Port Vale 1-1 Arsenal, 1998
Port Vale 1-1 Arsenal: the Valiants are desperately unlucky as they take Arsenal to a penalty shootout after it finishes 1-1 in normal time.
Match details: Port Vale 1-1 Arsenal, FA Cup third round replay, January 14th 1998
onevalefan report:
This was another game that will live long in the memory of Vale fans, despite the result. Over 210 minutes, the Valiants had held the mighty Arsenal only to lose-out in the shoot-out lottery.
The first leg was a monumental defensive display as the Vale backline remained solid for a clean sheet. And so to Vale Park…
At the “Wembley of the North” Vale once again kept a clean sheet for ninety minutes and it took a sublime strike from Dennis Bergkamp (for my money, the best opposition goal I have seen) to break the deadlock on 100 minutes.
But still Vale were not done. Ainsworth, who never stopped running, swept the ball in for Wayne Corden to score the most famous goal of his Vale career.
And now, it was all down to penalties… unfortunately in the lottery Vale missed out, but regardless of the ultimate disappointment, this is a Vale display that will live long in the memories of those who were there.
One final thought: this game was held during the reign of Bill Bell. The official attendance was given as fourteen and a half thousand, yet I have never seen so many people crammed into Vale Park. To my eye it looked more like twenty thousand.
Result : Port Vale 1-1 Arsenal
After extra time (0-0 after 90 mins), Arsenal win 4-3 on penalties
Scorers: Bergkamp 100, Corden 118
Port Vale: Musselwhite, Hill, Tankard, Bogie, Aspin, Snijders, Ainsworth, Porter, Talbot, Naylor, Corden
Subs: Mills (Naylor 87), Foyle (Talbot 101), Van Heusden, Glover, Stokes
Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Winterburn, Keown, Bould; Vieira, Hughes, Parlour, Overmars; Bergkamp, Wright
Subs: Grimandi (Vieira 75), Anelka (Wright 84), Boa Morte (Overmars 90), Upson, Manninger
Attendance: 14,964