Despite being reigning champions, the summer of 1987 had been an unsettling time for Evertonians. With Howard Kendall departing for Athletic Bilbao, assistant Colin Harvey faced the unenviable task of filling the shoes of his great friend.
Most of the squad from the two title winning teams remained. But by the turn of the year it was apparent that the title would be going across Stanley Park, as Everton and the rest struggled to keep pace with the last great Liverpool team of that era. There was satisfaction for Harvey, as Everton defeated their rivals in the Littlewoods Cup. And of course, the FA Cup provided hope for silverware.
The draw for the FA Cup third round paired Everton with a club that had suffered a stuttering start to the 1987/88 league campaign. Winning just one match in their opening 12 matches - including a 4-0 defeat at Everton - Sheffield Wednesday dropped into the bottom three.
Yet their fortunes took a turn for the better when manager Howard Wilkinson signed centre back Nigel Pearson from Shrewsbury. With eight wins in eleven after Pearson slotted into a five-man defence, the club shot up to tenth in the table, and the initial panic had been averted.
One league victory was significant. Wednesday's 1-0 win over Everton on New Year's Day was their first win in 20 matches against the Toffeemen, a welcome boost before the FA Cup third round match at Hillsborough on Saturday January 9.
One Guardian article mentioned Sheffield Wednesday gaining revenge for the 1966 FA Cup final. But for the likes of Martin Hodge, Mel Sterland, Lawrie Madden, Lee Chapman, Mark Chamberlain and Gary Megson, this was a chance to right the wrongs of the 1986 semi-final.
"If Wednesday can beat Everton for the second time in just over a week, a season which began badly for Howard Wilkinson could take on an added glow," David Lacey wrote in his Guardian FA Cup preview. "Everton may find relief in a replay," Lacey added. They did; but it was merely the start of a seven-hour saga that threatened to drag on to FA Cup fourth round weekend.
The first instalment played in front of 33,304 was inevitably a battle, "Not what you'd call a classic football match," in the words of Wilkinson. Dave Watson missed a glorious chance in the first half and Neville Southall saved well from Sterland's indirect free kick in the box. Chances came and went in the second half for Everton, Ian Snodin missing two opportunities, and Wayne Clarke having a goal ruled out for offside.
With 14 minutes left, Wednesday struck first. A deep Brian Marwood cross was helped back across goal by Lee Chapman, allowing Colin West to head past Southall. But just five minutes later Everton were level. After Martin Hodge parried Graeme Sharp's effort, Peter Reid flicked in an equaliser to force a replay; "I don't trust my left foot, so I hit it with my right," Reid admitted later.
Chapman headed against the bar late on, but the draw was a fair result. "The truth is that the match was scrappy even by early-round Cup standards," Michael Nally wrote in the Guardian. "Both teams were energetic but unimaginative." It would be a theme for the first three episodes of the soap opera.
The first replay at Goodison Park four days later certainly followed the same template. Everton, who had lost skipper Kevin Ratcliffe in the first match, drafted in Neil Pointon with Pat Van Den Hauwe moving to centre back. Wednesday, in their silver away kit, were tough to break down, their centre back trio of Pearson, Madden and Larry May absorbing pressure. And up front, the twin target men of Chapman and West proved a handful.
It would be Chapman who put Wednesday in front this time, his header from Sterland's cross in the 32nd minute sending the away fans amongst the 32,935 gate into raptures. Southall would later deny Chapman as Wednesday searched for the decisive second goal, the forward narrowly firing the rebound wide.
This moment would prove crucial when Sharp volleyed home a superb equaliser in the 76th minute. As the match went into extra-time, both Mark Proctor and Clarke missed decent chances for either side, but the teams would have to do it all again at the same ground in a little under two weeks, after Everton won the toss to decide the second replay venue.
Before the next match, both would be involved in Littlewoods Cup quarter final action, Everton defeating Manchester City, and Wednesday losing at home to holders Arsenal. Conceivably, the clubs could have met on two more occasions in the semi-finals of that competition; yet Arsenal would act as the go between this time, eliminating both before losing to Luton in the final.
Part three on Monday January 25 would at least see the teams vary things a little. For the first time Everton took the lead, Trevor Steven heading in Adrian Heath's cross just before the hour. But with just five minutes remaining, Chapman deflected Nigel Worthington's shot past Southall to drag the match into another period of extra-time.
The Guardian's Stephen Bierley described the ongoing tussle: "The tie that will not die. After 330 minutes of muck and nettles these two sides will meet again tomorrow at Hillsborough to decide, if at all possible, who will play Middlesbrough on Saturday. Do not bet on the winner."
The second replay had been watched by 37,414 supporters and with 38,953 watching the denouement, over 142,000 spectators had gone through the turnstiles. Reports stated that both clubs earned £250,000 each from gate receipts. This would be of little consolation to Wilkinson and his players after an extraordinary first half in Sheffield.
Crucially, Madden missed the match due to a calf injury, Wilkinson reverting to a back four, with Mark Chamberlain coming into the team. The "formidable barrier" that Bierley had written about during the third match was no longer present. Everton took advantage in spectacular fashion.
West should have fired Wednesday in front after just 15 seconds, but from that moment the night was an unmitigated disaster for the home team. Sharp outpaced May after Steven's superb through ball to give Everton the lead after five minutes, and when Pearson was dispossessed by Steven, Snodin put Heath through on goal and after 19 minutes of the fourth match a team held a two goal advantage for the first time.
Pearson's wobbly night continued. In the 39th minute, Heath took the ball off Wednesday's centre back and cut the ball back for Sharp. A delicious left-footed chip from the edge of the box floated over Hodge, and Everton were out of sight. Yet there was still time for more as the first half drew to a close.
Sharp completed his hat-trick, heading in a cross from the superb Steven - who had switched to the left flank in the absence of both Kevin Sheedy and Ian Wilson - and when Snodin slotted home after a surging run from midfield, most of those present at Hillsborough could barely believe what they had seen in the opening 45 minutes.
Not that every Everton fan got to witness the mayhem. "A lot of Evertonians had encountered problems travelling across the Pennines," Sharp states in his autobiography Sharpy. "And they refused to believe that we were 5-0 up at the break." Those in the ground would see Paul Bracewell enter the fray after 73 minutes, his first action since the 1986 FA Cup final, after five ankle operations.
Under the headline "Wednesday at the Sharp end", Bierley noted that Everton "made a complete mockery of the three previous tighter-than-tight encounters by completely crushing the life out of Sheffield Wednesday." Wilkinson described it as "a horrendous affair", bemoaning the change in formation that allowed Everton to kill off the tie emphatically.
"It was quality finishing," Harvey said. "Every chance we got we took." Three days later he would have to turn his attentions to Second Division Middlesbrough. Seemingly, his players couldn't get enough of the FA Cup. It would take another three matches to reach the fifth round, before Liverpool ended their energy sapping journey on the road to Wembley.
The Sheffield Wednesday tie was an epic in its own right. A seven-hour slog over 18 days in January, before Everton landed five knockout blows. The FA decreed that these marathons would be a thing of the past after another four-match series in 1991 between Leeds and Arsenal. Wilkinson, in charge of Leeds at the time, was probably in full agreement.
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