Where are they now?: Mike Trebilcock
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Andrew Feinberg
White House Correspondent
IF ever a footballer's career seemed to be encapsulated in one game it was that of the young Cornishman whose goals helped shatter Sheffield Wednesday's dreams the last time they reached the FA Cup final.
Mike Trebilcock joined Everton for pounds 20,000 from Plymouth on the last day in 1965 but made only modest progress at Goodison, so when Harry Catterick picked him for the 1966 final, he was as surprised as anyone. 'When we left for London on the Friday, I just thought I was going to lay out the kit,' he said. His name did not even appear in the programme.
But Trebilcock had impressed Catterick in the semi- final against Manchester United, deputising for the injured England international, Fred Pickering. When Pickering was ruled out of the final, the 21-year-old 'unknown' kept his place.
How shrewd a choice it turned out to be. An hour into the final Wednesday led 2-0 but then Trebilcock scored twice in three minutes to turn the match on its head. Gerry Young's infamous mistake, when he failed to make a routine clearance, allowed Derek Temple to snatch victory 10 minutes from time.
Trebilcock was feted as a hero but rapidly returned to obscurity. In two years at Everton he made only 14 senior appearances and within four more he had returned home to the West Country, via Portsmouth where he scored 33 goals in 99 games, to Torquay where his tally was 10 goals in 23 appearances.
In 1974, still not 30, he emigrated to Australia, where he established himself as a leading coach. Today he works as a storeman and lives at Eleebana, near Newcastle, in New South Wales, with his Liverpool-born wife, Pam. They have two children, Michael, 24, and Jayne, 23.
(Photograph omitted)
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