The 1981 Football League Cup

Football League Cup

The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...

 Final was played on Saturday 14 March 1981 at Wembley Stadium between Liverpool

Liverpool F.C.

Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...

 and West Ham United

West Ham United F.C.

West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Upton Park, Newham, East London. They play in The Football League Championship. The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks FC and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. In 1904 the club relocated to their current...

, with both clubs appearing in their second League Cup finals.

The original game ended in a 1-1 draw after extra time with Alan Kennedy

Alan Kennedy

Alan Phillip Kennedy is a former footballer who played for Liverpool during their halcyon days in the late 1970s and early 1980s and had a knack of scoring in major cup finals....

 scoring for Liverpool and Ray Stewart

Ray Stewart (footballer)

Raymond "Ray" Strean McDonald Stewart is a former Scottish international footballer of the late 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. During his career he played for Dundee United, West Ham United, St...

 equalising from the penalty spot for West Ham United. The game went to a replay played at Villa Park

Villa Park

Villa Park may mean:United Kingdom* Villa Park, an association football stadium in Birmingham, EnglandUnited States* Villa Park, California, a small city in Orange County* Villa Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago in DuPage County...

, Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

 on Wednesday 1 April 1981 in which West Ham took the lead through a Paul Goddard

Paul Goddard

Paul Goddard is a former professional footballer and football manager.During his playing career, he gained caps for England U21s and earned a single full cap for the England team against Iceland in June 1982...

 goal, but Liverpool came from behind to win 2-1 with goals from Kenny Dalglish

Kenny Dalglish

Kenneth Mathieson "Kenny" Dalglish MBE is a Scottish former footballer and the current manager of Liverpool F.C.. In a 22-year playing career, he played for two club teams, Celtic and Liverpool, winning numerous honours with both. He is the most capped Scottish player, with 102 appearances, and...

 and Alan Hansen

Alan Hansen

Alan David Hansen is a Scottish former football player and BBC television football pundit. He played as a central defender for Partick Thistle, Liverpool and Scotland...

.

Team Line-ups

EWLINE| LIVERPOOL: 1   Ray Clemence Ray Clemence Raymond Neal "Ray" Clemence, MBE is one of English and European football's most decorated goalkeepers ever and was part of the Liverpool team of the 1970s.-Scunthorpe United:... 2   Phil Neal Phil Neal Philip George "Phil" Neal is a former footballer who was, at one time, the most successful player in English football history. He played for Liverpool 650 times over an eleven year period and is the only player to have appeared in the first five of their European Cup finals, winning four of them...  (c) 3   Alan Kennedy Alan Kennedy Alan Phillip Kennedy is a former footballer who played for Liverpool during their halcyon days in the late 1970s and early 1980s and had a knack of scoring in major cup finals.... 4   Colin Irwin Colin Irwin (footballer) Colin Irwin was a professional footballer of the early 1980s. A defender, able to play at left-back or in the centre, Irwin came through the youth ranks at Liverpool, and his first call-up to the first-team squad came, remarkably, in the 1978 European Cup Final... 5   Ray Kennedy Ray Kennedy Raymond Kennedy is an English former football player who won every domestic honour in the game with Arsenal and Liverpool in the 1970s... 6   Alan Hansen Alan Hansen Alan David Hansen is a Scottish former football player and BBC television football pundit. He played as a central defender for Partick Thistle, Liverpool and Scotland... 7   Kenny Dalglish Kenny Dalglish Kenneth Mathieson "Kenny" Dalglish MBE is a Scottish former footballer and the current manager of Liverpool F.C.. In a 22-year playing career, he played for two club teams, Celtic and Liverpool, winning numerous honours with both. He is the most capped Scottish player, with 102 appearances, and... 8   Sammy Lee Sammy Lee (footballer) Samuel "Sammy" Lee is an English football coach and former player. He played most of his career for hometown club Liverpool during the 1970s and 1980s as a midfielder, and also represented England fourteen times.... 9 Steve Heighway Steve Heighway Stephen Derek "Steve" Heighway is a former footballer who was part of the hugely successful Liverpool team of the 1970s.-Life and playing career:... 10   Terry McDermott Terry McDermott Terence "Terry" McDermott is a former football midfielder and current coach. He is currently the assistant manager at League One side Huddersfield Town.He is the father of Newcastle United player Greg McDermott and Marsaxlokk player Neale McDermott-Early career:McDermott joined Bury as a youngster... 11   Graeme Souness Graeme Souness Graeme James Souness is a Scottish former professional football player and manager.Souness was the captain of the successful Liverpool team of the early 1980s and player-manager of Rangers in the late 1980s as well as captain of the Scottish national team. He also played for Tottenham Hotspur,... Substitute: 12   Jimmy Case Jimmy Case James Robert Case is a retired English football player who shot to fame with the all-conquering Liverpool side of the 1970s and became known as a player with one of the hardest shots in the game.-Early life:... Manager:   Bob Paisley Bob Paisley Robert "Bob" Paisley OBE was an English football half back turned manager. His association with Liverpool was to span nearly half a century including his contribution to the club, first as a player, then as a physiotherapist and coach, and finally as manager.In nine years as manager between 1974...

EWLINE| WEST HAM UNITED: 1   Phil Parkes Phil Parkes Philip Benjamin Neil Frederick "Phil" Parkes is a former football goalkeeper.He was a pupil at Dormston School from September 1961 to December 1965.... 2   Ray Stewart Ray Stewart (footballer) Raymond "Ray" Strean McDonald Stewart is a former Scottish international footballer of the late 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. During his career he played for Dundee United, West Ham United, St... 3   Frank Lampard, Sr. 4   Billy Bonds Billy Bonds William Arthur "Billy" Bonds MBE is a former professional footballer and manager, who is most often associated with West Ham United with whom he spent 27 years as player and manager...  (c) 5   Alvin Martin Alvin Martin Alvin Edward Martin is a retired English footballer who played as a defender.Playing most of his footballing career for West Ham United he appeared in 598 games for scoring 34 goals... 6   Alan Devonshire Alan Devonshire Alan Devonshire is a retired English footballer and manager of Conference National club Braintree Town. He was a wide midfielder who made his name in the late 1970s playing for West Ham United . He won eight caps for England between 1980 and 1983... 7   Jimmy Neighbour Jimmy Neighbour James Edward "Jimmy" Neighbour was a professional footballer who played for Tottenham Hotspur, Norwich City, West Ham United and the Seattle Sounders.- Football career:... 8   Paul Goddard Paul Goddard Paul Goddard is a former professional footballer and football manager.During his playing career, he gained caps for England U21s and earned a single full cap for the England team against Iceland in June 1982... 9   David Cross David Cross (footballer) David Cross is an English former footballer who played as a striker. He scored 223 goals in 599 appearances in the Football League and the North American Soccer League. Cross was born in Heywood, Lancashire.-Football career:... 10   Trevor Brooking Trevor Brooking Sir Trevor David Brooking CBE is a football player turned manager, on-air analyst, and administrator.Brooking attended Ripple Infants School and left Ilford County High School with 11 O-levels and 2 A-levels.... 11   Geoff Pike Geoff Pike Geoff Pike is an English former footballer midfielder.Pike played his early football in Thurrock and later with Gidea Park Rangers. He joined West Ham United in 1975 and was a member of the side that reached the 1975 FA Youth Cup Final. He made his league debut on 6 March 1976 against Birmingham... Substitute: 12   Stuart Pearson Stuart Pearson James Stuart Pearson is an English former football player. He was a skilful forward who played in three FA Cup finals.-Hull City:... Manager:   John Lyall John Lyall John Angus Lyall was an English footballer and manager of Scottish descent. His mother, Catherine, was from the Isle of Lewis, his father, James, was from Kirriemuir. He was born in Ilford, Essex.- Youth team career :...

Replay

For the replay, Liverpool's team changes were Phil Thompson

Phil Thompson

Philip Bernard Thompson is a retired English footballer, who played as a defender for Liverpool team of the 1970s and 1980s. During this time, he also represented the England national football team on 42 occasions...

 for Irwin, Ian Rush

Ian Rush

Ian James Rush, MBE, is a retired football player from Flint, Wales. He is best remembered as a player for Liverpool, where he was among the top strikers in the English game in the 1980s and 1990s. He also had spells playing at Chester City, Juventus, Leeds United, Newcastle United, Sheffield...

 for Heighway and Jimmy Case started in place of Souness. No Liverpool sub was used. West Ham were unchanged, with Pearson coming on as a sub for Pike in this game.

Liverpool

Liverpool started slowly and lost the first leg of their 2nd round game with Bradford City, before scoring four goals in the return leg at Anfield

Anfield

Anfield is an association football stadium in the district of Anfield, Liverpool, England, with a seating capacity of 45,522. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892 and was originally the home of Everton F.C. from 1884 to 1892, before they moved to Goodison Park...

. They then scored a total of 12 goals in home ties against Swindon Town, Portsmouth

Portsmouth F.C.

Portsmouth Football Club is an English football club based in the city of Portsmouth. The club is nicknamed Pompey. Portsmouth's home matches have been played at Fratton Park since the club's formation in 1898. The team currently play in the Football League Championship after being relegated from...

 and Birmingham City

Birmingham City F.C.

Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943.They were relegated at the end of the...

. In the semi-final they won their first leg at Manchester City

Manchester City F.C.

Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Manchester. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's , they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894...

, before a home draw allowed them to reach their second League Cup Final.

West Ham

West Ham played three Third Division

Football League Third Division

The Football League Third Division was the 3 tier of English Football from 1920 until 1992 when after the formation of the Football Association Premier League saw the league renamed The Football League Division Two...

 sides in Burnley

Burnley F.C.

Burnley Football Club are a professional English Football League club based in Burnley, Lancashire. Nicknamed the Clarets, due to the dominant colour of their home shirts, they were founder members of the Football League in 1888...

, Charlton Athletic

Charlton Athletic F.C.

Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, in the London Borough of Greenwich. They compete in Football League One, the third tier of English football. The club was founded on 9 June 1905, when a number of youth clubs in the southeast London area,...

 and Barnsley

Barnsley F.C.

Barnsley Football Club are a professional English football club based in the town of Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Nicknamed the Tykes, they were founded in 1887 under the name Barnsley St. Peter's...

 to reach the quarter-final. Here, they beat First Division

Football League First Division

The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....

 Tottenham Hotspur 1-0. In the semi-final they recovered from losing the first leg to Coventry City

Coventry City F.C.

Coventry City Football Club, otherwise known as the Sky Blues owing to the traditional colour of their strip, are a professional English Football league club based in Coventry...

to win the tie 4-3 on aggregate.

External links

• LFC History Match Report
• LFC History Match Report (Replay)