Market1994–95 Anglo-Italian Cup
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1994–95 Anglo-Italian Cup

The 1994–95 Anglo-Italian Cup was the third staging of the 1992–96 iteration of the Anglo-Italian Cup, an association football competition contested by teams from the Football League First Division and Serie B, then respectively the second tiers of the English football league system and the Italian football league system. Sixteen teams participated, with eight entering from each league.

Participants and format
The Anglo-Italian Cup had been staged intermittently since 1970, and was revived in 1992, in England serving as a replacement for the Full Members' Cup. This iteration of the tournament was contested by teams from the Football League First Division, then the second tier of the English football league system, and Serie B, the second tier of the Italian football league system. In earlier seasons, First Division clubs had participated in a qualifying stage to determine which teams played in the international stage, but this was dispensed with in the 1994–95 season, and invitations instead given to the three teams relegated from the previous season's Premier League and the five highest-placed non-promoted teams from the previous season's First Division. Serie B clubs were selected on a similar basis. Of the eligible English clubs, Millwall and Oldham Athletic declined their invitations, with Middlesbrough and Stoke City taking their places. The participating clubs and their 1993–94 league positions were as follows: English teamsDerby County, 6th in the First Division • Middlesbrough, 9th in the First Division • Notts County, 7th in the First Division • Sheffield United, 20th in the Premier League • Stoke City, 10th in the First Division • Swindon Town, 22nd in the Premier League • Tranmere Rovers, 5th in the First Division • Wolverhampton Wanderers, 8th in the First Division Italian teamsAncona, 8th in Serie B • Ascoli, 7th in Serie B • Atalanta, 17th in Serie ACesena, 5th in Serie B • Lecce, 18th in Serie A • Piacenza, 15th in Serie A • Udinese, 16th in Serie A • Venezia, 6th in Serie B At the international stage, the sixteen teams were divided into two groups of eight, each featuring four teams from each country. Clubs played four matches against the teams in their group from the opposite league, two at home and two away. At the end of the international stage, the highest-placed team from each country in each group would advance to a two-legged semi-final, where they would play the other semi-finalist from their own league. A single-match final between the two winners would then follow at Wembley Stadium. During the international stage, English referees were appointed to officiate matches in Italy, while Italian referees oversaw games in England. The groups for the international stage were as follows: ==International stage==
International stage
Group A Group A began on 24 August 1994 with two matches in Italy and two in England. Meanwhile, about 30 supporters of Wolverhampton Wanderers saw their side win 1–0 at Lecce, with David Kelly scoring on the break late in the match. In England, Giampaolo Saurini's powerful 63rd-minute strike, followed shortly afterwards by a headed goal from Daniele Fortunato, gave Atalanta a 2–0 win over Swindon Town. At Prenton Park, goals from John Aldridge and Chris Malkin gave Tranmere Rovers a 2–0 lead over Venezia, but the latter scored twice themselves, the second coming three minutes from the end, and the match finished 2–2. In the second round of games, played on 6 September, Devlin was dismissed from his team's home match with Lecce for a second bookable offence, but Phil Turner's 55th-minute goal was nevertheless sufficient to secure a 1–0 win for Notts County. The match between Wolves and Ascoli also saw a red card, with Paolo Benetti of Ascoli dismissed after reacting angrily to a foul by Robbie Dennison on Marco Bizzarri, the Ascoli goalkeeper. Despite playing the final ten minutes with ten men, Ascoli won 1–0. Meanwhile, Swindon were beaten 1–0 at Venezia, leaving Notts County as the leading English team in the group, a point ahead of Wolves. Atalanta led among the Italian teams, with two wins from two. A third round of games was played on 4 and 5 October, Atalanta led 1–0 at half-time in their home game with Notts County through Leonardo Rodríguez, but the Italian team were reduced to ten men with 30 minutes to play when Paolo Montero was sent off for a second yellow card, and a Tony Agana equaliser saw the game finish 1–1. Swindon gained their first win in the competition, with Andy Mutch scoring twice in his team's 3–1 win over Lecce, while Wolves were beaten 2–1 at Venezia despite having taken a 1–0 28th-minute lead. The results left Notts County needing a point in their final game to reach the English semi-final, Elsewhere in Italy, Orazio Russo scored twice for his team in their 3–0 over Tranmere, helping Lecce to their first win of the competition, and leaving Tranmere without a victory. At Molineux, Atalanta took at early lead against Wolves through Valter Bonacina, but the home team levelled via Lee Mills before half-time, and the match finished 1–1. The results meant Ascoli progressed as the highest-ranking Italian team, and Notts County as the leading English team.Source for attendance: Group B Like Group A, the first round of Group B fixtures look place on 24 August. Stoke won 2–0 at Cesena through a John Clark free kick and a late Martin Carruthers strike, while Middlesbrough made a 0–0 draw with Piacenza. Paul Wilkinson was sent off in the 84th minute of the latter for kicking an opponent. At Bramall Lane, the match between Sheffield United and Udinese "degenerated into gruesome farce", with a 15-man brawl and the dismissal of four players (three Sheffield United and one Udinese) and the Sheffield United manager Dave Bassett. The match was close to abandonment, but was seen through to completion and won 2–1 by Udinese. Three games took place in Group B during September, two of which took place in England. At the Victoria Ground, Caccia scored his third goal of the tournament to give Ancona a 1–0 half-time lead, but Stoke were level through Wayne Biggins shortly into the second half, and the match finished 1–1. Following the experience of their match with Udinese, Sheffield United prevented most their senior team from travelling to Italy, Ancona and Stoke respectively ended the round as their country's leading team in the group, both with one win and a draw. Five Group B matches were played in October, four of which took place on 4 October. Piacenza took a 1–0 lead in their home game with Derby via a Antonio De Vitis penalty, before Paul Williams levelled for Derby with a 77th-minute volley. Derby then had the opportunity to take the lead when they were awarded a penalty and Francesco Turrini was dismissed for violent conduct, but Pembridge saw his kick saved, and the match finished 1–1. With Bassett absent, a young Sheffield United side made a 3–3 draw with Ancona, while Stoke scored three goals in six second-half minutes in a 3–1 win at Udinese. Middlesbrough also travelled to Udinese for their rearranged match in October, a 0–0 draw that saw three red cards (two for Udinese, one for Middlesbrough) for poor tackles. The final round of matches in Group B was played in November. Their win meant Ancona progressed as the leading Italian team. while Derby were 3–1 winners at home to Udinese. Derby's win meant Stoke City would need at least a point to progress as the leading English team, and John Butler had them ahead early in their home match with Piacenza. Martin Caruthers scored two goals, one shortly before and one shortly after half-time, and Nigel Gleghorn added a fourth, Stoke advancing with a 4–0 win. ---- ---- ---- Source for dates, scores, score times and scorers:.Source for attendance: ==Knockout stage==
Knockout stage
Semi-finals The Italian semi-final was played in December between Ancona and Ascoli. The English semi-final between Notts County and Stoke City followed in January. The second leg also finished 0–0 after extra time, and a penalty shoot-out was therefore required to decide the winner. The goalkeeper Jason Kearton made two saves for Notts County, and his side won the shoot-out 3–2 to qualify for a second successive Anglo-Italian Cup final. Italian semi-final ---- 2–2 on aggregate; Ascoli won on away goals. English semi-final ---- 0–0 on aggregate; Notts County won 3–2 on penalties. Source for dates, scores, score times and scorers: and was refereed by Charles Agius of Malta. Notts County took the lead after 14 minutes, when a long throw-in from Andy Legg deceived the Ascoli goalkeeper Marco Bizzarri and went straight over him into the net. Television replays showed that Legg's throw-in did not make any contact before it crossed the line, but a goal was credited to Tony Agana, There was no further scoring in the second half, Legg seeing a goal from a powerful free-kick disallowed, and the English side won the match 2–1. ==Statistics==
Statistics
Goalscorers A total of 98 goals were scored during the tournament. Excluding one own goal, there were 71 different goalscorers. The top scorer was Nicola Caccia of Ancona, who found the net five times during the competition. ;5 goals • Nicola Caccia ( Ancona) ;4 goals • Oliver Bierhoff ( Ascoli) • Paul Kitson ( Derby County) ;3 goals • Martin Carruthers ( Stoke City) • Giuseppe Incocciati ( Ascoli) • Andy Scott ( Sheffield United) ;2 goals • Tony Agana ( Notts County) • Marco Barollo ( Venezia) • Wayne Biggins ( Stoke City) • John Butler ( Middlesbrough) • Paul Devlin ( Notts County) • Steve Hodge ( Derby County) • Tommy Johnson ( Derby County) • Andy Mutch ( Swindon Town) • Orazio Russo ( Lecce) • Giampaolo Saurini ( Atalanta) ;1 goal • John Aldridge ( Tranmere Rovers) • Massimo Ambrosini ( Cesena) • Gabriele Ambrosetti ( Venezia) • Edoardo Artistico ( Ancona) • Kwame Ayew ( Lecce) • Christian Baglieri ( Ancona) • Tony Battersby ( Sheffield United) • Valerio Bertotto ( Udinese) • Davide Bombardini ( Cesena) • Valter Bonacina ( Atalanta) • Enio Bonaldi ( Venezia) • Massimo Brioschi ( Piacenza) • Franz Carr ( Sheffield United) • Tarcisio Catanese ( Ancona) • Felice Centofanti ( Ancona) • Rafaele Cerbone ( Venezia) • John Clark ( Stoke City) • Carlo Cornacchia ( Ancona) • Gianluca De Angelis ( Ancona) • Antonio De Vitis ( Piacenza) • Keith Downing ( Middlesbrough) • Daniele Fortunato ( Atalanta) • John Gannon ( Sheffield United) • Nigel Gleghorn ( Stoke City) • Chris Hamon ( Swindon Town) • Mark Hawthorne ( Sheffield United) • Dario Hübner ( Cesena) • David Kelly ( Wolverhampton Wanderers) • Adrian Littlejohn ( Sheffield United) • Chris Malkin ( Tranmere Rovers) • Luca Marcato ( Ascoli) • Pietro Mariani ( Venezia) • Francesco Marino ( Udinese) • Lee Mills ( Wolverhampton Wanderers) • Valter Mirabelli ( Ascoli) • Chris Marsden ( Notts County) • Paolo Montero ( Atalanta) • Jaime Moreno ( Middlesbrough) • Chris Morris ( Middlesbrough) • Shaun Murphy ( Notts County) • Egidio Notaristefano ( Lecce) • Fausto Pizzi ( Udinese) • Mark Pembridge ( Derby County) • John Reed ( Sheffield United) • Leonardo Rodríguez ( Ancona) • Alessio Scarchilli ( Udinese) • Keith Scott ( Swindon Town) • Mark Stallard ( Derby County) • Pasquale Suppa ( Piacenza) • Phil Turner ( Notts County) • Mark Venus ( Wolverhampton Wanderers) • Christian Vieri ( Venezia) • Mitch Ward ( Sheffield United) • Devon White ( Notts County) • Paul Williams ( Derby County) ;1 own goal • Mark Rankine (against Venezia) ==Reception and aftermath==
Reception and aftermath
The Anglo-Italian Cup struggled to generate interest, and there was criticism for the standard of the refereeing, The competition had also developed a reputation for violence, and there were several contentious incidents during the 1994–95 edition. but it did for one more season, being cancelled in 1996 when the two leagues were unable to agree on scheduling. It was Notts County's first triumph in a cup competition since winning the 1894 FA Cup final 101 years earlier, The opportunity to play at the original Wembley Stadium is also considered a highlight in Ascoli's history. ==References==
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