The Road to Wembley The FA Cup

The FA Cup - it's got something

for everyone.

One last chance for glory, after a hard season.

The kind of glory that tastes so much better

when it's been a long time coming.

Of course, my friends, glory is in the eyes of the beholder.

And size isn't everything in this competition.

It's no illusion that tiny grounds transform into manic, buzzing arenas.

CHEERING

You see, every fan, every player, has dreams.

And for as long as their team is in the cup,

they dream of Wembley.

736 teams entered the competition,

with the Extra Preliminary Round way back in August last year.

Whittling them down is a time-consuming process -

shuffling the pack,

to reveal just one winner.

By the first round proper, in November,

there were just 80 - just! -

32 of them non-league clubs, the part-timers.

The lowest ranked were Warrington Town.

Warrington will be at home to Exeter City.

Warrington - it's a rugby league town in the North West,

surrounded by footballing powerhouses

in nearby Liverpool and Manchester. Would an FA Cup tie

with League 2 Exeter City grab the locals' attention?

You bet it would.

CHANTING

If you've ever wondered how, why or where

the cliches associated with the FA Cup come from,

there was a big clue at Cantilever Park, on a cold night in November.

It was pure magic.

With the smell of fried onions wafting over the ground,

there was an air of anticipation, as the locals got kitted out

and convinced themselves an upset was possible.

It's 11 v 11. You've got a chance of making history.

Warrington boss Shaun Reid needed no such convincing.

100 league places between them and Exeter, it may be,

but tonight they were equals.

COMMENTATOR: Four divisions between them, but for one night,

anything is possible.

CHANTING

CHEERING

It's in! Robinson!

What a start for Warrington Town!

Is there an end product?

Ooh, there nearly was!

It's unbelievable pressure from Exeter!

Somehow, Warrington survive. Off the line.

Well, what a game. What an atmosphere.

The FA Cup is at it again. Warrington Town,

100 places below Exeter City,

have a night they never, ever dreamt of -

a giant-killing to kick off the FA Cup first round.

In 90 minutes, normal working men had become heroes - giant-killers.

Warrington was no rugby league town that night

and they celebrated together.

Tell us about some of the heroes out there tonight, Shaun.

So many... Every one of them, pal,

died for me. Died for me. We'll go again.

Round one would also remind us of how the mighty have fallen.

2008 winners Portsmouth lost in a replay to non-league Aldershot.

And in the Midlands, 1987 winners Coventry City

faced Worcester City of the Conference North -

a team 65 places below them in the league ladder.

COMMENTATOR: Headed clear, but the shot for Geddes!

Sean Geddes doubles the lead for Worcester City!

RACHEL RILEY: Unadulterated joy. But could the cup run continue?

The Blues took League One Scunthorpe to a replay.

The tie was to be settled at Aggborough

on the last Wednesday before Christmas.

The sides were still level after extra time. 210 minutes of action

and the teams separated by 62 league places couldn't be separated.

A conundrum with only one answer - penalties.

Not just any penalty shoot-out,

this was the longest in the competition's history.

Miguel Llera had already missed an effort

that would have put Scunny through.

With the score tied at 13-13,

it was the Spaniard's turn to step up again.

And this time, he puts Scunthorpe United through,

with the 32nd penalty.

After two games, extra time and penalties, we had a winner,

but it was the sort of tie that neither team deserved to lose.

Hartlepool United will argue they didn't deserve to lose

in round two, either. They played non-league cup specialists

Blyth Spartans, a team, like so many at this level,

who juggle their football with proper jobs -

factory workers, publicans and paperboys, but all players.

Players who want to look sharp

on their big day in front of the cameras.

Is that OK? Lovely, thank you.

Someone tonight is going to be a hero,

just make sure that hero comes from this dressing room.

Good luck, lads. Come on!

Franks is there and Hartlepool are in front.

It's a deserved lead.

Turnbull. Oh, brilliant!

Brilliant goal by Steve Turnbull for Blyth Spartans.

The FA Cup was gripping and uniting people again.

For the Blyth fans, the emotions rose and fell in harmony,

as they watched the clock tick towards the 90th.

Harewood. Oh, now, has it crossed the line?

Harewood thought it had, but the officials say it hasn't.

Rivers for Blythe, can he win it here? Rivers, he can!

And Blyth Spartans have done it again.

The kid who works in his mother's newsagent has just

written his name across the back pages.

For the players and supporters, the realisation of the achievement

is only beginning to sink in and, as the celebrations unfolded,

there was a sense of friendships

being forged by an unforgettable experience.

Having gorged ourselves with food over Christmas,

the New Year sees us gorge ourselves with football,

as the festive fixture list bulges.

But among the many league fixtures,

one weekend stands out, as the FA Cup shifts up a gear.

This is where the big fish join the minnows.

Welcome to the draw for the third round of the FA Cup.

A packed audience awaited the live draw in the Hull Aquarium.

Just five non-league clubs remained, hoping to swim, not sink,

among football's elite.

Joined by 20 Premier League clubs in the hat,

what chance of a lucrative draw? YOU do the maths.

AFC Wimbledon are at home to Liverpool.

AUDIENCE: Oh!

Valentine's Day was six weeks away,

but there was still talk of romance.

This corner of South London ain't exactly Paris,

but trust me, nights like this are intimate, passionate and special.

Liverpool's trip to AFC Wimbledon threw up memories -

nostalgia, the famous 1988 cup-winning Crazy Gang.

The Crazy Gang, in its time, was different.

That kind of fits with me. You don't really see many players like me.

Up front for Wimbledon was Ade Akinfenwa.

Liverpool may have taken an early lead

but The Beast refused to be tamed.

Off the bar and put in by Akinfenwa! It's The Beast.

With the home crowd absolutely buzzing,

they probably thought it was too good to be true. They were right.

Another Gerrard goal won it for Liverpool, on the week

he announced he would be leaving his club at the end of the season.

Steven Gerrard scores his second of the night.

He writes his own scripts.

Of course, there were upsets. There always are. The biggest was

League One Sheffield United's victory at Queens Park Rangers.

Campbell-Ryce gets it back, still got it, he's fired the ball in.

QPR 0-3 Blades.

In the third round, however,

we yearn for fairytales and the fairytale

looked very much like continuing for Blyth Spartans.

Robbie Dale! 2-0!

Blyth Spartans are writing their name

all over this season's FA Cup.

Birmingham, however, had no care for fairy stories.

Thomas, again.

Blyth Spartans' brilliant FA Cup run ends in round three.

So, it was back to earth for the scorer of Blyth's brace, Robbie Dale.

He was at work the next morning, opening up his mum's pub.

Regardless of the result, you can always rely on a mother's pride

or, in case of Bolton debutant Zach Clough, a grandmother's pride.

'Jimmy, me face is burning up, we've been waiting 12 years for this.

'He's been with Bolton since he was eight years of age.

'Oh, I'm getting all upset now.'

Bolton were through to the next round

at the expense of local rivals Wigan.

Mavis found herself trending on Twitter.

Round three also saw a repeat of last year's final,

as Hull came to north London.

There was far less drama this time, which was fine by me.

Arsenal's maestros conducted, cajoled and played like this.

You see why we call it the beautiful game.

Sanchez can turn into space...

and go and win it.

A moment of brilliance...

and Arsenal are heading through.

The rest of the Premier League's big guns

also made it through comfortably,

but they weren't going to get it all their own way in round four.

I'm reminded of a quote from the film, The Usual Suspects.

"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world

"he didn't exist."

It was no trick, but Bradford had slipped through

the early rounds of the cup pretty much unnoticed.

At Stamford Bridge, that was about to change.

Chelsea, billionaire owner, superstars,

Premier League leaders, would-be champions.

No-one gave us a chance and, for a while,

it looked like they were right.

Chelsea 2-0 Bradford.

But like all great magic, there's a surprise...

..one moment of wide-eyed wonder.

Well, actually, four.

To Stead, who shoots!

It is 2-2! It's 2-2!

Everybody, calm down, my head's about to explode.

Bradford City 3-2 Chelsea!

What's Stead going to do with it?

Oh, my God! Oh, my God!

Is it actually real? Pinch me.

Bradford City have beaten the greatest team in the country

by 4 goals to 2.

HE LAUGHS

Even when you've been tricked,

you can still appreciate the magic.

I think this is the beauty of football,

where a much better team can lose. More possible to happen

in this competition, because the mentality of the small teams

is really special.

As Jose said, only in football can this happen.

Expecting the unexpected is all very well,

but you don't expect it to happen twice in the same day.

In East Manchester, the blue half,

City, like Chelsea, every inch a 21st-century footballing superpower.

Come on, boys. Come on, boys!

They faced Middlesbrough, a team who have soared in competition before

but have since fallen on harder times. On this Saturday afternoon,

the ambitious Championship side looked to spread their wings.

Bamford through the middle, Bamford found, Bamford brought down.

Advantage, goal, 2-0 Middlesbrough, they're going through,

Manchester City are out!

It's another wonderful story from the greatest competition of all.

City and Chelsea out.

Two huge upsets on the defining day in this year's FA Cup.

The other giant of Manchester, United, travelled to

League Two Cambridge.

The picturesque city, famed for its academic,

rather than footballing, prowess, was transformed as night fell.

The Abbey Stadium provided a backdrop and atmosphere

that would take the Premier League superstars

out of their comfort zone.

You wonder what the likes of Di Maria and Falcao made of it all.

This shouldn't have been a contest, but a contest it was,

and a Cambridge squad that cost precisely nothing

held one whose combined transfer fees were nearly ?200 million.

COMMENTATOR: Brilliant save.

Oh!

The whistle has gone and Cambridge United

are heading for an Old Trafford replay.

The Us deserved a replay, but their best opportunity

of making round five had gone. Back in familiar surroundings,

we won comfortably. It finished 3-0.

In another tie that went to a replay,

Liverpool required 176 minutes to break Bolton's defensive resolve.

The Wanderers' lead gone.

It was something rather special that broke their heart

a couple of minutes later.

COMMENTATOR: Coutinho!

What a special strike to win it for Liverpool.

This was Steven Gerrard's 700th appearance for Liverpool.

He'd celebrate his birthday on final day,

his last match for the Reds, if they made it that far.

A little prematurely, perhaps, people were beginning

to talk about this being his competition.

It couldn't happen again, could it? The TV guys didn't think so,

but over 24,000 Yorkshire men and women did.

The game against Sunderland was our biggest crowd in 50 years.

Bradford's players certainly believed and it didn't

take them long to prove us right.

COMMENTATOR: The ball's going into that mix-up,

Bradford City are at it again.

beats Mannone.

Massive goal for Bradford City.

Bradford City do it again.

The shock this time was it wasn't a shock.

Sunderland have a nasty habit

of losing to teams from lower divisions.

They could now focus on Premier League survival.

As for the Bantams, we were flying into the quarterfinals.

It couldn't happen again, could it?

In Boro's case, the TV guys thought it could.

After winning at Man City in round four,

they went to the Emirates, to face the holders,

hopeful of upsetting the odds again.

It was never going to happen. No, never.

Every player, every man, had a touch in the build-up to our first goal.

COMMENTATOR: Alexis Sanchez, lovely turn.

Welbeck, Santi Cazorla, oh, great, intelligent ball to Gibbs...

Brilliant goal. Olivier Giroud scores it.

That's a goal of rare quality.

Giroud's second sealed the deal nicely.

The competition was taking shape.

Arsenal, United, Liverpool and Villa,

all through.

There were underdogs. Bradford, of course, Reading and Blackburn,

who saw off Premier League Stoke City.

Josh King sent the Championship team into the quarterfinals of the FA Cup.

Like most places in Britain,

football is a huge part of community in the Midlands.

Around here, quite appropriately, you're all kinds of blue -

claret and blue, sky blue, white and Baggies blue or just blue...

and gold, I guess.

Anyway, whatever you are, your team is the talk on the streets,

at work, or wherever you choose to lubricate life's troubles.

Success can lift a community,

but there's not been much of that around here lately.

Actually...

it's been blue.

Really blue.

You wouldn't believe how quiet 40,000 fans can be,

if they're anxious, bored

or stripped of belief.

We began to get our belief back in the last round.

A new boss, a fresh start...

The deadlock is broken!

..and goals. Two of them.

Something felt different.

Villa are through. Is this a change in their fortunes?

And so, to another Midlands clash, in the quarterfinals.

After the darkest of winters, the sun was out, the mood was bright

and the players had a strut as they walked into Villa Park,

like a weight had been lifted from their shoulders.

The prize on offer was a trip to Wembley

and, of course, those precious local bragging rights.

What started with a dignified handshake

between the Villans and the Baggies became rather more ferocious.

Played to Delph, in space, and Villa lead!

Sinclair checks inside and shoots.

And scores and wins the tie.

It's all over, but what you're seeing there is not right

and has soured the day, I'm afraid.

Yes, some went too far, but I ask you not to judge

without giving thought to the context.

For the most part, these were joyous scenes,

fans of all ages and backgrounds

drunk on a cocktail of euphoria and relief.

This might just have been the best and the worst of the game

we love, summed up in a single moment. The sort of voyeurism,

vanity, passion and delight that only football can deliver.

It was the quarters and it was getting serious.

Bradford couldn't rely on the element of surprise any more.

They'd played their hand to perfection,

but now, their cards were on the table.

Suddenly, they were expected to win.

With all the hype, you'd be forgiven for forgetting

Reading were in the league above. The first game was not pretty.

The replay wasn't much prettier,

but I guess the Reading fans will disagree with me on that one.

Here come Reading once more.

Could fall for Jamie Mackie.

3-0.

It was quite a crazy time for us. My wife was overdue

with our third baby. The baby came

on Friday and we had the game on Monday.

It was a great time for me and the family.

Football and life intertwining again in the FA Cup

and, just like life, the competition moves on.

Could Blackburn join fellow Championship side Reading

in the last four?

Facing Liverpool, in Liverpool, it seemed unlikely, but not for

the first time in the competition, the Reds couldn't

break down a stubborn defence at Anfield

and, not for the first time in the competition,

they faced a replay in the North West.

COMMENTATOR: Nearly 30,000 here tonight,

to see if Blackburn can reach the cup semifinal.

And not for the first time in the competition,

the Reds were rescued by a bit of Brazilian magic.

Coutinho in behind here. Coutinho. 1-0, Liverpool!

And Liverpool Football Club are into the semifinal of the FA Cup.

There are two things that big clubs want from any draw -

a home tie and to avoid another big club.

We got half of that right in the quarterfinals.

Old Trafford - tick.

Arsenal - not so much.

They call it the Theatre of Dreams,

a stage that's been graced by greats of the game,

but the past don't count for much on nights like this -

even if it means more to some than others.

# We don't follow no crowd

# They follow us

# Don't follow no sound

# It follows us... #

Knockout football. Winner takes all.

Monreal...and that's 1-0, Arsenal.

Di Maria...on to Rooney!

Arsenal weren't in the lead for long.

The match was super-hyped, super-fast,

furious football that lived up to its big-time billing.

The irony was, it was settled by a guy United thought

wasn't big enough for them.

It's Danny Welbeck.

Welbeck, at Old Trafford, with a goal against Manchester United,

for Arsenal.

This is a club that's meant so much to me and they still do.

I'm a Man United fan and it's quite hard to knock them out of the cup.

Beating Man United was sweet. We now had Wembley

back in our sights.

The Gunners versus the Royals. A massive day out.

A day to wear your colours with pride, to smile,

laugh and enjoy the occasion.

But with so much at stake, you can feel the nerves kick in.

Performers, players, they need them to get up for the game.

As spectators, you're helpless, at the mercy of your team.

COMMENTATOR: Ozil, what can he create from here?

A little bit of room to pick out a great ball.

Sanchez, great feet, 1-0.

They've got to be on their toes here, Arsenal, nothing's won yet.

It's a goal!

Towards the near post and off the woodwork. Great header.

Still going, Chalobah.

Oh, Szczesny!

Tension from the start

and tension after 90 minutes,

for the fans watching and for the players,

whose aching muscles have to survive extra time.

Alexis Sanchez.

Federici has let it go through him and Arsenal are in front.

Oh, what an awful moment for a goalkeeper.

Hero to a villain in a second.

It's such a cruel game.

The hero in the second semi apparently writes his own scripts.

Steven Gerrard was eyeing up a final final in Liverpool red,

on his birthday, of all days.

The game against Villa started very much to script.

Coutinho, 1-0!

Scored the winner in the fourth round replay at Bolton

and in the sixth round replay at Blackburn,

and he gets one in the semifinal.

But Villa were revitalised, reincarnated, under Tim Sherwood...

..and they hadn't read the script.

Promising from Villa.

Benteke, 1-1!

And Liverpool's lead lasted six minutes. Game on!

A young Birmingham lad, unburdened by the past,

played as if he was on the local rec -

a performance Gerrard himself would have been proud of.

Here's Grealish,

into Fabian Delph, onto his right foot,

and scores! Aston Villa ahead.

The FA Cup semifinal has been turned on its head.

Fantastic play from Grealish.

Villa victorious.

Make no mistake, this was a shock

to him, to them and, if we're honest, even to us.

So, Aston Villa face Arsenal in the final.

Not the script many predicted, maybe,

but if the FA Cup was predictable,

we wouldn't love it as we do.

What a sight! 90,000 fans descending on the home of football.

This match is the culmination of a journey the players of

Arsenal and Aston Villa have been on all of their lives.

This is the end of the road.

Wembley. Glory awaits.

Arsenal against Aston Villa.

The 735th tie in this season's FA Cup,

which began way back in August.

Good leap from Sanchez...

Walcott!

Sanchez...

Oh, Sanchez has scored an absolute beauty!

That was unstoppable,

and so, it seems, are Arsenal.

In from Santi Cazorla. It's Mertesacker!

All over now for Tim Sherwood's Villa.

Got to watch Giroud!

And Giroud has tapped in a fourth.

The final flourish from the Gunners.

Record-breaking Arsenal's cup,

for ever Arsenal's cup.

Arsenal do it again.

# Oh, the people hold their breath

# Keeping it in, waiting for a sign... #

We're in awe of the superstars.

We delight in the magic.

# There will never be another

# Day for us to be... #

So, you see, it's simple.

In the FA Cup, there's a bit of something for everyone.

# And we'll for ever be

# And we'll for ever be... #