Keith Houchen

Football player infobox
playername = Keith Houchen
fullname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1960|07|25
cityofbirth = Middlesbrough
countryofbirth = England
height =
position = Striker
youthyears = 1977–1978
youthclubs = Chesterfield
years = 1978–1982
1982–1984
1984–1986
1986
1986–1989
1989–1991
1991–1993
1993–1996
clubs = Hartlepool United
Leyton Orient
York City
Scunthorpe United
Coventry City
Hibernian
Port Vale
Hartlepool United
caps(goals) = 170 (65)
076 (20)
067 (19)
009 0(3)
054 0(7)
057 (11)
049 (10)
109 (27)
manageryears = 1995–1996
managerclubs = Hartlepool United
pcupdate = 24 April 2008

Keith Houchen (born July 25 1960) is a retired English professional association football player.

Houchen, who was born in Middlesbrough, is most famous for scoring a spectacular diving header in the 1987 FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium for Coventry City in a 3-2 win over Tottenham. As well as his FA Cup winning medal, this also earned him the BBC Match of the Day's Goal of the Season award for the 1986-87 season. This was due to the acrobatic effort involved and partly due to the incredible run he had made from deep midfield to meet the crossed ball delivered by team-mate (and Man of the Match) Dave Bennett. It is generally considered as one of the most famous goals scored at Wembley, and certainly the best headed goal.

He is a Coventry hero, and will be forever linked with his FA Cup goals including the winner at Old Trafford against Manchester United.

In 1985, Houchen scored the only goal (a penalty) in York City's historic 1-0 giant-killing victory of Arsenal, again in the FA Cup.

Between 1978 and 1982 he was Hartlepool United's top scorer for four consecutive seasons, netting 65 goals in 170 appearances before being transferred to Second Division side Leyton Orient, where he scored 20 goals in 76 games. In early-1984, unhappy with the North London-based side, he returned north to York City, a side which went on to win that season's Fourth Division championship. Following a short period at Scunthorpe United, Houchen signed for Coventry City in 1986, after turning down an offer to join the Sky Blue's local top-flight rivals Leicester City, scoring four goals in their cup-winning run, including the winning goal away to Alex Ferguson's Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Houchen left Coventry in 1989 for Scottish Premier League side Hibernian, which enabled him to play in the UEFA Cup. He thereafter joined Port Vale and then became player-manager at his first club, Hartlepool. His management career suffered due to a distinct lack of money at the club and he was eventually dismissed in 1996 after a poor run of results.

He appeared as one of the players selected for the new Wembley Stadium's 'Walk of Fame' prior to the venue's first FA Cup final in May 2007, to unanimous applause from the 90,000-strong crowd. It was almost 20 years to the day from his historic goal at the old Wembley stadium, which was scored in front of 98,000 fans.

A 256-page biography of his footballing career entitled ' A Tenner & A Box of Kippers', written by Jonathan Strange, was published in 2006.

Honours

*FA Cup winners medal (1987)
*Match of the Day's Goal of the Season Award (1986-87)
*FA Charity Shield runners-up medal (1987)

External links

*soccerbase|id=3635|name=Keith Houchen