Classic match report - Wolves 1 Sheff Wed 1 (4-3 on pens), 1995

Free-scoring promotion-chasing Wolves hosted top-flight Sheffield Wednesday for an FA Cup tie that would live long in the memory.

The game had a ridiculous amount of narratives, chiefly from a wider perspective Chris Waddle taking his first penalty since Italia '90.

In a moment of genius Wolves keeper Paul Jones recalled the direction in which he had blazed his Turin spot-kick - and guessed that Waddle would go the other way.

He did, Don Goodman kept his cool and the win was Wolves'.

They had missed their first two spot-kicks - and Wednesday had scored their first three - meaning every single spot kick thereafter had to go Wolves' way.

The miraculous victory, at a time when the FA Cup still really mattered, was arguably Molineux's match of the decade.

Wolves 1 Sheffield Wednesday 1 (4-3 on pens), Wednesday February 8, 1995

By Martin Swain

Where on earth do you start?

With one of the most dramatic penalty shoot-outs it is possible to imagine?

With one of the countless moments of incident on which Wolves unforgettable FA Cup replay with Sheffield Wednesday hung?

With the personal triumphs of Paul Jones and Don Goodman in those final moments of sweet, sweet triumph for their side?

Or with the private anguish and despair of Chris Waddle, one of English football's most gifted artists, as his worst nightmare returned to haunt him?

Wherever you begin, Wolves fans today celebrate where it ended – with Wolves, exhausted and exultant, through to the fifth round and a home tie with Leicester.

Ultimately, this relentlessly-absorbing tie needed the knife-edge of a shoot-out to sort out the victors from the vanquished after 210 minutes of open confrontation spread over Hillsborough and Molineux.

Following the goalless draw in Yorkshire, another equally tense and muscle-aching collision of First Division challengers and Premiership aristocrats finished with David Kelly's goal cancelled out by Mark Bright's equaliser.

And so the second Molineux shoot-out unfolded.

The first had settled a Birmingham Senior Cup tie with VS Rugby six years ago.

With a very different-looking stadium now packed to the rafters and heaving with expectation, this one was a trifle more important...

But after five penalty kicks, Wolves fans were filling the gangways of Sir Jack Hayward's golden stadium preparing to make a gloomy exit.

Andy Thompson and Robbie Dennison had both missed; Mark Bright, Guy Whittingham and Wednesday keeper Kevin Pressman had each scored emphatically.

Three-nil down, time to head home.

But oh, what a twist! First, Gordon Cowans put his immense experience to good use by at last calmly stroking – he knows no other way – his team's first successful penalty.

Wednesday defender Andy Pearce strode forward needing to score to put his team through. His shot thudded against the bar – a glimmer of hope crept into the Wolves camp.

David Kelly, a magnificent match performance behind him, made it 3-2.

And still Chris Bart-Williams, in a rematch with the keeper who had defied him in the first game, could finish off Wolves.

But Jones again won their private duel of bluff and double bluff. Bart-Williams opted for the opposite side to his penalty at Hillsborough, Wolves' keeper read it, and made the save.

Now John De Wolf could send it into sudden-death. He did so, displaying the leadership for which he was acquired from Holland.

High to the top right-hand corner, the Wolf Man grinning through that mass of shaggy hair.

And so to Waddle, mercilessly taunted by Wolves fans all night, and now back where he never wanted to be again, after his famous miss in Turin had brought England's 1990 World Cup campaign to a close...striding forward to take a win-or-bust penalty.

Jones sentenced him to many more hours of anguish by guessing right once again and saving.

Back from the dead

Now Wolves could win in. A town's jubilation and hundreds of thousands of pounds hung on Don Goodman, formerly of Albion and still trying to prove his worth to his new club.

As he walked forward Thompson shouted advice from the Wolves huddle on the centre circle... "Pressman is diving first ever time, hit it straight."

Goodman did just that – and looked to the heavens in gratitude as Wednesday's keeper flailed and missed.

Wolves had come back from the dead and ensured an even bigger scramble for tickets for the sequel, against Leicester, a week on Saturday.

Wednesday's manager Trevor Francis stood dumbstruck on the pitch. His team had held sway throughout the second-half and extra time, but had failed to find a killer punch.

Wolves had heeded their manager's advice well.

If the tide turns against you, keep your shape, keep your discipline and hang on in there, Graham Taylor had told them. They did and received a handsome reward.

Wolves, in fact, had threatened to finish off Wednesday with a barnstorming first-half. Kelly's 12th-minute close-range headed goal followed Pressman's one blunder of the night, misjudging Robbie Dennison's inswinging corner.

But Pressman was to make amends to deny Wolves total control.

The thickness of his gloves prevented Goodman – who had earlier clipped a post – scoring with a stinging 36th-minute half-volley after brilliant work by the tireless Kelly.

One lapse too many

And then a simply breathtaking effort, palming a point-blank Kelly shot on to a post, denied Wolves midway through the second-half.

By then Wednesday, with Waddle exercising massive influence, were punishing Wolves deeper and deeper into determined, downright cussed, defence, having celebrated Bright's close-range equaliser after Cowans had blocked a Graham Hyde shot on the line.

They will still know they should have won the game in extra time. Bright headed a marvellous Waddle cross over; Jones saved an Andy Sinton cracker at full stretch, and finally, in the 119th minute, Bright blasted the easiest chance of the night carelessly over the top after Guy Whittingham had set him up.

They would soon painfully discover that this would be one lapse too many.

Watching it all from the directors' box was Sir Jack Hayward himself, drawn yet again by the magic of this, the mother of all cup competitions, from his Bahamian paradise to a freezing night in his home town.

No matter what lies ahead for his beloved club, I suspect he's thinking the trip was well worth it...

WOLVES: Jones, Blades (Mills 90), Thompson, Emblen, De Wolf, Law, Rankine (Bennett 117), Kelly, Goodman, Cowans, Dennison. Sub: De Bont.

SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY: Pressman, Atherton, Nolan, Hyde (Whittingham 106), Pearce, Walker, Waddle, Bart-Williams, Ingesson (Sheridan 71), Bright, Sinton. Sub: Woods.

Attendance: 28,136