OTD: Gilligan Header Seals FA Youth Cup Glory (1982)

Tom Walley’s Watford underdogs battled against the odds to topple Manchester United in the final of the FA Youth Cup and lift the coveted trophy for the first time on this day in 1982.

Bringing a narrow 3-2 lead back from Old Trafford, the Under-18 Hornets dazzled in attack against future Red Devils regulars in the second leg, with Jimmy Gilligan netting the decisive goal in extra-time to seal a 7-6 win on aggregate.

With Walley, one of the world’s most successful youth coaches, at the helm, a Watford side brimming with potential showed what they were made of against the likes of Norman Whiteside and Mark Hughes.

Reflecting on the encounter 40 years on, speaking last year, Gilligan has only fond memories from a remarkable day for the Young Golden Boys.

“It may be 40 years but for some of us it feels like it happened a couple of weeks ago!” said Gilligan, now Head of Technical Development in the Hornets Academy.

“It was an unbelievable game. We’d come back from Old Trafford with a win under our belt and went into the game at Vicarage Road in front of a crowd of our own fans, which we probably weren’t used to. It was such a special occasion, the first time the club had reached the final, and it was an unbelievable achievement.

“While we had some players with a bit of a name, John Barnes in particular, we never had superstars like Manchester United. We went in as underdogs and came out as winners.”

Gilligan pressure forced Billy Garton to turn the ball into his own net after 10 minutes, before Hughes equalised for the visitors. Hughes and Mark Dempsey were able to bring United back level after David Johnson had struck for the hosts, taking the two young sides into unfamiliar territory in extra-time.

Crediting the support for willing the Young Hornets through a difficult final period in the game, Gilligan admitted the mere presence of then first-team manager Graham Taylor piled pressure on the group.

“The crowd were lovely, they were very supportive of young players and all Watford people,” Gilligan recalled. “The big pressure came from the gaffer being there, and anytime he watched us doing anything we felt the pressure.

“The crowd, when we went into that last element of the game, were a big help to us.”

Both teams scored again - Watford through an Andy Hill own goal and United with a Whiteside strike - before Gilligan, standing at 6ft 2in even at a young age, leapt highest at a corner to power home the winning goal. Gilligan remembers his thought process as he rose to meet the in-swinging cross.

He said: “I remember going up for the corner and I think one of my only strengths was my heading. If I wore my boots on my head I might have been a better player!

“Going up for it, you think ‘I’m going to score here’. I remember jumping, connecting with it well, and the mantra from the coaching staff was ‘if you’re heading the ball, head it back to where it came from’, so I headed it back towards goal and it flew in.”

The coaching staff, led by Walley, helped produce a conveyor belt of first-team talent throughout the 1970s and 1980s and can be credited for kick-starting the careers of dozens of players at Watford and Arsenal.

“Tom’s a great man, you can’t give him enough accolades,” Gilligan said. “In the world of football I don’t think Tom’s revered enough for what he did here.

“Tom, along with Dennis Gibbs and a couple of other people, Dave Butler and Pat Molloy, you can’t take away what they did for this football club. I think it started the wave of players coming through from youth development into first-team football these days.”

Still in touch with some of the other members of the team who lifted the trophy that day, Gilligan would love to have a full reunion and see his old teammates again.

And now responsible for ushering in a new generation of young Watford talent day-to-day, he uses his experience coming through the ranks as a youngster in his current role, and understands the importance of both the FA Youth Cup, and playing at Vicarage Road.

“The experience of playing at Vicarage Road is vital,” Gilligan continued. “What Vicarage Road can’t become for any youth-team player is a place that feels strange. The players should know the geography of the pitch, how it feels to be in the stadium empty or full. When you’re in the youth team you only get to play there every now and again, so you’ve got to make the most of it.

“Within the Academy we want to work on the individual, but when it comes to a competition like the FA Youth Cup that’s about the team, going out there to win a football match and reaching the next round.

“We have to try and expose the lads to that, because winning matters. There’s a development side which is our bread and butter, but when the competition comes along we want to go as far as we can, and even win that competition.

“Colin Hull, the captain, we came from Stevenage together and he’s still my best friend. Nigel Gibbs visits the training ground - I know him and his wife very well. Sometimes I’ll see Ian Richardson from time-to-time, Dennis Elliott and Worrell Sterling too. It would be nice to get together as a group of very old men to see how everyone is, and recollect that night.”