Gould recalls Wimbledon's FA Cup win, 20 years on

"We were the Cinderellas of the FA Cup," says Bobby Gould, recalling Wimbledon's surprise victory over Liverpool in the 1988 FA Cup final.

The long-ball tactics and uncompromising approach of the self-styled Crazy Gang did not endear them to purists but, as the 20th anniversary of that triumph approaches, Wimbledon's story seems fairy-tale stuff.

On May 14, 1988, 11 years after entering the Football League, a Wimbledon side who had just completed their second top-flight campaign, overcame Kenny Dalglish's league champions 1-0 thanks to Lawrie Sanchez's first-half header and Dave Beasant's penalty save from John Aldridge in the second period.

The key, according to then manager Gould, was a unique style which he and assistant Don Howe had inherited from predecessor Dave Bassett - "When we went there we didn't tell them how they were going to play, they told us" - and which featured a pivotal threat from set-pieces.

"For the winning goal against Liverpool, Wisey (Dennis Wise) curls it in, Sanchez gets a near-post header and all you can see is red shirts...they couldn't defend it," Gould said in a telephone interview.

"It might sound silly, but 20 years on Brazil are copying Wimbledon with the way that they put curled balls into the near post, from the right side with the left foot and vice versa," continued Gould.

"Everybody is copying us now - even the Manchester Uniteds."

Wimbledon were a team defined by their mental toughness, Gould said. "They were all leaders - Beasant, (Alan) Cork, Sanchez, (John) Fashanu, (Vinnie) Jones. We were a force to be reckoned with and we believed in the style that we played."

Some of their methods tended towards the controversial, as was evident in the build-up to the final.

Gould, 61, tells how he "slipped the groundsman a few bob" to secure an extra Wembley training session. He also remembers putting the dressing-room clock back two minutes to leave Liverpool waiting in the Wembley tunnel before kick-off.

"The FA have got their rules but you can tweak them a little bit, just don't tell anyone till 20 years later."

He also recalled his remedy for the players' night-before nerves. "Don and I looked at each other and he said: 'Come on, let's relax them'. I said: 'There's 100 quid, get down the Bunch of Grapes and have a lager. Don't have a pint, just half-pints'."

Yet Gould maintains the side were "ultra-professional" and cites the hour Wise and Cork spent hitting Aldridge-style spot kicks at Beasant on the eve of the final.

"They would put the ball on the spot, go up, take the two steps, check, sidefoot, go to Beasant's left. They rehearsed it time after time after time. And what happens in the second half? The tackle by Clive Goodyear on John Barnes and penalty given - it wasn't a penalty, I still say that to this day - but Aldridge went up, check, sidefoot, Dave goes left, penalty saved, job done."

It was the first penalty save in a Wembley Cup final.

The spirit of 1988 seems to have suffused this season's FA Cup also, the surprise element returning to football's oldest saga with Cardiff, the club Gould managed briefly in 2000, bidding to become the first winners from outside the top flight in 28 years when they meet Portsmouth in Saturday's final.