2005–06 FA Cup


The 2005–06 FA Cup was the 125th staging of the world's oldest football competition, the FA Cup.
The competition began on 20 August 2005, with the lowest-ranked of the 674 entrants competing in the Extra Preliminary round. For the top 44 clubs, the FA Cup began in the Third Round in January.
For information on the matches played from the Extra Preliminary Round to the Fourth Round Qualifying, see 2005–06 FA Cup Qualifying Rounds.
Ties are all single-legged and take place at the stadium of the club drawn first. If scores are level at the end of a match, it is replayed at the away club's stadium, usually 10 days later. If the scores are still level, extra-time and penalties are used to determine a winner. However, from the semi-finals onwards, the ties take place at a neutral stadium, and there are no replays. That is to say, extra-time and penalties are played if necessary to determine a winner in a single match.
At the special request of England national team manager Sven-Göran Eriksson, the quarter-finals were held on weeknights. This action was made to ensure that the season finishes as early as possible, allowing players a full month's rest before the 2006 World Cup finals.
The semi-finals were staged at neutral venues and, like the final, would not be replayed in the event of a draw.
The Football Association had hoped to stage the final at the newly rebuilt Wembley Stadium, London on 13 May 2006, but due to the uncertainty of the new stadium being completed in time, the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff hosted the final, which was contested between Liverpool and West Ham United.

Calendar

Results

The results listed below start at the first round proper, where the 32 non-league clubs to have made it through the preliminary rounds meet the 24 clubs from League Two and the 24 clubs from League One.

First round proper

All ties took place on the weekend of Saturday, 5 November 2005. Replays, played in the week of 14 November 2005, are shown in italics. Ties are shown in order of the draw.

Second round proper

The 40 clubs to have made it through the First Round, play off to reduce the number of remaining clubs to 20.
All ties took place between Friday December 2, 2005 and Sunday December 4, 2005. Replays took place on December 13. Ties are shown in order of the draw.
Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendance
1Walsall2 – 0Yeovil Town4,580
2Woking0 – 0Northwich Victoria2,462
replayNorthwich Victoria2 – 1Woking2,302
3Burton Albion4 – 1Burscough4,499
4Aldershot Town0 – 1Scunthorpe United3,584
5Shrewsbury Town1 – 2Colchester United3,695
6Hartlepool United1 – 2Tamworth3,786
7Cheltenham Town1 – 1Oxford United4,592
replayOxford United1 – 2Cheltenham Town3,455
8Mansfield Town3 – 0Grays Athletic2,992
9Hereford United0 – 2Stockport County3,620
10Stevenage Borough2 – 2Northampton Town3,937
replayNorthampton Town2 – 0Stevenage Borough4,407
11Port Vale1 – 1Bristol Rovers4,483
replayBristol Rovers0 – 1Port Vale5,623
12Boston United1 – 2Doncaster Rovers3,995
13Rushden & Diamonds0 – 1Leyton Orient3,245
14Nuneaton Borough2 – 2Histon3,366
replayHiston1 – 2Nuneaton Borough3,077
15Oldham Athletic1 – 1Brentford4,365
replayBrentford1 – 0Oldham Athletic3,146
16Southend United1 – 2Milton Keynes Dons5,267
17Worcester City0 – 1Huddersfield Town4,163
18Torquay United2 – 1Notts County2,407
19Barnsley1 – 1Bradford City7,051
replayBradford City3 – 5Barnsley4,738
20Chester City'''3 – 0Nottingham Forest4,732

Third round proper

The 20 clubs to have made it through Round Two meet the 24 clubs from the Football League Championship and the 20 Premier League clubs, including holders Arsenal.
All ties took place on Saturday January 7 and January 8, 2006. Replays took place January 17 and January 18, and are shown in italics. Ties are shown in order of the draw.
One of the most significant games of the round, if not the entire competition, was the goalless draw between Premier League giants Manchester United and Conference National underdogs Burton Albion in the first match at the Pirelli Stadium. However, United were in no mood for humiliation in the replay at Old Trafford, crushing Burton Albion 5-0.

Fourth Round Proper

The 32 clubs to have made it through Round Three.
All ties took place on Saturday January 28, 2006 and Sunday January 29. Replays took place on February 7 and February 8, and are shown in italics. Ties are shown in order of the draw.
Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendance
1Stoke City2–1Walsall8,834
2Cheltenham Town0–2Newcastle United7,022
3Coventry City1–1Middlesbrough28,120
replayMiddlesbrough1–0Coventry City14,131
4Reading1–1Birmingham City23,762
replayBirmingham City2–1Reading16,644
5Portsmouth1–2Liverpool17,247
6Leicester City0–1Southampton20,427
7Bolton Wanderers1–0Arsenal13,326
8Aston Villa3–1Port Vale30,434
9Brentford2–1Sunderland11,698
10Manchester City1–0Wigan Athletic30,811
11Everton1–1Chelsea29,742
replayChelsea4–1Everton39,301
12Preston North End1–1Crystal Palace9,489
replayCrystal Palace1–2Preston North End7,356
13West Ham United4–2Blackburn Rovers23,700
14Colchester United3–1Derby County5,933
15Charlton Athletic2–1Leyton Orient22,029
16Wolverhampton Wanderers0–3Manchester United28,333

Fifth Round Proper

All ties took place on Saturday February 18 and Sunday February 19, 2006. Replays are shown in italics, and took place on March 14 and March 15. Ties are shown in order of the draw.
Liverpool's 1-0 win over Manchester United ended their arch rivals' hopes of an FA Cup/League Cup double, as well as ending Liverpool's 85-year wait for a win over Manchester United in an FA Cup tie.
Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendance
1Preston North End0–2Middlesbrough19,877
2Newcastle United1–0Southampton40,975
3Aston Villa1–1Manchester City23,847
replayManchester City2–1Aston Villa33,006
4Chelsea3–1Colchester United41,810
5Charlton Athletic3–1Brentford22,098
6Liverpool1–0Manchester United44,039
7Bolton Wanderers0–0West Ham United17,120
replayWest Ham United2–1Bolton Wanderers24,685
8Stoke City0–1Birmingham City18,768

Sixth Round Proper

The most significant game of the round was undoubtedly Liverpool's 7-0 win at Birmingham City, one of the biggest ever scorelines in an FA Cup quarter-final tie.
This was also a rare occurrence of all eight quarter-finalists being members of the top flight.
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Replays

Semi-finals

Chelsea's hopes of the league title and FA Cup double were ended as they lost 2–1 to Liverpool, while Middlesbrough's defeat to West Ham United ended their hopes of an FA Cup/UEFA Cup double.
West Ham's victory meant that they would be contesting their first FA Cup final for 26 years, with this victory coming just five days after the death of John Lyall, manager of the West Ham side that had won the cup that year.
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Final

In the final, an injury-time equaliser by Liverpool's Steven Gerrard forced a 3–3 draw, and his side went on to win the penalty shoot-out and secure the seventh FA Cup triumph of their history. West Ham's Alan Pardew was the first Englishman to manage an FA Cup finalist side since Aston Villa's John Gregory six years earlier.

Top scorers

RankPlayerClubGoals
1 YakubuMiddlesbrough4
1 Steven GerrardLiverpool4
3 Dean AshtonWest Ham United3
3 Milan BarošAston Villa3
3 Dudley CampbellBrentford3
3 Peter CrouchLiverpool3
3 Neil DannsColchester United3
3 Mikael ForssellBirmingham City3
3 Robbie FowlerManchester City3
3 Jimmy Floyd HasselbainkMiddlesbrough3
3 Kevin JamesWalsall3
3 Leroy LitaReading3
3 Gez MurphyNuneaton Town3
3 Kieran RichardsonManchester United3
3 John Arne RiiseLiverpool3

Player of the Round

From the First Round onward, a panel including Sky Sports' Jeff Stelling and FA Chief Executive Brian Barwick nominated players for the award. The winners were voted by visitors of thefa.com.
The player with the most votes each round won £1000 worth of football equipment for a local school or club, as well as an engraved silver salver.
RoundPlayerClub
First Round QualifyingJamie LaidlawGosport Borough
Second Round QualifyingPaul BraysonNorthwich Victoria
Third Round QualifyingAlex RodmanLeamington
Fourth Round QualifyingStuart TuckEastbourne Borough
First Round ProperPaul BraysonNorthwich Victoria
Second Round ProperDave MulliganDoncaster Rovers
Third Round ProperGez MurphyNuneaton Borough
Fourth Round ProperRicardo GardnerBolton Wanderers
Fifth Round ProperJamie CarragherLiverpool
Sixth Round ProperSteven GerrardLiverpool
Semi-FinalsLuis GarcíaLiverpool

No vote was made for the final tie.

Media coverage

In the United Kingdom, the BBC were the free to air broadcasters for the fifth consecutive season while Sky Sports were the subscription broadcasters for the eighteenth consecutive season.