Five minutes that will live forever

Twenty six years ago, he topped off the most incredible climax in FA Cup final history. What ever happened to Alan Sunderland? Tony Leen tracked him down in Malta.

ALONG they came, three in five minutes, like FA Cup final goals. Writers, quarrying for the private thoughts of an FA Cup hero. It’s two decades since anyone bothered calling Alan Sunderland about the 1979 final, but that’s fine by the son of south Yorkshire.

He’s 51 now, but can still draw a vividly colourful image of the day he stumbled, somehow, onto - he can’t explain how - one of the most glorious moments in Arsenal history.