Best, Villa, Keegan highlight FA Cup magic

LONDON (Reuters) -- George Best had been kicking his heels, suspended by the English FA for a month for knocking the ball out of the referee's hands at the end of a League Cup derby against Manchester City.

He watched from the sidelines while Manchester United remained unbeaten in five matches. By February 7, 1970, he was more than ready for action.

His comeback match made FA Cup history as Best became only the eighth player to score six or more goals in an FA Cup match when Manchester United won 8-2 at Northampton Town.

"We hadn't an earthly chance against United with Best in that form," said Northampton goalkeeper Kim Book.

"Not even the Berlin Wall could have stopped him. The man was brilliant, fantastic, fabulous. I was depressed to be on the receiving end of an eight-goal walloping, but I would sooner Best be responsible than anyone else.

"It got to the stage where I thought he was going to score every time he got the ball and six times I was right."

Almost 34 years later Book is resigned to seeing countless re-runs of Best's goals on television as Northampton prepare to play United in the FA Cup again this weekend.

They have about as much chance of beating United in Sunday's fourth round tie as they did in 1970 - virtually none. Best's scoring feat that afternoon has been equalled or bettered only three times in the competition since.

The magic of the FA Cup is that the unexpected can arrive at any time which is exactly what happened on the night of May 14, 1981, when Tottenham Hotspur beat Manchester City 3-2 in the 100th Cup Final, the first to be replayed at Wembley Stadium.

BRILLIANT VILLA

Tottenham face Manchester City on Sunday which means that Ricardo Villa's memorable winning goal for Spurs will also be replayed again and again in the build-up.

This week, in a nationwide poll of soccer fans, Villa's goal was voted as the greatest scored in an FA Cup final and the Argentine has never been allowed to forget it.

Last time he was in London two years ago Villa remembered: "I believe it was a really good goal in the right place at the right moment as Spurs won the cup. It is a great memory for me.

"I still can't believe every time I come back people still remind me of that goal."

What made the goal even more special was that in the original final five days earlier, which ended in a 1-1 draw, Villa had been substituted by manager Keith Burkinshaw.

Burkinshaw kept faith with him for the replay and was repaid by Villa scoring the opening goal after seven minutes and the winner after 76 minutes.

He ran 40 metres with the ball, slaloming through the Manchester City defence before hitting the winner.

As Spurs defender Paul Miller remembered: "I was standing behind him down the field thinking to myself: 'why doesn't he pass that ball? He's going to lose it.'

"The next thing I knew the ball was in the back of the net and I was screaming for joy."

KEEGAN DOUBLE

Seven years before Villa's double strike, Kevin Keegan experienced the same feeling of joy with two goals in Liverpool's 3-0 defeat of Newcastle United in the 1974 final.

While Keegan, now the Manchester City manager, will be planning the downfall of Spurs on Sunday, his two former clubs meet at Anfield on Saturday. Newcastle are slight favourites to beat Liverpool in the cup for the first time in 80 years.

Their hopes of beating them in 1974 were destroyed by Keegan who scored two second half goals in a one-sided match that ended with the biggest winning margin in a final for 14 years.

"When I later joined Newcastle the fans forgave me for those goals," said Keegan, also Newcastle manager later in his career.

"Today they are still two great clubs -- but all I am concerned about is getting Manchester City into the next round. The goals are great memories, but they are history."

Copyright 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.