AFC Bournemouth
The second half of our Cherries' history in the FA Cup fourth round, with two slightly more recent encounters profiled.
Jason Tindall's side are now looking to emulate these past accomplishments when they face Crawley Town in the club's latest fourth round tie on Tuesday evening.
1988/89
AFC Bournemouth 5 Hartlepool United 2
Luther Blissett was a key figure in AFC Bournemouth’s 1988/89 FA Cup run as the Cherries reached the fifth round for the first time since 1956/57.
Signed by Harry Redknapp from Watford in November 1988, Blissett made an immediate impact by scoring in his first five games for the club.
Having opened his account in a 5-2 defeat at Barnsley, the former AC Milan frontman netted four times on his home debut in a 5-1 victory over Hull City.
And by the time the Cherries started their FA Cup adventure in January 1989, Blissett had notched nine goals in his first eight games.
He reached double figures by bagging the only goal in the third-round triumph against 1953 FA Cup winners Blackpool at Bloomfield Road.
At the time, the Cherries, who were in their second season in the second tier, were sixth in the table before back-to-back defeats by Hull and Sunderland saw them drop to 12th ahead of the fourth round.
The draw had handed Redknapp’s team and the club’s supporters a 700-mile round trip to Hartlepool United who were 14th in Division Four.
Having made home advantage pay to see off Wigan Athletic, Notts County and Bristol City, Pools scented a giant-killing at the Victoria Ground.
In front of a crowd of 6,240, the hosts, who were managed by former Scotland international Bobby Moncur, opened the scoring through Brian Honour in the 37th minute.
But their lead was short lived as Blissett’s penalty on the stroke of half-time, the first goal conceded by Pools during their cup run, ensured the tie would go to a replay.
Hartlepool made the long trek to Dorset three days later and were roared on by more than 1,200 travelling supporters in a crowd of 10,142 at Dean Court.
However, the visitors gave themselves a mountain to climb when own goals by striker Paul Baker and goalkeeper Rob Moverley gifted the Cherries a 2-0 lead inside 34 minutes.
Although Joe Allon halved the deficit in the 41st minute, Mark Newson netted before half-time to restore the Cherries’ two-goal lead.
And while Andy Toman scored midway through the second half to give the visitors hope, goals in quick succession from Paul Morrell and Richard Cooke completed a 5-2 win for the hosts.
A rematch with Manchester United was the Cherries’ reward in the fifth round as Redknapp’s team gunned for a repeat of their shock win over the Red Devils in 1984.
But despite holding them to a 1-1 draw at Dean Court, with Trevor Aylott cancelling out Mark Hughes’s opener, Brian McClair bagged the only goal in the replay at Old Trafford as Alex Ferguson’s team progressed.
2015/16
Portsmouth 1 AFC Bournemouth 2
AFC Bournemouth ended a 27-year wait to reach fifth round when they edged past south coast neighbours Portsmouth in 2015/16, their first season in the Premier League.
Between 1990 and 2016, they had progressed to the fourth round on seven occasions and also been knocked out in the first or second round 13 times.
This tie gave the Cherries an opportunity to avenge a chastening 5-1 defeat in the fourth round at Fratton Park in January 1991 when they were sunk under Guy Whittingham’s four-goal second-half salvo.
Having exited in the fourth round in successive seasons to Liverpool (2013/14) and Aston Villa (2014/15), Eddie Howe’s team headed east bidding to go at least one better.
Lee Tomlin’s penalty and a goal from Glenn Murray had seen the Cherries come from behind to beat Birmingham City 2-1 in the third round at St Andrew’s three weeks previously.
Ahead of kick-off, Howe’s team were 16th in the Premier League, four points above the drop zone having followed up a 3-0 win over Norwich with a 1-1 draw at Sunderland.
Pompey, meanwhile, were fifth in League Two, Paul Cook’s team having eliminated Championship high-fliers Ipswich Town after a reply in the third round.
The hosts made a bright start and Gary Roberts and Marc McNulty, who had both been on target in the victory against Ipswich, combined to give them the lead.
Roberts was on hand to tap in McNulty’s cross two minutes before half-time as Pompey reached the break with an advantage their first-half showing had deserved.
Howe had made ten changes to his starting line-up following the draw at the Stadium of Light with Roma loan signing Juan Iturbe handed his full debut.
The double substitution of Marc Pugh and Matt Ritchie in the 62nd minute changed the dynamic of the Cherries attack as the visitors began to gain the upper hand.
And they levelled when Eunan O’Kane, one of the Cherries’ shining lights, delivered a free-kick which Joshua King glanced home from eight yards in the 71st minute.
Pugh settled the tie in favour of the visitors when his header deflected off Adam Webster and beat goalkeeper Ryan Fulton seven minutes from time.
Current players King, Dan Gosling, Junior Stanislas and Adam Smith all featured as the Cherries bowed out to Everton in the fifth round, Ross Barkley and Romelu Lukaku netting in a 2-0 win.
