The magic of the FA Cup is alive and well in English football but how have we fared in January FA Cup games over the past two decades? We’ve had good starts to our January FA Cup journey in the past; especially in 2006, where our journey all the way to the FA Cup Final in May began with a 2-1 win over Norwich in January.
The match had it all. A James Collins handball, a Robert Green howler (although one that occurred in a Norwich shirt) and goals from Hayden Mullins and Bobby Zamora. We didn’t make it easy, however. Our next cup fixture was an end-to-end game against Blackburn that saw six goals scored and us going behind in the fixture after just one minute.
Eventually, goals from Teddy Sheringham, Matthew Etherington, Bobby Zamora, and an own goal from the visitors put us on top to win 4-2. We went all the way to the FA Cup Final, where we were winning in injury time with just minutes to go in the game.
Naturally, it all fell apart, with Steven Gerrard scoring one of the FA Cup’s greatest goals to put paid to our dreams – and we went on to lose the final on penalties. You’d think being this close to greatness would act as a motivator for us in their following season, but no.
Unfortunately our so-close-we-could-almost-taste-it cup run wasn’t to be repeated in 2007. After beating Brighton 3-0 in our third round fixture, a lone Watford goal knocked us out in the following round. The following years waxed and waned for us in the FA Cup, with us largely playing a minimum of two FA Cup games in each January.
The trouble was, many of them included replays – and in 2010, 2012 and 2014, we didn’t even make it to the replay, getting dumped out in the first fixture to Arsenal, Sheffield Wednesday, and Nottingham Forest, respectively. Losses in replays against Manchester City in 2008 and Manchester United in 2013 didn’t leave a lot to be joyful about, until a replay in 2015 finally gave us something to celebrate.
A Tuesday night 2-2 FA Cup replay with Everton in January 2015 should not be going down as an all-time great, but this match gave rise to goalkeeping legend. We were evenly matched with each team taking the lead during the match, Everton having a man sent off, and us bringing the score level in the 113th minute.
Penalties couldn’t separate the two, and after the outfield players had all had a turn, the two keepers had to face each other in a battle of skills. Everton’s keeper saw his shot saved by the enigmatic Adrian San Miguel, who then knew the game was won if he could score a goal against his Everton counterpart.
As Adrian stepped up to the spot, the entirety of the Boleyn got on their feet and surged forward; you could have heard a pin drop on the pitch. Before Adrian ran up to the ball, he ripped his gloves off – making the statement that he would not need to get back in goal tonight.
He was right. He scored a perfect penalty, taking us into the fourth round of the FA Cup – and giving those lucky souls at Upton Park on a freezing Tuesday in January something to remember forever. You’d be forgiven for thinking that was our quota for drama in the FA Cup this year, but in the following game against Bristol City, we ended up in the rare and ridiculous position of being heavily fined for fielding their own player.
Striker Diafra Sakho was meant to be playing for Senegal for the African Cup of Nations, but a back injury meant he was unable to make the lengthy flight to arrive for the tournament. Instead, we reportedly had him laying down in the back of a limousine on the way to and from Bristol City, where he scored the winner for us to advance to the next round.
Bristol City complained; Senegal complained; and FIFA opted to fine West Ham £70,000 for daring to field their own player in the competition. Irons.Sadly, in this competition, there’s definitely been more lows than highs in our cabinet of recent memories.
Some of the highs are just recollections of high scorelines for other teams. Our 2017 FA Cup adventures will feel like a familiar nightmare to many, especially at the time of writing. We were drawn against that year’s eventual semi-finalists, and reasonably good football team, Manchester City.
They put just five goals past us on this occasion, most of them before half-time. We helped out slightly, with our very own Havard Nordtveit gifting them an own goal at the tail end of the first half. This was Pep Guardiola’s very first FA Cup game; a nice memory for him to have.
This wasn’t to be the only 5-0 drubbing to kick off (and end) our FA Cup runs with 2014 delivering the same scoreline at the hands of Nottingham Forest, with players you’ve never heard of getting all the goals. Just four days after the 2014 result, we played Manchester City in the League Cup, and – you really won’t believe this, you won’t – but they beat us 6-0. A terrible time to be alive, for all of us.
In January 2018 we should have done better, considering we had enough time for three FA Cup games. It’s not that the month was any longer in 2018, we just failed to be able to beat Shrewsbury in our third round game, and needed not just a replay, but extra time in a replay to finally score against the League One side.
Academy graduate Reece Burke was the player who finally managed to get the ball in the onion net. It was a sigh of relief, but any joy was short lived until the next round, when we lost 2-0 to Wigan Athletic. We were yet again embarrassed in the cup – but this time it wasn’t just the scoreline that brought shame.
Defender Arthur Masuaku absolutely lost his head in the 49th minute and spat at Wigan midfielder Nick Powell after a tackle, and was sent off immediately. Moyes later called Masuaku’s actions “despicable’; and the fans agreed, showing a great deal of frustration for his unsporting behaviour.
The following year, we found a way to be even more embarrassed when we lost 4-2 in a televised match against AFC Wimbledon. Everyone wanted a ticket to this one; or at least they did until the destruction started. The players stood there, shell shocked, steam emitting from their failing bodies as AFC Wimbledon kept scoring, over and over again.
The cameras picked their favourite hapless fans to zoom in on for reactions, over and over again. The shame impacted us all, but somehow manager Manual Pellegrini managed to hang on at the helm for another 12 months. It’s not a great CV for a football club who believe they are capable of better things, but we are quietly improving in our opening rounds of the FA Cup.
Since our embarrassment in south west London, we have made more of our New Year matches, winning all of our January FA Cup cup games in 2020 (beating Gillingham and West Brom), 2021 (beating Stockport and Doncaster), 2022 (Leeds United), and 2023 (Brentford and Derby).
Yes, the less said about 2024 the better, and yes, it helps drawing slightly lower league opposition, but that’s no guarantee that we will win, as AFC Wimbledon will be happy to remind us – so we may as well square up to the big boys.
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