1988 Football League Cup Final

The 1988 Football League Cup Final (sometimes known as the "1988 Littlewoods Cup" final due to sponsorship) took place at Wembley Stadium, and was contested between Luton Town and Arsenal. Thanks to goals from Danny Wilson and Brian Stein (2), goals from Alan Smith and Martin Hayes were not enough for Arsenal to salvage anything for the North London side.

Luton pulled off a shock result by winning the game 3–2. This was the first trophy that Luton Town won in their history.

Match summary

Luton had stunned defending champions and competition favourites Arsenal by taking an early lead thanks to a goal scored against the run of play by Brian Stein. However, the Hatters' advantage proved short-lived and they seemingly began to run out of steam as Arsenal overhauled them with goals by Alan Smith and Martin Hayes within three second half minutes. The turning point of the match came with ten minutes left. After a period of fluent attacking football by the Arsenal forwards which saw Smith hit the woodwork and Hayes, Michael Thomas and David Rocastle all have shots saved by Luton goalkeeper Andy Dibble, Arsenal were awarded a penalty after Rocastle was fouled in the box. Andy Dibble saved Nigel Winterburn's spot-kick by turning the ball round the post. A newly-inspired Luton equalised with seven minutes remaining when Arsenal defender Gus Caesar mis-kicked a clearance during a goal-mouth scramble, enabling Luton's Danny Wilson to bundle the ball into the Arsenal goal. With less than a minute to go, Brian Stein scored his second goal of the match to put the game beyond the reach of the defending champions.

Match details

footballbox
date=1988-04-24
team1=Luton Town
score=3 – 2
report=
team2=Arsenal
goals1=Stein goal|13 goal|90
Wilson goal|82
goals2=Smith goal|71
Hayes goal|74
stadium=Wembley, London
attendance=95,732
referee=Joe Worrall