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Teams.
City.
Flowers
Sinclair
Taggart
Elliott(2)
Guppy
Oakes
Lennon
Izzett
Savage
Cottee
Heskey
Tranmere Rovers.
Murphy
Hazell
Roberts
Hill
Challiner
Parkinson
G.Jones
Henry
Mahon
Taylor
Kelly(1)
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Worthington Cup Final 2000.
Wembley Stadium 27.2.00
Leicester City 2 Tranmere
Rovers 1.
Peter Gilbert 27.2.00
It's 344 days since Leicester City last played at Wembley, in
fact they have appeared here 7 times in the last 9 years.
Tranmere Rovers in all their existence of 116 years have never
appeared here. Speaking of existence; it was something that Tranmere
nearly ceased to possess, having survived bankruptcy and extinction
by a whisker.
So the romantics would be with Tranmere but then so would the
London Media which was a big spur to anyone looking for motivation
on the day as Leicester surely would be.
We were on the road bright and early feeling tense and tired.
I had been woken up by a gusting wind in the middle of the night
and I kept seeing Dave Challener's long throws projectiling towards
goal and it was difficult to get back to sleep. 20
mins. late for our rendezvous were soon picked up on the M1 and
we were parked up at MFI, with a good view of the twin towers
by 11.30 am. I know it's too early to be there, but that's just
me.
Tranmere fans seemed very thin on the ground and the pre-match
atmosphere lacked a little bit of tension somehow as we all 'expected'
to win. Sitting behind us and slightly to the right were Steve
Walsh and Stan Collymore who appeared relaxed and were largely
anonymous, although Walshy did look very tense.
The gladiators emerged from the tunnel to a wild balloon and
ticker tape reception which was further complimented by pyrotechnics
and glitter. The MC on the PA however sounded as if he belonged
on an Action Man advert such was the pre-pubescent emphasis of
his tonal phraseology, if you see what I mean. Basically he sounded
like a right prat, as he does every year.
The minutes silence for Sir Stan Matthews was exemplary, but
gritted teeth and clenched fists followed it as battle was about
to commence.
Clearly Tranmere were not here for a day out and they soon strung
passes together and threatened the goal mouth. Challiner did
launch big throws as expected but nothing ever came of them.
Elliott and Oakes settled quickly with Lennon and Izzett not
far behind, the Heskey joined in and soon were flowing.
Both teams enjoyed little half chances and after half an hour
Guppy floated in a delightful corner which Elliott met on the
penalty spot. He powered it towards goal like a bullet, it crashed
against the bar and flew out but hit the unfortunate 18 yr old
Murphy on the back from the rebound and went in. In all our Wembley
appearances this was the first time ever that we have scored
first.
Half time arrived with us largely in control, but we expected
more from Tranmere after the break.
After an hour Heskey received a ball from Guppy on the left,
he turned slipped his man and headed for goal but was deliberately
tripped by Clint Hill who had to go off. Which referee Wilkie
had already done with a knee injury and was replaced. For on
fleeting moment I thought Liney 1; Wendy Thoms was going to step
into the fray but no........a bloke did it, and very well he
did too.
Tranmere had been constantly dangerous from free kicks and yet
another was floated into the box, eluding everyone except David
Kelly who shot low and hard to level the scores.
Three minutes later we were in front again from Matt's header
from Guppy's corner. It was very neat work.
We could have gone further ahead but 'howlers' from Izzett and
Lennon saw to it that we would be having the customary Leicester
City emotional roller coaster ride to the final conclusion. This
year's party piece consisted of slack marking allowing Tranmere
to head onto the cross bar and then holding the ball instead
of delivering it swiftly.
In the end though it was of no avail and we did enough to win
quite convincingly and finally we had won a major trophy at Wembley.
It was probably our last chance in it's present form but we did
it anyway.
A glorious celebration followed !!!!!!!!!!!!
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