For the third time in successive seasons Oldham Athletic face an FA Cup tie with seven-time winners Liverpool.
Ahead of this year’s third round tie at Anfield, MM take a look through the archives charting the five previous meetings over 107 years between the two teams in the world’s oldest cup competition.
Saturday February 2, 1907
Oldham 0 Liverpool 1 second round
Oldham: Teddy Daw, Jimmy Hodson, Percy Slater, Jimmy Fay, David Walders, David Wilson, Jack Walders, Joe Shadbolt, Matthew Brunton, Harry Hancock, Allan Ramsey
Liverpool: Sam Hardy, Tom Chorllton, Billy Dunlop, James Bradley, James Gorman, Robbie Robinson, Arthur Goddard, Bill McPherson, Jack Parkinson, Sam Raybould, Jack Cox
In their second season in the FA Cup, Latics faced the reigning First Division champions at Boundary Park. Despite being in the Lancashire Combination Division A, Oldham only suffered a one goal defeat to the previous season’s FA Cup semi-finalists.
Bill McPherson’s 65th minute strike settled the tie in front of a record 21,538 fans. Oldham won acceptance to the Football League later that season. Latics were managed by David Ashworth who became Liverpool boss for two years in 1920 before returning to Boundary Park in 1923.
Saturday January 27, 1962
Oldham 1 Liverpool 2 fourth round
Oldham: Jimmy Rollo, Ken Branagan, John McCue, Jimmy Scott, Alan Williams, Brian Jarvis, Peter Phoenix, Bobby Johnstone, Bert Lister, Jimmy Frizzell, John Colquhoun
Liverpool: Bert Slater, Dick White, Gerry Byrne, Gordon Milne, Ron Yeats, Tommy, Leishman, Ian Callaghan, Roger Hunt, Ian St John, Jimmy Melia, Alan A’Court
Athletic’s best post-WW2 FA Cup performance saw them rewarded with a home tie against Liverpool. Although in Division 2 at the time, Liverpool were on the up with Bill Shankly at the helm while Oldham were in Division 4.
Almost 42,000 fans crammed into Boundary Park to see a Reds side containing international players such as Ian St John and Roger Hunt, who was part of England’s 1966 World Cup winning squad. A double from St John saw Liverpool through despite John Colquhoun’s 83rd minute goal.
The Reds won promotion to the top flight in the same season.
Saturday February 26, 1977
Liverpool 3 Oldham 1 fifth round
Liverpool: Ray Clemence, Phil Neal, Joey Jones, Phil Thompson, Ray Kennedy, Emlyn Hughes, Kevin Keegan, Jimmy Case, Steve Heighway, John Toshack, Ian Callaghan
Oldham: John Platt, Ian Wood, John Hurst, Keith Hicks, Ronnie Blair, Graham Bell, Ian Robins, Les Chapman, David Shaw, Vic Halom, Alan Groves
Liverpool dominated both domestically and abroad during the seventies. The reigning league champions welcomed Oldham to Anfield 15 years after their last meeting, with only Ian Callaghan surviving. Latics were buoyed by their best FA Cup run since 1915.
For four minutes the Division 2 side were level after David Shaw cancelled out Kevin Keegan’s opener. Jimmy Case restored Liverpool’s lead before Phil Neal scored from the spot after Steve Heighway was fouled.
Latics’ team contained record appearance holder Ian Wood and cult-legend Alan Groves while Liverpool had many England internationals including Phil Thompson, Neal and Keegan.
That year the Reds won the First Division, Charity Shield and the European Cup as well as finishing runner-up in the FA Cup.
Friday January 6, 2012
Liverpool 5 Oldham 1 third round
Liverpool: Pepe Reina, Sebastian Coates, Martin Kelly, Fabio Aurelio (Jon Flanagan, 71), Jamie Carragher, Jonjo Shelvey, Steven Gerrard, Maxi Rodriguez, Jay Spearing, Dirk Kuyt (Andy Carroll, 87), Craig Bellamy (Stewart Downing, 74)
Oldham: Alex Cisak, Zander Diamond, Jean-Yves M’voto, Kieran Lee, Dean Furman, Tom Adeyemi, Chris Taylor, James Wesolowski (Filipe Morais, 74), Luca Scapuzzi (Josh Parker, 54), Shefki Kuqi, Robbie Simpson (Matt Smith, 74)
Moved to a Friday night to avoid a clash with Everton’s match with Tamworth, this was the first meeting between the two sides since Oldham’s relegation from the Premier League in 1994.
This was the first time Athletic had reached the third round in five years and more than 6,000 fans travelled down the M62. Without Luis Suarez, who was suspended after racially abusing Patrice Evra, Liverpool still fielded international players Pepe Reina, Steven Gerrard, Maxi Rodriguez and Dirk Kuyt.
For two minutes Latics dared to dream as Robbie Simpson’s outrageous volley in front of the Kop opened the scoring. Even when Craig Bellamy equalised the travelling fans were still celebrating.
A penalty from Gerrard and Jonjo Shelvey’s first Liverpool goal put the tie to bed before substitutes Stewart Downing and Andy Carroll added two more. The evening was marred when Tom Adeyemi broke down in tears after being on the end of a verbal insult.
Sunday January 27, 2013
Oldham 3 Liverpool 2 fourth round
Oldham: Dean Bouzanis, Reece Wabara, Cliff Byrne, Jean-Yves M’voto, Jonathan Grounds, Lee Croft, James Wesolowski, Robbie Simpson (Dan Taylor, 77), Youssouf M’Changama (Carl Winchester, 10), Jose Baxter, Matt Smith (David Mellor, 84)
Liverpool: Brad Jones, Andre Wisdom (Steven Gerrard, 55), Martin Skrtel, Sebastian Coates, Jack Robinson, Raheem Sterling (Jonjo Shelvey, 72), Jordan Henderson, Joe Allen, Daniel Sturridge, Fabio Borini (Stewart Downing, 55), Luis Suarez
Despite being chosen for TV a sell-out crowd turned up at Boundary Park exactly 51 years to the day since the last Oldham-Liverpool FA Cup meeting there. With 10,295 watching, plus millions more on ITV, former University of Manchester student Matt Smith headed home Youssouf M’Changama’s cross just three minutes in.
Smith scored again on the stroke of half time to restore Latics’ lead after Luis Suarez, who was captain for the day, equalised. This made Oldham the first third tier team to score two goals in an FA Cup game against Liverpool in 20 years.
Three minutes after the break, Manchester City loanee Reece Wabara made it 3-1 with a looping header – the only time since 1956 Liverpool conceded three FA Cup goals to a team outside the top two divisions.
Oldham held on to secure a maiden FA Cup win over Liverpool despite Joe Allen’s 80th minute strike, substitute Gerrard hitting the bar and six minutes injury time.
Fans ran onto the pitch at full time to celebrate a famous victory which ensured their passage to the fifth round for the first time since 1994. Manager Paul Dickov left the club a week later as Athletic continued to struggle in League One.
Image courtesy of The FA Cup via YouTube, with thanks.
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