Top Ten: Great Escapes

By James Pearson   Last updated: 11th May 2008

Tottenham 1 Coventry 2 1997 White Hart Lane Sky Blues stay up

Coventry survive in 1997

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With an exciting Premier League season nearing its conclusion skysports.com looks back of some of the greatest escapes from the drop. What do you make of our top ten? Did we leave any great escapes out? Send us your views!

Oldham 4 Southampton 3 (1993)

When Oldham headed into the final week of the 1992/93 season trailing fourth from bottom Crystal Palace by eight points, their supporters looked at the glass as being neither half full nor empty but rather just ordered another drink. A large one. Three fixtures in seven days saw Joe Royle's side face title-chasing Aston Villa away, before Liverpool and Southampton were due at Boundary Park.

Nicky Henry's screwed shot across Villa's Mark Bosnich proved bitter-sweet as while it staved off the drop for another day it also handed Manchester United their first title in 26 years. A calamitous midweek display from David James (this was pre his giving up Nintendo and smoking) gave Oldham a 3-2 victory over Liverpool that had Palace boss Steve Coppell looking even more worried than usual.

On the final day Oldham cruised into a 4-1 lead over a languid Saints before Matt Le Tissier decided to make things interesting by completing a sublime hat-trick. The Latics held on though and as the wireless in the dugout confirmed a 3-0 defeat for Palace at Arsenal, Royle and his players were safe. A year later they were relegated.

Everton 3 Wimbledon 2 (1994)

After 40 years in the top flight, Mike Walker's Everton were staring relegation squarely in the face as they went into this final day clash with Wimbledon at Goodison Park.

The game could not have started worse for The Toffees with a Dean Holdsworth penalty and Gary Ablett own goal giving the visitors a 2-0 lead. Graham Stuart's spot-kick gave the home fans hope before half-time. Barry Horne's 30-yard stunner levelled the scores before Stuart's second of the game capped a remarkable turnaround.

Bradford 1 Liverpool 0 (2000)

Few gave Bradford a chance of staying up in the 1999/2000 season, but thanks to David Wetherall's powerful header against Liverpool at Valley Parade on the last day of the season, The Bantams secured a second season of top-flight football.

The former Leeds defender netted with just 12 minutes on the clock, the West Yorkshire outfit keeping out the Merseysiders for the rest of the contest to secure a priceless win for Paul Jewell's side.

The unlikely win over The Reds meant Wimbledon were relegated at Southampton, ending their 14-year top-flight stay.

West Brom 2 Portsmouth 0 (2005)

The Baggies defied the odds in 2005 by becoming the first-ever Premier League side to be bottom at Christmas and avoid the drop.

Despite entering the last day of the 2004/05 season in the drop zone they claimed a famous 2-0 win over Portsmouth at The Hawthorns while Charlton's late 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace relegated The Eagles. Elsewhere, Norwich and Southampton both lost and were also relegated.

Geoff Horsfield and on-loan Kieran Richardson netted for The Baggies, while Jonathan Fortune's effort against The Palace spelt heartbreak for Iain Dowie's side.

Carlisle 2 Peterborough 1 (1999)

You could not have written a better script if you tried with Carlisle's on-loan keeper Jimmy Glass netting with virtually the last kick of the game to give the Cumbrians a priceless 2-1 win over Plymouth at Brunton Park relegating Scarborough from the Football League after they could only manage a 1-1 home draw with Peterborough United.

Scarborough FC's first relegation proved the beginning of the end as they folded in June 2007 with debts of £2.5million.

Manchester United 0 West Ham 1 (2007)

Controversy reigned in the 2006/07 season as West Ham avoided a points deduction over the registration of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano.

Although Mascherano failed to make an impact at Upton Park, Tevez proved the catalyst for survival with a string of crucial goals in the second half of the season, including a priceless winner in their final game of the season at newly-crowned champions Manchester United that saw Sheffield United relegated following a 2-1 defeat to Wigan.

Sheffield United 1 Wigan 2 (2007)

Wigan secured Premiership survival and condemned Sheffield United to the drop with a dramatic win at Bramall Lane.

Paul Scharner's 14th minute strike put Wigan ahead, but Jon Stead's header put the Blades level after 38 minutes. Former Blade David Unsworth kept Wigan up with a penalty in first-half injury-time after Phil Jagielka handled Kevin Kilbane's free-kick.

Sheffield United Danny Webber hit a post and Wigan had Lee McCulloch sent off in a frantic second period.

Wigan's win, combined with West Ham's victory at Manchester United, meant the Blades went back down into the Championship after one full season in the top flight.

Barnet 2 Torquay 3 (2001)

The end of the 2000/01 season saw Barnet entertain Torquay United in a winner-takes-all battle at Underhill. The Bees began the day bottom of the Third Division, however, victory over The Gulls would see them safe - and relegate the South Coasters at the same time.

However, it proved somewhat of an anti-climax for home fans as the visitors stormed into a 3-0 lead courtesy of goals from Kevin Hill, Jason Rees, and David Graham.

Barnet fought back to 3-2, but United held on for the win to condemn Barnet to the Nationwide Conference.

Spurs 1 Coventry 2 (1997)

Going into the last game of the 1996/97 season, Coventry were sitting in the final relegation spot of the Premiership.

Gordon Strachan's side were not to be denied at White Hart Lane. Goals from Dion Dublin and Paul Williams gave The Sky Blues a 2-0 lead before Paul McVeigh's effort on the stroke of half-time reduced the arrears.

And the greatest survivor of them all, goalkeeper Steve Ogrizovic, was the hero with two fantastic late saves from Neale Fenn and Jason Dozzell as the Sky Blues won 2-1.

This was the ninth time in 30 seasons that Coventry have stayed up on the final day of the season, this time at Sunderland's expense.

Southampton 3 Sheffield United 2 (20080

Nigel Pearson's side began the day in the Championship drop zone needing to beat Sheffield United in order to stand any chance of staying up.

With Sheffield Wednesday seeing off Norwich at Hillsborough, a win for The Saints could relegate Leicester City to the third tier of English football for the first time in their history.

Stephen Quinn put The Blades in front, but goals from Marek Saganowski and Stern John gave the home side a priceless lead. Jon Stead's header brought the visitors level but The Saints were not to be denied with John netting the winner before being sent-off.

The 10-men held on and it proved enough as Leicester could only draw with promoted Stoke to leave The Foxes contemplating League One football next season.

Nearly a great escape!

A mention must go to Bournemouth who despite a 10-point deduction came within a whisker of retaining their League One place with six wins and a draw from their last seven league games. Sadly for Kevin Bond's side they fell just short following a 1-1 draw at Carlisle on the last day of the season.

Comments

Matthew Archer (Aston Villa fan) says...

cum on villa for this season 08/09 we neli had that uafa spot but everton played verywell last season and we drawn only just 2.2 we scored 85 minute that was lucky that was when everton was 3 points in front thn they lost to arsenal 1.0 so we had a change then we drawn that was there GREAT ESCAPE LOL

Posted 19:19 19th June 2008

Mark Lardner (West Ham United fan) says...

Oh Dear, Oh dear, when will Sheffield United fans let it go?, You keep banging on about Carlos Tevez not being allowed to play for West Ham, But the bottom line is, you could have won & kept yourselves up, but you bottled it. Where did you finish last season?

Posted 19:23 8th June 2008

Jamie Ledgewat (Sheffield United fan) says...

i know im a blade... but i wonder how many other people think mr tevez shouldnt have been playing that day. and previous other games... regardless what happened on the last game, he had a direct influence to results beforehand.

Posted 22:48 6th June 2008

Rachel Henley (Chelsea fan) says...

I have to say, Fulham making that great escape was a suprise. And to beat Pompey is hard to do, they are a good side.

Posted 11:38 1st June 2008

James Johnson (Hull City fan) says...

i think people forget hull city doing a great escape in 98/99 when we were locked out of boothferry park but came back to secure our place in division three which also sparked the rise that got us to the promised land

Posted 20:40 31st May 2008

Alan Drewett (Fulham fan) says...

I can't believe Fulham's great escape is not up there, we produced the best ever escape the premiership has ever seen. We were 7 points behind with 6 games to go but we still stayed up. You have made a mistake.

Posted 15:22 30th May 2008

Harry Clarke (Crystal Palace fan) says...

what about stockport 0 - 1 crystal palace? palace where seconds away from being relegated from division 1 (championship) when dougie freedman scored a last minute winner to keep palace in the league. we also had to win our 2nd to last game away at portsmouth which we did coming out 2-4 winners

Posted 15:20 30th May 2008

Alex Johns (West Ham United fan) says...

I Might be a bit biased but i think it has to be west ham's great escape in 06/07 being in the relegation zone all season and to be virtually relegated agianst spurs then to be the first to win at the emirates and win the last 8 out of 9 games (title form) was a bit special and then to go to the champions needing a win on the last day of the season and getting a win was better than west brom's. However harry redknapp's great escape was great i dont think that it was better than west ham's.

Posted 21:32 29th May 2008

Sean Williams-beckford (Aston Villa fan) says...

what about fulham and bolton (each though bolton were safe a week early)

Posted 22:23 23rd May 2008

Jake Ledington (West Bromwich Albion fan) says...

The best great escape was west brom in 2005 as we was bottom at christmas and stayed up, and there was everything to play for as not one team was regated going into the last game of the season making the matches more exciting

Posted 22:09 23rd May 2008

Ben Hudson (West Bromwich Albion fan) says...

by far the best great escape was West Brom against pompey in 05. The only way we could have survived was if all the results went our way and luckily they did. Thanks to Geoff Horsfield and Kiaran Richards we were in the Prem another year

Posted 21:17 23rd May 2008

Andy Ellis (Coventry City fan) says...

I was at the Coventry vs Tottenham game with my father in 1997. The second half was the longest fourty five minutes in football that I have ever experienced. It was a superb feeling to be there and the result was nothing less than the players deserved for the way they battled to stay up that season. Loyal give everything players like Richard Shaw are a dying breed in this day and age and should be long remembered by all.

Posted 15:29 19th May 2008

Dave Brewer (Bolton Wanderers fan) says...

How about my former home town club Bournemouth (now living in Coventry, talk about swapping about one relegation contender for another!) way back in the 90¿s? I can't remember exactly what year but they were in the relegation zone for the first 45 games of the season, only to get out of it for the first and only time on the very last day! Or how about my club Bolton sadly going down in 1997 because of Everton?

Posted 13:42 13th May 2008

Dimitri Kndonis (Fulham fan) says...

uhmmm ... fulham anyone?! that must surely go dow n as one of the greatest as no away victory in over 34 games and then we won the last 3in a row! impressivee and to beat pompey away is something the top4 couldnt do

Posted 08:39 13th May 2008

Danny Daly (Manchester United fan) says...

David Pleat and Luton come springing to mind, running around flapping his arms after surviving back in the early 80s was the what the beauty of the great escape was all about.

Posted 03:49 12th May 2008

Yaquub Salie (Manchester United fan) says...

fulham today was quite amazing.. winning 5 of there last 6 to stay up including a sensational comeback at city from 2 down

Posted 18:49 11th May 2008

Jamie T (Manchester United fan) says...

By far the best great escape was Portsmouth¿s escape when Harry Redknapp came from Southampton to take over for the second time....not only had they staved off relegation but they have become a force to be reckoned with in the Premier League...and they are in the FA Cup final after knocking out the best team ever...Manchester

Posted 14:13 11th May 2008

Ben Simon (Swansea City fan) says...

Swansea v Hull 2002/2003 Last day of the season James Thomas Hat-trick omg!

Posted 14:09 11th May 2008

Carlos Silva (Manchester United fan) says...

In my opinion the best great escape was by West Ham last year. United did not seem to play properly that day but they did because they wanted to go unbeaten for the rest of the following season. West Ham did it and it took United three games to win against The Hammers!

Posted 12:27 11th May 2008

Alex Valder (Brighton and Hove Albion fan) says...

Hereford 1 Brighton 1 This result kept us in the leauge and sent Hereford down after we had our Ground sold and no money put into the team due to a board trying to strip all the assets of the club for personal gain. Points deducted and then from that season on without a home ground.

Posted 04:02 11th May 2008

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