Crystal Palace Under-18s will face Manchester United in the third round of the FA Youth Cup on Sunday, however this isn’t the first time the two sides have met in the competition.
Just over 30 years ago, the two clubs played out a two-legged final at the end of the 1991/92 season and an underdog Palace side faced arguably the best youth team in English football.
After progressing through the earlier rounds with four consecutive 2-0 wins over Charlton Athletic, Chelsea, Crewe Alexandra and West Ham United, Palace faced a two-legged semi-final against local outfit Wimbledon in March 1992.
Goals across both legs from captain Mark Holman, Grant Watts and Niall Thompson – who went on to play across England, Scotland, Canada and the United States – saw the Eagles progress into the final with a 5-4 aggregate victory.
Manchester United’s now famous 'Class of ‘92' lay in store, with the likes of Gary Neville, David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Keith Gillespie, Robbie Savage and Ryan Giggs all featuring on their journey to the final.
Though the south Londoners had won the tournament in 1976/77 and 1977/78, with a number of players who made up Palace’s ‘Team of the Eighties’, they were up against the most successful side in the competition’s history, as United were chasing a seventh title.
The first leg was played in-front of an 8,000-strong crowd at Selhurst Park in torrential rain on 14th April, 1992. Greeted by the sound of Glad All Over and red and blue balloons, the young Eagles took to the pitch in an attempt to stake a claim for their third FA Youth Cup title.
The Red Devils got off to the better start however, taking a two-goal lead inside the opening half an hour as Butt and Beckham got themselves on the scoresheet. Palace looked to have halved the deficit in the second-half through Simon Rollison, but it was ruled out for offside.
Second-half substitute Stuart McCall managed to pull one back for Palace in the 85th-minute after heading in Watts' cross, however United reclaimed a two-goal advantage as Beckham and Butt combined for the latter to score a second just two minutes later.
The competition was far from over despite defeat at Selhurst Park, as a second-leg at Old Trafford lay a month later. And shortly after the referee blew his whistle Palace's hopes of silverware were boosted, claiming an early goal to make it 3-2 on aggregate.
But it wasn’t to be for the young Eagles as they couldn’t capitalise on the dream start. United pulled two goals back to extend their lead through Ben Thornley and Simon Davies, and Colin McKee completed the scoring after McCall bagged what proved to be a consolation for Palace.
The 6-3 result on aggregate saw the Red Devils lift the FA Youth Cup, just two years after the senior side also faced Palace in the 1990 FA Cup final. Despite of the result, then-manager Steve Coppell praised the young Eagles’ performance and applauded them in their lap of honour.
While the result may have been hard to take, overall it was a positive sign for the club as a whole in the early 90s as they were progressing on all fronts. After winning the Zenith Data Systems Cup in 1990/91, the south Londoners reached the semi-finals of the same competition a year later along with a run to the quarter-final of the League Cup.
The Premier League was formed in 1992/93 and Palace played in the inaugural season, with finalists Watts, Thompson, and George Ndah all featuring for the club.
Although the Palace side of that FA Youth Cup final did not hit the heights of Manchester Untied's famous group, many went on to build fully-fledged careers – the most notable of which being Ndah.
The south London-born striker is still the youngest ever player to don the red and blue in the Premier League, scoring 11 times in 101 appearances before moving on to Swindon Town and completing his career at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Goalkeeper Jimmy Glass had a long-spanning career across a number of clubs in English football, most notably for AFC Bournemouth and also for Carlisle United, where he managed to score a goal with a last-minute volley on the final day of the 1998/99 season to keep them in the Third Division.
Palace made it to the final of the FA Youth Cup once more in 1996/97, though they finished runners up to Leeds United with a 3-1 aggregate score. In recent seasons, the young Eagles have struggled to go on a run into the latter parts of the tournament, though this year that may change on Sunday as they welcome the reigning champions and now 11-time winners Manchester United.
Tickets are available for this game at Selhurst Park from just £1. Click HERE for more information.
