The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 12

THE GUARDIAN Monday May 20 1991 3 FA Cup, at Wembley: Nottingham Forest 1, Tottenham Hotspur 2 (aet; 1-1 after 90 minutes) 12 SPORTS NEWS David Lacey had two men sent off at home to Luton and he scored both goals in a 2-1 win. At Wembley, no longer inhibited by the need to channel most movements through Gascoigne, Stewart, Allen and Samways set up a superior pattern of passing and movement Tottenham played similar rhythms to Forest but they played them in a major key. The quality of the football in the 1991 final satisfied most people. To the overall pleasure of the spectacle were added paradox, irony, and controversy not a bad mix to set before an assortment of princes, princesses, dukes, duchesses, prime ministers and would-be prime ministers. Before Tottenham picked up the Cup, moreover, they had to endure not only the loss of Gascoigne but an offside decision straight from the Italia '90 school of flag-happy folly which denied Lineker a legitimate goal midway through the first half, and a missed penalty by the England captain a few minutes later after Crossley had brought him down.

The spirit shown by Tottenham in adversity can only have been born of a season's experi IHE day Paul kissed a prin- Ucess ana cruwu was also the day Tottenham Hotspur became a iootball club again, achieving a record eighth FA Cup triumph by denying Brian Clough his first, Spurs reestablished a set of values which will surely pnrinvn inUn 2o97amiinifl hge disappeared into the history of 1 nyiie, along wiui hum uuups and Madonna's bras. The immediate financial effects of Saturday's victory are anybody's guess, but it is safe to say that Des Walker, whose own goal in extra-time dispatched the Cup to White Hart Lane, has never scored a more significant goal in his life; safe because he has yet to score one at the right end. Tottenham remain anything between 18 million and 23 million in debt, the Midland Bank is pressing for its money and the club are still under pressure to sell their best players. By winning the Cup, however, Spurs may have bought themselves some time. They will now join Manchester United in next season's European Cup Winners' Cup, which could earn them as much as 3 million.

Set against the amount they owe, this figure is trifling, but after Saturday their debt looks more secure. How ironic, therefore, that having endured a season of creditors, predators, speculators, scavengers and scallywags Spurs should win the game's oldest prize having been deprived of their most liquid asset. Only Gascoigne could kiss the hand of Princess Diana and, within the hour, find himself abed with Princess Grace. As the hospital of that name prepared to welcome back one si i oi lis more disongiusiieu patients, the mercenary machinery moving Gascoigne ever closer to the cash fountains of Rome could have been forgiven for blowing a gasket Lazio will not pay 8 million for a footballer with a dodgy knee, still less for one with a dodgy head. Given the mood he was in, Gascoigne's greatest contribution to Tottenham's victory was to depart on a stretcher just past the quarter-hour, having damaged knee ligaments perpetrating his second grotesque foul of the afternoon.

One Paul the net through a hole in the wall created by Glover's shove on Mabbutt photograph: frank baron point of view of team selection, strategy and tactics he was completely upstaged by the Spurs manager. How Forest must have wished they had had Jemson available as an extra striker once the effect of Howells's shadowing of Nigel Clough became apparent. This would have been possible had Laws begun the match at right-back instead of Charles, whose inexperience showed. During the first half-hour the Scottish Cup, at Hampden Parks Dundee United 3, Motherwell 4 (aet; 3-3 after 90 minutes) Well take the Cup to leave United high and dry the match, at a time when it seemed that Maxwell was ready to keel over without help from anyone. The goalkeeper's contribution climaxed in a barely credible save from Maurice Malpas in extra-time.

Iain Ferguson had headed Motherwell into the lead, only for David Bowman to equalise with a shot which Maxwell would surely have stopped had he been fully mobile. Phil O'DonneU, the Patrick Glenn DUNDEE UNITED's romance with Europe, not so much a fling as an addiction, has finally been broken off after 15 consecutive years. They took their leave by way of a mesmerising Scottish Cup final. It will at least console their manager Jim McLean that their place will be taken by Over and in Spurs' players having left the scene, Spurs found inspiration in two more, Stewart and Allen. Now that he has a bit of time on his hands, Gascoigne might enjoy a light read.

He could do worse than consider the following: "Whatever you do, don't commit yourself to a tackle too early Always stand up nice and straight, keep yourself solid Try to come out of the tackle with a bit of style and panache These words appear in Soccer his brother Tommy's Motherwell, venturing into European competition for the first time in their 95-year history. It was the little man's one "selfish as he put it, to hope to become the first manager to lead the club into Europe, although even he could not have imagined the manner in which his wish would be fulfilled. As the marvellous 57,319 crowd only the drizzle and threateningly dark clouds the year they last played in the First Division. "We've given ourselves a chance, said the manager, Barry Lloyd. Millwall were one up in 14 minutes.

One could hardly accuse Stefan Iovan, the Romanian central defender who was making a belated debut for Brighton after arriving at the club in March, of lacking experience of important occasions; after all, he captained Steaua Bucharest to the European Cup in 1986, But, having halted a Millwall attack, he cleared straight to Paul Stephenson, who drove the ball into the corner of Digweed's net from 25 yards. Brighton soon had a chance to reply when Walker was sent clear by Barham's early ball. ence. Gascoigne's skills might have been missed but his replacement by Nayim gave Spurs a better balance with which to pull Forest apart at the back. Nine minutes into the second half quick passes by Nayim and Allen found Stewart striding into the penalty area on the right to score with great assurance.

Snurs had lost the 1987 final to Coventry in extra-time after McGraths cross-shot had hit Mabbutt's leg and ricocheted out of Clemence's reach. Now Walker supplied one last ironic twist by intercepting Nayim's corner, which Stewart had nodded on, ahead of Mabbutt and deflecting it into his own net. But whither venables The manager takeover bid remains on hold but his great est talent is organising football teams and it has just won him his first major honour in English football. A season in Europe beckons. Most managers would consider this a funny time to be contemplating a change of role.

SCORERS: Nottingham Forest: Pearce (ISmln). Tottenham Hotspur: Stewart (54), Walker (og S3). Nottingham Forst Crossley; Charles, Pearce, Walker, Chettle. Keane. Crosby, Parker, Clough, Glover (Laws, 107), Woan IHodaa.

61). Tottenham Hotspur: Thorstvedt; Edinburgh, Van den Hauwo, Sedgley, Howells, Mabbutt, Stewart, Gascoigne (Nayim, 17), Samways (Walsh, 81), Lineker, Allen. Rafersw Mlllord (Bristol). ing the winner from only two yards out after Alan Main failed to hold Davie Cooper's corner. Observers were left breathless; United were left with nothing.

SCORERS: Dundoe United: Bowman (55min), O'Neil (67). Jackson (89). Motherwell: Ferguson (32), O'Oonnell (58), Angus (65). Kirk (94). Dundee United: Main; Clark, Malpas, Mclnally, Krlvokapic, Bowman, Van der Hoorn, McKinnon (McKinlay, 67), French, Ferguson (J O'Neil, h-t).

Jackson. Motherwell: Maxwell; Nijholt. Boyd, Griflin, Paterson, McCart, Arnott. Angus, Ferguson (Kirk, 62), O'Oonnell, Cooper (O'Neill, 118). Referee: Syme (Rutherglen).

balance season, past Felgate to make up for his earlier miscue from the best chance of the match. Philliskirk replied on the hour after the referee penalised Kearney's less robust challenge on Thompson. It was Philliskirk's 27th goal of the season. Bolton will hope that his supply has not dried up and that they can thus avoid successive play-off failures; that fate, however, faces one team or the other. Bury: Kelly: Bishop, Stanislaus, Robinson, Valentine, Greenall, Lee, Sheron, Hulme (Maugo, 65mln), Parkinson, Kearney.

Bolton Wanderere: Felgate; Brown. Cowdrill, Comstlve, Seagravos, Stubbs (Green, 73), Storer, Thompson, Cunningham, Philliskirk, Darby. Referee: Don (Middlesex). linesman and gesticulated his annoyance with his hand. Whether the player's first and second fingers were extended at this point was hard to see but the referee thought so and showed him the red card.

Consistent with their dominance, Blackpool went ahead on 57 minutes, Rodwell scoring with a cracking shot. But despite being one man short Scunthorpe increased their work-rate and equalised on 77 minutes with a turn and shot from Lillis. He was not wearing baggy shorts but he does have a centre parting. Scunthorpe: Musselwhlte; Longden, Lillis, Hlne (Hamilton, 67mln). Hicks, Lister, Joyce, Hill, Dawa, Flounders, Taylor.

Blaefcpoolr Mcllhargey; Davles, Wright, Groves, Briggs, Gore, Rodwell, Horner, Taylor, Garner, Eyres. Referee: Elleray (Harrow). Third Division: Bury 1, Bolton Wanderers 1 Bolton keep their Play-offs, first leg: Second Division: Brighton and Hove Albion 4, Millwall 1 Seagulls rise to the occasion as Pearce's fierce free-kick finds tenham net via the gap in the "wall" left by Glover's shove on Mabbutt, Gascoigne, who had twisted a knee as he hacked at Charles, collapsed in a lachrymose heap of pain and frustration and was borne out of the arena with a blanket over his head. No one did more than Gascoigne to take Tottenham to the final and nobody did less to help them win it. All told, it was not a good day for the sporting media's icons.

Brian Clough walked out for And there may be more to come when, as seems likely, Jim Mclnally is disciplined by the Scottish Football Association for a fit of temper after the final whistle when he hurled a boot in the direction of the referee, David Syme. Mclnally's frustration may have been understandable because Syme's performance did not come up to the players'. But Motherwell had far more reason to use him for 4-1 as Small's switched pass in side allowed Codner, who was rejected by Millwall as a youngster, to score unhindered. Walker left the field soon after the hour with a suspected broken left arm in a tumble against the hoarding. With Byrne recovering trom a cartilage operation, Brighton's forward resources look scarce.

Bruce Rioch, however, was under no illusions about the task facing Millwall. "We've got a mountain to climb," the manager said. "But that's what mountains are there for." Brighton: Oigweed; Chivers, Gatting, Wllkins, Pates, Blssett, Barham, Iovan, Small, Codner, Walker (Robinson, 64min). MIHwalb Home; Stevens, Dawes, Waddock (Briley, 54; McCarthy, 89), Thompson, McLeary, Stephenson, Goodman, Sheringham, Rae, Kerr. Referee: Hackett (Sheffield).

society had missed, suddenly snoozed. Hendrie's cross led to an unseemly scramble and the fullback Phillips equalised from close range. Johnson should have wrapped the game up in the second half, but he twice shot wide after the home defence had been comprehensively undone and Middlesbrough emerged with a thin lifeline they hardly deserved. Middlesbrough: Dibble; Cooper (Mustoe, 53mln), Phillips, Kernaghan, Coleman, Putney, Slaven, Proctor, Baird, Hendrie, Ripley (Mowbray, 69). Hons County: Cherry; Palmer, Paris, Craig Short, Chris Short, O'Riordan, Harding (Thomas, 87), Turner.

Regis, Draper, Johnson. Referee: Ward (London). receive bad news on the turn Skills with Gazza. Nowhere in this worthy tome is it suggested that the tackier implants a set of studs on his opponent's sternum, which was Gascoigne's greeting to Parker in the opening minute. Nor does it recommend the trimming of players at the knees just outside your own penalty area when the opposition possess one of the strongest takers of free-kicks in the game.

After Pearce's thunderbolt had found the back of the Tot that arrived in the west of Scotland a couple of hours before kick-off reduced the numbers below the capacity of 61,000 streamed out of the decrepit old ground, they seemed hardly to know how to begin to discuss the match. Quite apart from the extraordinary number of goals this was the highest-scoring Scottish Cup final since Celtic's 6-1 demolition of Hibernian in 1972 there were other dramatic incidents. But the winger dithered and Home smothered the ball. Five minutes from the break, however, the equaliser arrived as Digweed's towering kick caught Millwall's defence on the turn. Thompson, running towards his own goal, hunched his head into his shoulders like a wary tortoise and the ball bounced off the back of his neck to Barham, who dispatched it.

It seemed a momentary aberration. But after 53 minutes Dawes slipped in passing back to his goalkeeper and Small strode through to put the home side ahead. Three minutes later Small headed Pates's clearance into Walker's path and this time the former Chelsea man made no mistake. Within four minutes it was County's goal. His forward pass was flicked on by Regis, and Turner advanced to score easily by chipping over Dibble.

Middlesbrough continued to press forward, but unconvinc-ingly. Ripley faded and eventually limped off, and Hendrie, once such a potent player with Bradford City, showed why Leeds had let him go. Time and again he squirmed into useful positions only for his final ball to rum everything. Nevertheless he did provide the cross that kept this play-off alive. County, who had marked Ripley, Baird and Hendrie diligently, with O'Riordan scooping up anything his back four consistent width that Crosby and Woan were giving Forest promised them more rewards than Tottenham's policy of playing Lineker alone up front.

In fact, had Thorstvedt not denied Crosby a goal after 24 minutes, both Cloughs might even now be tasting the fruits of victory. The rest of the game belonged more and more to Tottenham. Stewart's qualities as a midfield player had emerged shortly before Christmas, when Spurs again prodigy in midfield, restored the lead with his first goal for the club and Ian Angus made it 3-1 before United again capitalised on Maxwell's infirmity. John O'Neil's close-range header was followed in the dying seconds by Darren Jackson's equaliser, which would certainly have been prevented by a fit goalkeeper. Steve Kirk maintained his remarkable record as a redeemer-substitute by head death second leg at Burnden Park on Wednesday.

There could hardly have been a more evenly balanced match, with neither team able to produce the attacking flair needed to break down a grudging defence. Bury had an edge in individual performances, with the right-back Bishop, the outside-right Lee and the defender Valentine outstanding. Bolton failed to translate their early confidence into goals and had to claw themselves back after conceding a penalty in the 42nd minute. Lee was fouled by Stubbs, and the perky winger hammered the spot-kick, his 16th goal of the games at home, a club record. They should have won yesterday, too, for their football was far too inventive for Scunthorpe, committed but confounded and without Steve Lister for 70 minutes after he was controversially sent off.

The ebb and flow of the Seasides' season has been quite startling. On December 1, when Billy Ayre breezed in as manager, they were sixth from bottom. Five defeats in 30 games later they entered the final Saturday of the normal League season in second position; however, defeat by Walsall dropped them into the play-offs. They were on top yesterday even before Lister's dismissal. Involved in a rare home attack, he was ruled offside by the his first FA Cup final wearing a Nottingham Forest rosette; surely he needed no reminding whose side he was on.

He proceeded to sit through events as if in a trance, showing barely a flicker of reaction to the fluctuations of one of the competition's better finals. At the end of 90 minutes, as Terry Venables was on the pitch engaged in an urgent tactical reappraisal, Clough stayed on the Forest bench looking like Queen Victoria. From the target practice for his astonishing leniency when John Clark, the burly United defender, made two outrageous challenges on Ally Maxwell. The goalkeeper ended in a Glasgow hospital on Saturday night and returned there for further observation last night after a day at home. Clark's first charge, heavy and late in the 50th minute, left Maxwell clearly in pain, holding his ribs.

The chal lenge was repeaiea late in Burnley beached as tempers flare at Torquay BURNLEY'S defender David Hamilton was sent on and nine men were hnnkprl in a fuirl.tomnn. -VH4LCU Fourth Division play-off at iorquay. Goals from Edwards and fciiiott established a 2-0 first-leg lead for the home side, but tha ronl drama rantnul on the Hampshire referee ooaa martin. He booked four players from each side plus Burnley's manager Frank Casper for touchline coaching. He also sent off Hamilton in the 78th minute for a late tackio on Holmes.

By then Edwards's 17th SOal nf the cpnsnn hail otvnn Torquay the lead. Elliott's second, in the 83rd minute, leaves Burnley with a mighty task in the second leg. The result ensured a week. end of celebration in the Howells family since Gareth, the Tnmilnv raialkeenei ia the brother of the Spurs midfielder David Howells. Tranmere Rovers, who loot last year's Third Division play-off final to Notts Countv.

lnnk llkelv tn ant a record for Wembley appear ances insiae iz months. Yesterday's 2-2 draw at Brent. ford keeps them on course for the fourth trip to the twin towers: thnv rlefenrl the land Daf Cup against Bir- nungnam next sunaay. Onlv a lnQt.mlnnte nnnalla er by Godfrey yesterday pre vail u.n mem returning to Merseyaide with a win. Two goals from Cooper his first since signing from Barnsley for 100.nnn In December linrl nvai4iitmAil Ifirano'a ion.

minute opener for Brentford. Derek Potter EVERYONE was on Sunday-best behaviour yesterday when a posse of Bolton fans even mingled happily with home supporters at one end of Gigg Lane, reviving hopes that there may be a new wave of goodwill in the game. There was, however, plenty to get steamed up about with three players booked, lucky escapes for others and both sides scoring from penalties. It was always more of a professional grind than a passionate derby and the fireworks will surely come in the sudden- Fourth Division: Scunthorpe 1, Blackpool 1 Room for manoeuvre and the Ayre off finalists Mike Rowbottom WHATEVER drama the Brighton Festival is staging surely pales in comparison with recent offerings at the Goldstone Ground. Last week, Brighton scraped into the Second Division playoffs thanks to a last-minute free-kick; yesterday, in the first leg of their semi-final, they fell behind and then scored more goals than they had managed in their previous seven games, producing three in seven minutes soon after half-time.

Barring calamity in Wednesday's return leg at The Den, the Seagulls are back at Wembley for the first time since they lost the FA Cup final replay in 1983, Middlesbrough 1, Notts Confident start Stephen Blertoy FOREST'S Saturday sorrow gave way to County's Sunday uplift. With this draw at Ayresome Park, Neil War-nock's team took a long stride towards the play-off finals at Wembley from which they hope to join their neighbours in the First Division. The confidence of their supporters would be even higher today had Phillips not scrambled a late equaliser, but it is not easy to see County throwing away a season's hard work at their Meadow Lane ground on Wednesday. County 1 suggests a County set for higher Martin Thorpe BLACKPOOL were last at Wemhlev so lone aeo that baggy shorts there were not a Rut ttipv left them- ltmc with pnnnpn rnnm for ae" o-- manoeuvre after yesterday first leg at acumnorpe anu even a pair of draws may be enough pe them in the Fourth Div ision play-off final. An away goal, which will count double if Wednesday's him leu enrls ft-O.

is one -o reason why the famous tanger ine snittS 100K set tor uieir uni appearance under the twin fiinre Ktanlnv Matthews won the Cup final 38 years ago. Another reason is that Blackpool have won their last 13 Hard work is County's strong suit. Middlesbrough matched them for effort but showed, particularly in the first half, the inadequate finishing that cost them so dear on their recent return to the First Division. Hendrie headed tamely wide from Ripley's cross before Turner gave County the lead, and Slaven wasted an even better chance, Ripley again the provider. Baird, Middlesbrough's Player of the Year, had a frustrating afternoon, never unshackling himself from Craig Short This frustration was made all the worse when the same Short moved out of defence to set up.