FA Cup: When Wrexham shocked Arsenal in 1992



The staff and players of Wrexham celebrate a victory.

It was the biggest FA Cup shock of all time.

A third round meeting between two teams that were poles apart, separated by 90 places in the English Football League the previous season, fired the imagination.

It was a game that few gave a chance against mighty Arsenal on January 4, 1992.

30 years ago, the Welsh minnows shocked the north London giants.

The background.

The two clubs finished at opposite ends of the Football League in 1990.

George Graham's team won the First Division title for the second year in a row.

At the start of the season, David Seaman joined the team.

Seaman remembers a team that had the likes of Tony Adams, Paul Merson, Alan Smith and the late David Rocastle.

We became successful because of that. The song '1-0 to the Arsenal' is a popular song.

We had a lot of wins after we scored and we knew we could defend the lead.

The 90-91 campaign was the bottom of the Fourth Division.

Due to the re-organisation of the Football League, Wrexham were spared the fate of being demoted to the Conference.

Flynn used the season to blood a number of promising youngsters, such as WaynnePhillips, Lee Jones, Phil Hardy and Steve Watkin.

Alan Smith was playing against Mark Sertori.

Flynn remembers that the players would play a lot of games in a season and that they would be inconsistent.

"We knew that the following season would be good for us and with that season they played, added to some exceptional experienced players, would help the youngsters come through."

Gordon Davies and Mickey Thomas, who both played for Wales, joined at the beginning of the 1991-92 season.

The league form was not great and the team was in the lower reaches of the fourth division.

The reward for beating non-league sides was a home tie against Arsenal.

Thomas remembers thinking that the run was over when the draw was made.

When that draw was made, I wasn't confident.

They were the favorites to win the competition that season.

"You don't think easy, but that's a decent draw," Seaman says of the reaction when the names were pulled out.

Seaman says that you never underestimate an opponent when you're playing them away.

You know results can happen, but the biggest thing is that you don't want it to happen to you. We need to make sure we win this game.

The first game in front of a full capacity Racecourse Ground would be for Watkin and his teammates.

"We were looking forward to the game, we were 21 at the time," said Watkin.

It was a great place for the young players.

We thought we could get a draw out of the game.

The game.

The first half was dominated by the Gunners but they only scored one goal.

Alan Smith scored from close range on Paul Merson's pass to put them ahead a minute before the break.

Mickey Thomas played for Manchester United in the 1979 FA Cup final.

"In the first 45 minutes, they absolutely battered us," said Thomas.

We had a lot of luck in the FA Cup, because they could have scored four or five, but they only got one goal.

I'm not looking forward to the second half as I walk off.

Flynn remained calm and composed as he delivered his half-time team talk.

Flynn told the players to stay in the game.

After the break, it was hard to get back into any kind of rhythm as they failed to add to Smith's opener.

The free-kick was awarded after David O'Leary was shown a yellow card for a tackle on Davies.

Thomas stepped up.

"They say it was not a foul," says Thomas. It went in our favor and we were able to get a goal.

I told Waynne to pass the ball to me.

I looked at the situation and said no. Leave it to me.

I looked at the wall and I wanted to aim for the gap that the two players were going to leave and as I ran up to it, I struck it.

"As soon as I hit it, I could see it was going into the right hand corner, but Seaman couldn't stop it."

Seaman couldn't stop Thomas.

"As soon as he hit it, I knew I wasn't getting it," the ex-England international says.

I think about why you did it when I look at it again. Why did you bother? It was going into the top corner from the beginning.

It was a sweet strike.

With eight minutes left in the game, Wrexham were back in the game, and with it the chance of a lucrative replay in north London the following week.

Flynn says the dream scenario was a draw with the team and a good gate at Highbury.

If we had 30,000 at Highbury it would have brought in half a million pounds and we would have invested in the right way.

Relive the day that Wrexham knocked out of the FA Cup.

"When Steve scored, it stopped that."

Two minutes after Thomas' goal, Watkin slid in to score the winner.

"Tony Adams, the best centre half in the country and an England player, slips and it's a goal," Flynn adds.

It was the most important goal in Watkin's career.

Watkin said he knew it was in before anyone else.

A few seconds later the noise hits you and you run off.

It's great to score a goal but it's even better to score in a game like that.

The players of Wrexham were mobbed by supporters who raced on to the pitch at the end of the game.

"We did a job on them," Thomas says looking back on that Saturday afternoon in north east Wales.

How did we do that? It was a miracle. They're still talking about it 30 years later, and they'll be talking about it when I'm gone.

It's a day that they would rather forget.

Steve Watkin scored a famous victory for Wrexham.

I think about how we lost when I look at that team. Seaman would go on to win the FA Cup four times with the club.

The FA Cup is beautiful.

"Wrexham will never forget that game, and neither will I!"

Flynn thinks that the greatest giant-killing act in the competition is the one by Wrexham.

Flynn says that the cup shock was the biggest ever because of the circumstances surrounding it.

It made the club financially stable and allowed me to use it for the benefit of the long term future of the club.

Radio Wales Sport will show a documentary on the 30th anniversary.