Wednesday 28 October 2015 10:49, UK
Arsenal's trip to Sheffield Wednesday in the Capital One Cup fourth round on Tuesday evokes memories of the Gunners' 2-1 win in the 1993 League Cup final. Here, we recall that day at Wembley with Steve Morrow and Chris Waddle - two men who lined up on opposite sides…
Twenty-eight places separate Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday ahead of Tuesday's game at Hillsborough, but back in 1993 they were rather more evenly matched. They had finished fourth and third respectively in the previous season, and there was little between them when they met in the League Cup final at Wembley in April that year.
George Graham's Arsenal had overcome Crystal Palace in the semi-finals, while Trevor Francis' Wednesday had advanced at the expense of Blackburn. On a sunny afternoon in north London for the final, it was the Owls who started brightest, with Paul Warhurst volleying against the post before midfielder John Harkes beat David Seamen with a powerful finish from the edge of the box in the eighth minute.
Former Wednesday midfielder Chris Waddle remembers it well. "That's what you want, to get the first goal to settle you down a bit," he tells Sky Sports. "But with Arsenal you always knew what they were about. They were a very dogged and a very honest, strong side. We knew that whether you scored in the 1st or 90th minute, they were always capable of turning it around."
Sure enough, Arsenal battled back from the early setback. Utility man Steve Morrow - who infamously broke his arm in the celebrations that followed - became the unlikely hero when he scored what turned out to be the winning goal from close-range following Paul Merson's first-half equaliser.
He recalls the days leading up to the game. "George had pulled me aside a few days before and told me I was going to be starting," he says. "We had a good week of preparation for that game and George was very much opposition analysis focused. Sheffield Wednesday had a talented team in those days, a good midfield, with players like Chris Waddle and John Sheridan, so we were very much focused on what we would do to stop them playing."
The plan worked. "Arsenal didn't play great, but they stopped us playing and they got the result," conceded Waddle. "They ground the result out and that's what you used to associate Arsenal with then. Their chant was '1-0 to the Arsenal' - that's what they were built on. Looking back, we probably would have enjoyed playing Arsene Wenger's Arsenal more than George Graham's Arsenal."
Morrow's goal, which came after Wednesday failed to clear a Merson cross, was one of only three in 87 appearances for Arsenal, and he remembers Graham urging him to push forward at half-time. "I didn't score many goals, especially not with my right foot either," he says, with a smile. "George had said to me at half-time, 'there are opportunities for you to get forward, so by all means take the chance'."
So how did it feel to score the winner? "Amazing," he says. "My thoughts for the next 20 minutes were, 'please, hang on'. We fought hard. It was backs against the wall for the last 15 or 20 minutes. We had to defend very well. To score a winning goal in a game like that was an amazing feeling that I'll never forget."
The ecstasy turned to agony shortly after the final whistle, however, when Tony Adams hoisted Morrow onto his shoulders before dropping him and breaking his arm. "What can I say about that incident?" says Morrow, who is now Arsenal's head of youth recruitment.
"I look back on the game and I remember the positive aspects, the winning goal, getting the winners' medal from it eventually, but it was just a bizarre incident and a painful one at the time. I could tell there was something badly wrong. Tony, bless him, saw my arm was in a very unnatural position and went to lift it and put it back. The doctor stopped him, thankfully! I believe it's a quiz question these days - because it's such an unusual incident."
Morrow left the field on a stretcher and was rushed to hospital. He spent the trophy presentation in an ambulance, but he was back at Wembley to collect his winners' medal when Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday went head to head again in the FA Cup final a month later.
"It was a great moment for me," he says. "But just to have that moment as the teams were coming out, to collect my medal and get a great reception from the Arsenal fans, was fantastic."
And what about his relationship with Adams? "We speak to each other now and again and we bump into each other," he says. "We still laugh about it, and obviously there are no hard feelings now."
The stakes are not quite so high for Tuesday's clash at Hillsborough, but Morrow says the fixture still carries weight. "It's going to be a tough challenge going there," he says. "They're still a big, big club. It's never easy going away to opposition like that in any competition."
Waddle, meanwhile, hopes his old club take inspiration from Watford's first-half performance against Arsenal earlier this month. "Whoever starts for Arsenal at the moment, they're confident and they're winning games," he says. "But I was at Watford the other week, and they caused them problems. They played a Championship style and got in behind them, and Arsenal didn't really enjoy that. I think that's what Wednesday could exploit."
Watch Sheffield Wednesday v Arsenal live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 7.30pm on Tuesday
Chris Waddle was speaking on behalf of Capital One - the credit card in your corner. Visit facebook.com/CapitalOneUK
