Wolves v Ipswich Town, FA Cup 5th Round, 19th February 1994

Highlights of the FA Cup 5th Round tie between Wolves and Ipswich Town at Molineux on 19th February 1994.

Wolves were generally in good form prior to their 5th Round match against Ipswich. From the beginning of the year, they had lost just once in six First Division matches (a 1-0 home defeat to Southend United in their previous match) and had defeated Crystal Palace and Port Vale to set up their FA Cup encounter with Premier League Ipswich. In contrast, Ipswich had won just once in eight matches (a 2-1 home win against East Anglian rivals Norwich City on 18th December) to leave them 14th in the league.

For Wolves, there was a great sense of optimism at the beginning of the 1993-94 season. Owner Sir Jack Hayward had provided significant funding for manager Graham Turner and, in an effort to achieve the desired goal of promotion, had signed Geoff Thomas, Kevin Keen and David Kelly for relatively sizeable fees. In addition, the experienced centre-half Peter Shirtliff was signed from Sheffield Wednesday and he greatly assisted Turner's team in achieving, statistically at least, the equal second best defence in the league at the end of the season. Further cause for optimism amongst Wolves fans was raised following the completion of Molineux's redevelopment in December 1993 and this was subsequently reflected in a big increase in attendances.

In contrast to the defensive strength of Wolves there was, throughout the season, a general lack of cutting-edge in attack. Forwards Steve Bull and David Kelly, with 14 and 11 goals respectively, were the only players who managed a double-figure total for the season. Wolves, however, had earlier suffered cruel misfortune with a season-ending knee injury to Geoff Thomas after just 8 games and with 4 goals scored by the former Crystal Palace midfielder. In order to improve his midfield creativity, Turner signed Chris Marsden and Darren Ferguson in January and both players were included in the Wolves team against Ipswich.

Mick McGiven's Ipswich included in their line-up at Molineux the versatile John Wark, in his third and final spell at Ipswich following his initial near-decade of success at Portman Road. Also included in McGiven's team was striker Ian Marshall who finished the season as top scorer for Ipswich with 15 league and cup goals.

Originally broadcast by BBC Match of the Day with John Motson commentating.