was a fine individual goal, with most reports saying he beat three men in his run. But look at footage of that final and you don't see how good it was. Enter '1949 FA Cup Final' into youtube and there are two Pathe News videos, but neither of them show the whole move. The official Leicester City history video is the same, and not even the official Wolves history shows Smyth's goal in its full glory.

So does the full footage actually exist?

 

The game was on TV, though nobody in Leicester could watch it. At that time BBC transmitters only covered limited areas of the country. There are stories of Leicester fans who couldn't get tickets for the match traveling long distances to watch the game in an area that did have coverage.

 

This was the cover of the Cup Final Radio Times:

 

 

 

Coverage started at 2.30, to include the pre-match community singing:

 

 

 

Smyth's goal from that coverage was included in an end of year round up of the sporting year - and thankfully, you can see it in this obscure video, which has barely 1,000 views:

 

 

 

So Smyth actually beats four men in his run.

 

None of those Leicester players put in what could be described as a decent challenge - they look absolutely exhausted after over an hour on the heavy Wembley turf. But when Ricky Villa scored his goal, the Man City defence were just as ragged:

 

 

 

 

So perhaps we can say that the two greatest FA Cup Final goals both featured Leicester City - 72 years apart. 

 

We came so close in 1949. Here's how the great Alan Hoby summarised it in the Sunday Express:

 

It was no good. Against the book, against a mounting roll of injury, heartbreak and the blackest odds ever stacked against a Cup Final side, Leicester strove with every thigh and sinew to pull off the soccer miracle of the century.  They failed - gallantly, gloriously, great-heartedly - but they failed.  Yet, and I know I am challenging a critical clamour in Wolverhampton when I write this, they might so easily have won.

 

For me, the flashpoint of this match came a quarter of an hour after the interval. Wolves are leading two one. Enter the "bulldozer" -  24-year-old burly, black-haired Ken Chisholm, Leicester's Scots inside left.  Before the game, Chisholm had sent a wire to his pal,  sick star Don Revie, in hospital. It read 'we are all thinking of you will do our best to win if it is possible'.

 

In the 15th minute of that second half,  Chisholm very nearly kept that promise.  He slammed the ball into the net and hopped, skipped and jumped away with joy. It was 2-2,  or so it seemed to the delirious Scot in that fleeting exciting moment. But as he looked round, he saw the referee pointing with his hand for an offside kick against Leicester. There could scarcely have been a yard in it, and I stand on my oath in saying that if Leicester had equalized in that tense dramatic moment they could easily have gone on to win.
 

 

 

[bovril]

Bloody hell don't try and tackle him then lads. Not like it's the cup final or anything. 

[Mike the Metal Ed]

2 minutes ago, bovril said:

Bloody hell don't try and tackle him then lads. Not like it's the cup final or anything. 

It seems tactics back then were basically "dribble until you shoot or run into an opponent"

[Wortho]

I think Tielemans goal was the greatest in an  fa cup final.

And Kaspar’s was the greatest save !!

[floz]

Everyone always goes on about Ricky Villa's FA Cup final goal for Spurs, but it wasn't even the best goal of the game - Steve MacKenzie's volley was sublime.

[bovril]

5 minutes ago, floz said:

Everyone always goes on about Ricky Villa's FA Cup final goal for Spurs, but it wasn't even the best goal of the game - Steve MacKenzie's volley was sublime.

Would agree. Very difficult technique. Probably the most forgotten great Wembley goal. 

[foxfanazer]

Bias aside I genuinely think Youri's was the best. Such a clean strike into the top corner from miles out

[SK3Blue]

Di Matteo, Norman Whiteside, very good goals. Gerrard v West Ham too but Tielemans for me. What a strike. 

[sishades]

3 hours ago, Wortho said:

I think Tielemans goal was the greatest in an  fa cup final.

And Kaspar’s was the greatest save !!

Agreed. 

[Foxmeister]

Villa stunk the place out in the 1st game and was replaced by Gary Brook who sadly passed away shortly before our win at Spurs.

[Parafox]

8 hours ago, foxfanazer said:

Bias aside I genuinely think Youri's was the best. Such a clean strike into the top corner from miles out

 

Just watched the highlights again on YouTube.

 

Irrespective of my support for City, that was one of the best goals of any FA cup final.

 

However, George Best's 6 goals in 1970 is also worth a mention:

 

 

 

OK it's not the final and it's Northampton Town but even so, what a performance 

 

What about the state of that pitch? 

Edited 17 May 2025 by Parafox

[Kitchandro]

10 hours ago, bovril said:

Bloody hell don't try and tackle him then lads. Not like it's the cup final or anything. 

Didn’t know Faes had played for us for so long.

[dobbylcfc]

There’s been some some crackers over the years including tilemens thunderbolt. Gerrards against West Ham in 06 I think it was comes to mind.

[TheStig]

Charlie George scored a screamer for Arsenal once - early seventies..?

 

[Trav Le Bleu]

Must have been many amazing goals from the past that were never recorded, only passed into memory.