FA Cup still shines

BBC Sport's Mark Lawrenson says the FA Cup is still the best cup competition in the world.

People say that the FA Cup has lost some of its sheen. Don't believe a word of it.

You ask Michael Owen what scoring two goals in last season's final against Arsenal was like for him.

He's one of the biggest stars in world football but those strikes still meant everything to him.

We went to get in the bath only to find that there were three Liverpool supporters, fully clothed, in there already

Mark Lawrenson

As a player, I was fortunate enough to win the FA Cup in 1986 with Liverpool.

We beat our city rivals Everton 3-1 at Wembley to win the Double.

There's one memory from that day that really sticks in my mind.

After we paraded the Cup round the pitch we went back to our changing room to celebrate.

When we got back there we found that three Liverpool supporters, fully clothed, were in the bath.

I don't know how they'd got past the Wembley security and into the dressing room, let alone the bath, but there they were.

And it was fantastic. They were lads who'd followed us all season and it was apt that we celebrated our success with them.

That was the only year I ever won the Cup, even though I was a member of an all-conquering Liverpool side for five years.

We struggled for an hour against a superb Everton side that contained players like Peter Reid and Gary Lineker. They had only narrowly missed out on winning the league themselves and could also have been going for a double that day.

Lawrenson heads clear of Lineker in 1986

We went a goal down after my central defensive partner and current Match of the Day colleague Alan Hansen let Lineker in to score!

But we fought back and eventually won comfortably.

It was a fantastic day. There was no trouble on the terraces and the atmosphere was fantastic.

The beauty of the Cup is the shocks it throws up. I know this only too well.

In 1976 I was a young lad at Preston North End and we were beaten 3-2 at non-league Scarborough.

It was a freezing day, the pitch was icy and we should never have played the game.

But that's part of the appeal of the Cup I suppose.