Queens Park Rangers v Blackburn Rovers

HOOPS
relentless and I wouldn’t give in. So, to
score in an FA Cup final at the age of 22
was the icing on the cake for me.
The replay took place at Wembley on
the following Thursday evening. We
did everything but score in that 1-0
defeat, didn’t we?
We had two penalty calls turned down
that were cast iron. If they’d VAR in
those days, we would have come away
with a 3-1 or 4-1 victory. That’s
because Spurs were tired, they’d run
out of steam, and they were hanging
on for a long, long time in the replay
after they scored early on. We hit the
crossbar through John Gregory, we
had lots of chances and there was
untold pressure coming from us. We
were always handy on set-plays. The
two penalty appeals came from
corners that we had, and they should
have been given. No doubt about it.
But those were the days when the
referee had the last say. The linesmen
didn’t have too much input into
decisions back then. It was a bitter pill
for us. We went back to the Royal
Lancaster Hotel afterwards and the
QPR chairman Jim Gregory was there
to see us all in the door with a lot of
disappointment and tears. Our families
gathered with us at the hotel, and it
was the end of an amazing journey.
Despite the disappointment, you
seem to have great affection looking
back on that campaign?
It was a lovely start to my time at QPR.
I’d only joined the club during the
previous season, following Terry
Venables from Crystal Palace. I met so
many fantastic people at Rangers and
the fans were great. They took to me
straight away and lifted me up when I
was on the pitch with their support. I
was so disappointed that we didn’t
deliver the FA Cup for them. I thought
we should have won it.
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