Liverpool v Manchester City FA Cup 5th Round Replay 1955/56

 LIVERPOOL 1 CITY 2

FA Cup 5th Round Replay

22nd February 1956

attendance 57,520

Scorers City Hayes, Dyson Liverpool Arnell

Ref Mervyn Griffiths

City Trautmann, Leivers, Little, Barnes, Ewing, Paul, Spurdle, Hayes, Clarke, Dyson, JohnstoneLiverpool Underwood, Molyneux, Moran, Saunders, Hughes, Twentyman, Payne, Arnell, Liddell, Evans, A'Court

From TRAUTMANN THE BIOGRAPHY by Alan Rowlands ...The Liverpool club were pushing hard for promotion from the 2nd Division and theirpassionate crowd were capable of lifting them to stirring performances, with their idol Billy Liddell at the peak of his form. Liverpool scored the opening goal, Hayes and Dyson gave City the lead, while Trautmann frustrated Liverpool and the Kop with some exceptional agility. The referee blew the whistle just as Liverpool were mounting a last furious attack. Trautmann, most of the players and certainly the crowd did not hear it. Liddell pushed the ball past Trautmann and turned in triumph. Bert in despair, was about to retrieve the ball from the netting when Roy Paul ushered his players to leave the field. Somewhat mystified, Bert rushed off with his team while the LIverpool players surrounded Mervyn Griffiths, the referee, when they discovered, to their absolute horror, the goal did not count. Bertb was delighted with Pauly's presence of mind in dragging his players off the pitch quickly. They speedily departed for home leaving the Anfield club to seethe away at the considered injustice.

 ADAPTED FROM AN ARTICLE BY CHRIS MCLOUGHLIN, PUBLISHED IN THE LIVERPOOL PROGRAMME 25TH JANUARY 2012

 The replay was held on a Wednesday afternoon at a snowy Anfield - Liverpool's groundsman had  to paint the lines blue and sand the six yard boxes so the game could go ahead. ...Thousands turned away at Anfield’ said the headline in the ECHO and those locked out missed a game that had everyone thinking City's name must be on the cup. Both teams wore black armbands in memory of Liverpool chairman Will Harrop, who had died stiddenly a day  earlier, and both had chances to open the scoring in the first half, which they didn’t take. Alan Arnell finally broke the deadlock in the 52nd minute when Evans headed Geoff Twentyman’s free kick into his path and he side·footed it past Trautmann. A cup shock was on the cards, if indeed there were cards for a cup shock to be on. City, however, had other ideas and it was their Scottish centre-forward. Bobby Johnstone who proved to be the difference. After being awarded a free-kick when Liverpool’s John Molyneux slipped in the snow and forced Roy Clarke "to somersault over his prone body’ Johnstone managed to "escape the clutches" of Roy Saunders, possibly ala Penelope Pitstop and the Hooded Claw, and crossed for Jack Dyson to equalise. City forward Dyson was dangerous in the box, a phrase he was well used to given he also played county championship cricket for Lancashire. Then came the controversy. Johnstone teed up Joe Hayes in the 89th minute to put City ahead, but Liverpool went straight dowm the Kop end and created one final chance. The ball fell to Liddell and he slotted it past Trautmann just as referee Mr B Griffiths was blowing the full-time whistle on the halfway line. The goal was chalked off, provoking outrage inside Anfield. Griffiths was confronted in his dressing room by journalists at full-time and produced his pocket watch, presumably from his pocket. The official, in his final year of refereeing, claimed he had added no injury time on whatsoever, but that his watch showed 45 minutes and 15  seconds because he only stopped it after allowing Liddell, who didn’t hear the whistle, to shoot. Liverpool’s players were fuming, but it made no difference. Their hopes of a quarter-final tie against Everton had vanished.

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