May 7 – Everton Back From the Brink

WHEN it comes to cup finals at Wembley in 1966, it’s only natural that one’s mind heads straight for England’s finest moment. Don’t tell Geoff Hurst and the boys, but the best final that the twin towers hosted that summer came today, when Everton took on Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup.

The Toffeemen were under the stewardship of former Wednesday boss Harry Catterick and cruised to Wembley without conceding a single goal, making them strong favourites to pick up the trophy for the third time.

Showing as much regard for the formbook as he Chelsea team did to Norwegian ref Tom Ovrebo last night, the Yorkshire side went 2-0 up with just over half an hour left to play and it looked like an upset was on the cards.

Wednesday’s second goal appeared to wake up the Merseysiders, as Mike Trebilcock bagged a quick-fire brace to draw his side level.

In case both sides pressing for a winner wasn’t entertaining enough, the Wembley crowd were then treated to one of English football’s best pitch invaders. Eddie Cavanagh has gone down in Goodison folklore, as the over-excited Everton fan darted around the pitch, showing more twists and turns than Stanley Matthews.

Commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme took relish in describing Cavanagh’s slaloming of various policemen and stewards, especially when one of the hapless policemen grabbed the invader’s coat, only to be left with it in his hands as Cavanagh gave him the slip. When the long hand of the law finally caught up with Eddie, Wolstenholme exclaimed: “And a great tackle, almost on the line”, which, if not for a few famous words a couple of months later, might have been his most famous piece of commentary.

Everton player Brian Labone (famous for once claiming that “One Evertonian is worth 20 Liverpudlians.”) had previously played football with Cavanagh, so asked the police to go easy on him. Urban legend has it that Cavanagh was such a staunch Blue that he even refused to have tomato sauce in his house and when he died it saw one of the biggest ever funerals on Merseyside.

Meanwhile, away from the distractions, there was a Cup Final to be won. Trebilcock had a several chances to complete his hat-trick, but it was Derek Temple that smashed home the winner with 16 minutes remaining, and Everton’s incredible comeback was complete.

See some glorious Pathe footage of the final below where you can marvel at the old-timer commentary and packed-out Wembley Stadium. For more north-west celebrations taking place today click here and join us tomorrow for the next installment of footballing history.