1977–78 FA Cup

1977–78 FA Cup
Tournament details
Country	England; Wales
Defending champions	Manchester United
Final positions
Champions	Ipswich Town; (1st title)
Runner-up	Arsenal
	← 1976–77 1978–79 →

The 1977–78 FA Cup was the 97th season of the world's oldest knockout football competition, The Football Association Challenge Cup, or FA Cup. The final saw Ipswich Town beat Arsenal 1–0, with a goal from Roger Osborne.

First round proper

Teams from the Football League Third and Fourth Division entered in this round plus Workington, Scarborough, Dagenham and Wycombe Wanderers were given byes. The first round of games were played on 26 November 1977. Replays were played mainly on 28–30 November, with three on 5 and 7 December.

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Date
1	Enfield	3–0	Wimbledon	26 November 1977
2	Chester	4–1	Darlington	26 November 1977
3	Chesterfield	1–0	Halifax Town	26 November 1977
4	Barnet	1–2	Peterborough United	26 November 1977
5	Bath City	0–0	Plymouth Argyle	26 November 1977
Replay	Plymouth Argyle	2–0	Bath City	29 November 1977
6	Preston North End	3–2	Lincoln City	26 November 1977
7	Watford	2–0	Hendon	26 November 1977
8	Reading	3–1	Aldershot	26 November 1977
9	Walsall	1–0	Dagenham	26 November 1977
10	Gillingham	1–1	Weymouth	26 November 1977
Replay	Weymouth	0–1	Gillingham	30 November 1977
11	Boreham Wood	0–0	Swindon Town	26 November 1977
Replay	Swindon Town	2–0	Boreham Wood	29 November 1977
12	Sheffield Wednesday	1–0	Bury	26 November 1977
13	Scarborough	4–2	Rochdale	26 November 1977
14	Doncaster Rovers	0–1	Shrewsbury Town	26 November 1977
15	Wrexham	2–0	Burton Albion	26 November 1977
16	Tranmere Rovers	1–1	Hartlepool United	26 November 1977
Replay	Hartlepool United	3–1	Tranmere Rovers	29 November 1977
17	Stockport County	3–0	Scunthorpe United	26 November 1977
18	Barnsley	1–0	Huddersfield Town	26 November 1977
19	Brentford	2–0	Folkestone & Shepway	26 November 1977
20	Lowestoft Town	0–2	Cambridge United	26 November 1977
21	Portsmouth	3–1	Bideford	26 November 1977
22	Bradford City	0–1	Crewe Alexandra	26 November 1977
23	Carlisle United	2–0	Stafford Rangers	26 November 1977
24	Spennymoor United	3–1	Goole Town	26 November 1977
25	Blyth Spartans	1–0	Burscough	26 November 1977
26	Minehead	2–0	Wycombe Wanderers	26 November 1977
27	Newport County	1–1	Exeter City	26 November 1977
Replay	Exeter City	4–2	Newport County	30 November 1977
28	Wealdstone	0–0	Hereford United	26 November 1977
Replay	Hereford United	2–3	Wealdstone	30 November 1977
29	Southport	2–2	Runcorn	26 November 1977
Replay	Runcorn	1–0	Southport	28 November 1977
30	Torquay United	1–2	Southend United	26 November 1977
31	Workington	0–2	Grimsby Town	26 November 1977
32	Rotherham United	3–0	Mossley	26 November 1977
33	Tilbury	0–1	Kettering Town	26 November 1977
Replay	Tilbury	2–2	Kettering Town	5 December 1977
Replay	Kettering Town	2–3	Tilbury	7 December 1977
34	Tooting & Mitcham United	1–2	Northampton Town	26 November 1977
35	Wigan Athletic	1–0	York City	26 November 1977
36	Colchester United	1–1	AFC Bournemouth	26 November 1977
Replay	AFC Bournemouth	0–0	Colchester United	29 November 1977
Replay	AFC Bournemouth	1–4	Colchester United	5 December 1977
37	Nuneaton Borough	2–0	Oxford United	26 November 1977
38	Leatherhead	0–0	Swansea City	26 November 1977
Replay	Swansea City	2–1	Leatherhead	29 November 1977
39	Arnold	0–0	Port Vale	26 November 1977
Replay	Port Vale	5–2	Arnold	28 November 1977
40	AP Leamington	6–1	Enderby Town	26 November 1977

Second round proper

The second round of games were played on 17 December 1977. Replays took place on 19th–21st.

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Date
1	Preston North End	0–2	Wrexham	17 December 1977
2	Watford	2–0	Colchester United	17 December 1977
3	Walsall	1–1	Port Vale	17 December 1977
Replay	Port Vale	1–3	Walsall	19 December 1977
4	Gillingham	1–1	Peterborough United	17 December 1977
Replay	Peterborough United	2–0	Gillingham	20 December 1977
5	Grimsby Town	2–0	Barnsley	17 December 1977
6	Crewe Alexandra	0–0	Scarborough	17 December 1977
Replay	Scarborough	2–0	Crewe Alexandra	21 December 1977
7	Swindon Town	2–1	Brentford	17 December 1977
8	Shrewsbury Town	1–1	Stockport County	17 December 1977
Replay	Stockport County	1–2	Shrewsbury Town	19 December 1977
9	Northampton Town	0–2	Enfield	17 December 1977
10	Portsmouth	2–2	Swansea City	17 December 1977
Replay	Swansea City	2–1	Portsmouth	20 December 1977
11	Plymouth Argyle	1–0	Cambridge United	17 December 1977
12	Carlisle United	3–1	Chester	17 December 1977
13	Blyth Spartans	1–0	Chesterfield	17 December 1977
14	Minehead	0–3	Exeter City	17 December 1977
15	Wealdstone	2–1	Reading	17 December 1977
16	Rotherham United	6–0	Spennymoor United	17 December 1977
17	Wigan Athletic	1–0	Sheffield Wednesday	17 December 1977
18	Nuneaton Borough	1–2	Tilbury	17 December 1977
19	AP Leamington	0–0	Southend United	17 December 1977
Replay	Southend United	4–0	AP Leamington	19 December 1977
20	Hartlepool United	4–2	Runcorn	17 December 1977

Third round proper

Teams from the Football League First and Second Division entered in this round. The third round of games in the FA Cup were played on 6–7 January 1978. Replays were mainly played over 9–11 January but some occurred on 16th instead.

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Date
1	Bristol City	4–4	Wrexham	7 January 1978
Replay	Wrexham	3–0	Bristol City	9 January 1978
2	Burnley	1–0	Fulham	7 January 1978
3	Walsall	4–1	Swansea City	7 January 1978
4	Nottingham Forest	4–1	Swindon Town	7 January 1978
5	Blackburn Rovers	2–1	Shrewsbury Town	7 January 1978
6	Grimsby Town	0–0	Southampton	7 January 1978
Replay	Southampton	0–0	Grimsby Town	10 January 1978
Replay	Grimsby Town	1–4	Southampton	16 January 1978
7	Middlesbrough	3–0	Coventry City	7 January 1978
8	West Bromwich Albion	4–1	Blackpool	7 January 1978
9	Sunderland	0–1	Bristol Rovers	7 January 1978
10	Derby County	3–2	Southend United	7 January 1978
11	Luton Town	1–1	Oldham Athletic	7 January 1978
Replay	Oldham Athletic	1–2	Luton Town	10 January 1978
12	Everton	4–1	Aston Villa	7 January 1978
13	Sheffield United	0–5	Arsenal	7 January 1978
14	Tottenham Hotspur	2–2	Bolton Wanderers	7 January 1978
Replay	Bolton Wanderers	2–1	Tottenham Hotspur	10 January 1978
15	Queens Park Rangers	4–0	Wealdstone	7 January 1978
16	West Ham United	1–0	Watford	7 January 1978
17	Brighton & Hove Albion	3–0	Scarborough	7 January 1978
18	Hull City	0–1	Leicester City	7 January 1978
19	Carlisle United	1–1	Manchester United	7 January 1978
Replay	Manchester United	4–2	Carlisle United	11 January 1978
20	Chelsea	4–2	Liverpool	7 January 1978
21	Exeter City	2–2	Wolverhampton Wanderers	7 January 1978
Replay	Wolverhampton Wanderers	3–1	Exeter City	10 January 1978
22	Blyth Spartans	1–0	Enfield	7 January 1978
23	Mansfield Town	1–0	Plymouth Argyle	7 January 1978
24	Cardiff City	0–2	Ipswich Town	7 January 1978
25	Charlton Athletic	0–2	Notts County	6 January 1978
26	Leeds United	1–2	Manchester City	7 January 1978
27	Stoke City	4–0	Tilbury	7 January 1978
28	Rotherham United	1–1	Millwall	7 January 1978
Replay	Millwall	2–0	Rotherham United	10 January 1978
29	Peterborough United	1–1	Newcastle United	7 January 1978
Replay	Newcastle United	2–0	Peterborough United	11 January 1978
30	Birmingham City	4–0	Wigan Athletic	7 January 1978
31	Orient	1–1	Norwich City	6 January 1978
Replay	Norwich City	0–1	Orient	16 January 1978
32	Hartlepool United	2–1	Crystal Palace	7 January 1978

Fourth round proper

The fourth round of games were intended to be played on 28 January 1978, but by this time only nine matches had been played, of which three went to replays. The other matches and replays were completed either midweek on 31 January – 1 February, or on 6 February. Replays were played at various times after the initial games. Holders Manchester United were eliminated by West Bromwich Albion.

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Date
1	Walsall	1–0	Leicester City	28 January 1978
2	Nottingham Forest	2–1	Manchester City	31 January 1978
3	Bolton Wanderers	1–0	Mansfield Town	6 February 1978
4	Middlesbrough	3–2	Everton	28 January 1978
5	Derby County	2–1	Birmingham City	1 February 1978
6	Ipswich Town	4–1	Hartlepool United	28 January 1978
7	Newcastle United	2–2	Wrexham	28 January 1978
Replay	Wrexham	4–1	Newcastle United	6 February 1978
8	Bristol Rovers	2–0	Southampton	28 January 1978
9	West Ham United	1–1	Queens Park Rangers	28 January 1978
Replay	Queens Park Rangers	6–1	West Ham United	31 January 1978
10	Brighton & Hove Albion	1–2	Notts County	31 January 1978
11	Manchester United	1–1	West Bromwich Albion	28 January 1978
Replay	West Bromwich Albion	3–2	Manchester United	1 February 1978
12	Millwall	4–0	Luton Town	31 January 1978
13	Chelsea	6–2	Burnley	31 January 1978
14	Arsenal	2–1	Wolverhampton Wanderers	28 January 1978
15	Stoke City	2–3	Blyth Spartans	6 February 1978
16	Orient	3–1	Blackburn Rovers	28 January 1978

Fifth round proper

The fifth set of games mainly took place on 18 February 1978, with two of the games played on 22nd and 27th. Four games went to replays which were played on 27–28 February. A second replay was then played on 2 March.

Blyth Spartans were the first non-League team to reach the Fifth Round since Yeovil Town in 1948-49.

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Date
1	Middlesbrough	2–0	Bolton Wanderers	27 February 1978
2	Derby County	2–3	West Bromwich Albion	22 February 1978
3	Wrexham	1–1	Blyth Spartans	18 February 1978
Replay	Blyth Spartans	1–2	Wrexham	27 February 1978
4	Queens Park Rangers	1–1	Nottingham Forest	18 February 1978
Replay	Nottingham Forest	1–1	Queens Park Rangers	27 February 1978
Replay	Nottingham Forest	3–1	Queens Park Rangers	2 March 1978
5	Bristol Rovers	2–2	Ipswich Town	18 February 1978
Replay	Ipswich Town	3–0	Bristol Rovers	28 February 1978
6	Millwall	2–1	Notts County	18 February 1978
7	Arsenal	4–1	Walsall	18 February 1978
8	Orient	0–0	Chelsea	18 February 1978
Replay	Chelsea	1–2	Orient	27 February 1978

Sixth round proper

The sixth round of FA Cup games were played on 11 March 1978. There was one replay on 14th.

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Date
1	Middlesbrough	0–0	Orient	11 March 1978
Replay	Orient	2–1	Middlesbrough	14 March 1978
2	West Bromwich Albion	2–0	Nottingham Forest	11 March 1978
3	Wrexham	2–3	Arsenal	11 March 1978
4	Millwall	1–6	Ipswich Town	11 March 1978

Semi-finals

8 April 1978

Ipswich Town	3–1	West Bromwich Albion
Talbot 8' Mills 20' Wark 90'	Report^{[dead link‍]}	T. Brown pen 80'

Highbury, London

Attendance: 51,000

Referee: Clive Thomas, Treorchy

8 April 1978

Arsenal	3–0	Orient
Macdonald 16' 20' Rix 65'	Report^{[dead link‍]}

Stamford Bridge, London

Referee: Pat Partridge, County Durham

Final

6 May 1978
15:00 BST

Arsenal	0–1	Ipswich Town
		Osborne 77'

Wembley, London

Attendance: 100,000

Referee: Derek Nippard (Christchurch)

Arsenal

Ipswich

TV Coverage

The right to show FA Cup games were, as with Football League matches, shared between the BBC and ITV network. All games were shown in a highlights format, except the Final, which was shown live both on BBC1 & ITV. The BBC football highlights programme Match of the Day would show up to three games and the various ITV regional network stations would cover up to one game and show highlights from other games covered elsewhere on the ITV network. No games from Rounds 1 or 2 were shown. Highlights of replays were shown on either the BBC or ITV. The BBC were only able to cover two planned Round Three FA Cup round ties due to a technical error for West Ham United v Watford.

Third Round BBC Carlisle United v Manchester United, Leeds United v Manchester City, Manchester United v Carlisle United (Midweek replay). ITV Chelsea v Liverpool (LWT), Sheffield United v Arsenal (Yorkshire), Everton v Aston Villa (Granada & ATV), Middlesbrough v Coventry City (Tyne-Tees), Peterborough United v Newcastle United (Anglia)

Fourth Round BBC Manchester United v West Bromwich Albion, Newcastle United v Wrexham, Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers. ITV Middlesbrough v Everton (Tyne-Tees & Granada), West Ham United v Queens Park Rangers (LWT), Walsall v Leicester City (ATV), Bristol Rovers v Southampton (HTV & Southern), Nottingham Forest v Manchester City (Midweek All Regions)

Fifth Round BBC Wrexham v Blyth Spartans, Queens Park Rangers v Nottingham Forest, Arsenal v Walsall. ITV Bristol Rovers v Ipswich Town (HTV & Anglia), Orient v Chelsea (LWT) All regions showed these two games.

Sixth Round BBC West Bromwich Albion v Nottingham Forest, Millwall v Ipswich Town. ITV Wrexham v Arsenal (HTV, Granada & LWT), Middlesbrough v Orient (Tyne-Tees & Yorkshire) All regions showed these two games

Semi-Finals BBC Ipswich Town v West Bromwich Albion. ITV Arsenal v Orient (All regions)

Final Arsenal v Ipswich Town shown live on BBC and ITV.

References

FA Cup Results Archive

v t e FA Cup
Seasons	1871–72 1872–73 1873–74 1874–75 1875–76 1876–77 1877–78 1878–79 1879–80 1880–81 1881–82 1882–83 1883–84 1884–85 1885–86 1886–87 1887–88 1888–89 1889–90 1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Qualifying rounds	1888–89 1889–90 1890–91 1891–92 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Finals	1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
History List of finals Semi-finals Final referees Winning managers Non-English clubs Scottish clubs Non-League clubs in the 5th Round Giant-Killing Award

v t e 1977–78 in European football (UEFA)
« 1976–77 1978–79 »
Domestic leagues	Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark '77 '78 England Faroe Islands '77 '78 Finland '77 '78 France East Germany West Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '77 '78 Israel Italy Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '77 '78 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Scotland Soviet Union '77 '78 Spain Sweden '77 '78 Switzerland Turkey Yugoslavia
Domestic cups	Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark England Faroe Islands '77 '78 Finland '77 '78 France East Germany West Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '77 '78 Israel Italy Liechtenstein Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '77 '78 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania San Marino Scotland Soviet Union Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Wales Yugoslavia
League cups	England Poland Republic of Ireland Scotland Switzerland
Super cups	Soviet Union
UEFA competitions	European Cup (Final) Cup Winners' Cup (Final) UEFA Cup (Final) Super Cup
Non-UEFA competitions	Intertoto Cup Balkans Cup '77 '77–'78