Sutton United 2–1 Coventry City (1989)

Sutton United 2–1 Coventry City

Event	1988–89 FA Cup
Sutton United Coventry City 2 1
Date	7 January 1989
Venue	Borough Sports Ground, Sutton, London
Referee	Alf Buksh
Attendance	8,000

Sutton United 2–1 Coventry City was a football match played on 7 January 1989 at Gander Green Lane, Sutton. The match was an FA Cup Third Round tie.

It is one of the most famous 'giant-killings' in the competition's history, notable for being one of those rare occasions when a club from the highest tier of English football was defeated by a non-League side. It remained the last occurrence of this for 24 years, until Luton Town beat Norwich City in the Fourth Round in 2013.^[1] The home-team, Sutton United, played in the Conference. The away team, Coventry City, played in the old First Division.

For Coventry, it was a distinct role reversal from their success in the FA Cup final of just two seasons before (in fact it was only 19 months prior), when they had been on the right end of a much-celebrated underdog triumph.

Match summary

Sutton United v Coventry City

7 January 1989 15:00

Sutton United	2–1	Coventry City
Rains  42' Hanlan  59'	Report	Phillips  52'

Borough Sports Ground, Sutton Attendance: 8,000 Referee: Alf Buksh

Sutton United

Coventry City

GK 1 Trevor Roffey DF 2 Robin Jones DF 3 Tony Rains (c) DF 4 Nigel Golley DF 5 Vernon Pratt MF 6 Paul Rogers MF 7 Mickey Stephens MF 8 Phil Dawson FW 9 Lennie Dennis FW 10 Paul McKinnon MF 11 Matthew Hanlan Manager: Barrie Williams

GK 1 Steve Ogrizovic DF 2 Brian Borrows DF 3 David Phillips DF 4 Steve Sedgley DF 5 Brian Kilcline (c) DF 6 Trevor Peake MF 7 Dave Bennett MF 8 David Speedie FW 9 Cyrille Regis FW 10 Lloyd McGrath MF 11 David Smith Substitute: FW 12 Keith Houchen Manager: John Sillett

References

1. Phillips, Owen. "BBC Sport – Brighton's secret FA Cup giant-killer". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2012-02-18.

Sources

• Amos, Stuart (9 September 2010). "Sutton giant-killing repeat unlikely". Sutton Guardian. Retrieved 22 October 2010.
• Official history of Sutton United. Retrieved 22 October 2010.

External links

• Footage of match as shown on Match of the Day
• Sutton United VS. Coventry City 1989 – A statistical break-down of the match.
• Match Programme