Clough finishes Palace replay with ten

On this day in Nottingham Forest history in 1991 Brian Clough finishes with ten men as Forest beat Crystal Palace in an FA Cup replay.

General trivia

Quirky or unusual club facts

Brian Clough, Forest manager and legend. Pictured in April 1980. Image: Hans van Dijk / Anefo, via Wikimedia Commons

Forest beat Crystal Palace 3-0 at the City Ground in an FA Cup third-round second replay.

The sides had already drawn 0-0 at Palace and 2-2 in the first replay, so the tie needed a third match to settle it. After a goalless first half, Forest broke the game open quickly. Garry Parker scored twice in three minutes, in the 50th and 53rd minutes, before Gary Crosby added the third on 61 minutes.

The match is also remembered for one of Brian Clough’s strangest pieces of touchline theatre. With around five minutes left, Steve Hodge was called off and no replacement came on, even though Forest still had a substitute available. Referee Roger Milford reportedly said it was the first time in 18 years he had seen a team deliberately finish with ten men.

Clough’s explanation shifted with time. He initially said he was protecting Hodge’s calf, but later accounts suggested something more pointed: Clough disliked Palace’s physical approach and wanted to make a statement by seeing out the win a man short. There may also have been a personal edge, with Hodge involved in a contract dispute during the second half of the season.

Forest progressed after three meetings with Palace and eventually reached the 1991 FA Cup final. The run ended with a 2-1 extra-time defeat to Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley, but this replay left behind a very Clough kind of footnote: three goals, a comfortable win, and a manager choosing to finish with ten players simply because he could.