Andy Dibble: I knew I had to save Nigel Winterburn's penalty or Littlewoods Cup was going to Arsenal

Former Luton goalkeeper Andy Dibble knew he had no other option but to save Nigel Winterburn’s penalty during the Hatters’ Littlewoods Cup victory over Arsenal on April 24, 1988, 32 years ago today.

With 10 minutes to go and the Gunners 2-1 in front, Mal Donaghy was adjudged to have tripped David Rocastle in the area, meaning Winterburn stepped up from 12 yards to more than likely make the game safe.

Although the full back's low effort was arrowing into the bottom corner, Dibble was able to throw himself to his left and make a superb stop, turning the ball around the post for a corner.

Speaking exclusively to the Luton News about what had been going through his head, Dibble said: “At the time, it was that thought in my mind, ‘I’ve got to save this, I’ve got to save this.’

“That was my only thought, ‘I have to save this penalty or the cup is going to London and not to Luton.’

Save it he did, and with commentator Brian Moore labelling Winterburn stepping up as a 'curious decision,' having not been the Gunners regular penalty tacker, Dibble had to try and work out on the spot which way he was going to go.

His preparation was a far cry from the current day, when keepers can watch highlights on Ipads before penalty shoot-outs, with Norwich City keeper Tim Krul recently having all the Tottenham Hotspur's players methods on his water bottle.

Dibble, who is now on the coaching staff at Cardiff City, continued: “We had a little bit of research, but not as much as they have nowadays.

"My goalkeepers at Cardiff are given an enormous amount of feedback from opposition penalties, so it wasn't quite as thorough in those days, but we did see bits and pieces.

“I thought he was going to go that way, left footer, across the left hand of the goalkeeper.

“It’s weird, I've seen all the hype about it and seen it again, my mum has got a picture of it in a frame, so it's fantastic and something that will never leave my mind.”

Whether or not Dibble should have been facing a penalty was still a bone of contention for the keeper, who said: "God bless him, David Rocastle, he’s not here anymore, we all had a word, he seemed to go over a little bit too easily in everybody's mind.

“I had the fortune of playing with David later on at Manchester City.

"He was a fantastic lad and a couple of times I said to him, 'that was never a penalty,' but he wouldn't answer, he'd always just give you a cheeky smile."

Dibble didn’t overly celebrate his own moment of personal glory though, as with the Hatters still trailing 2-1, he was more interested in getting back on level terms.

They did that with a close range finish from Danny Wilson moments later, as the keeper said: “I think knowing how long was left in the game, it was more important to get back to the game going on and try to score another goal that we did.

“That was the moment, it gave the team such a massive lift.

"The penalty save, then the goal, was such a big inspirational feeling, you could feel it go through the team and we knew we could somehow win the game.”

That's exactly what happened as well, striker Brian Stein adding to his early goal with a angled volley from Ashley Grimes’ cross in the 90th minute to ensure Luton lifted a first major trophy in their history.

Dibble said: “Steiny is one of the best finishers I ever played football with and went on to play for England.

"He just had a knack of knowing where the ball was going to finish up and was a clinical finisher.

"That volley was unbelievable. People talk about my penalty save but when you think about Steiny's finish, it was absolutely top drawer, top drawer.”

Although Stein was Town’s goalscoring hero, the man of the match award went to Dibble after he produced some wonderful saves throughout.

Apart from Winterburn’s penalty, the stopper also denied Alan Smith twice, clawing his header on to the bar, and then denying the forward after he raced clean through.

Dibble also instinctively tipped over Martin Hayes' header from close range, but felt he should have shared the honours with the rest of his team-mates.

He said: "I wish it could have been a joint one as I'd have given it to Steiny and the whole team.

"It wasn't just me, it was a fantastic team effort, a colossal team effort by everyone and demonstrated the spirit that we had in those days.

"I look at it now from a coaching point of view and I was quite overworked in the game really.

"There was a lot of saves that I'm really pleased with and the big one was the penalty save.”

Now in the coaching game, Dibble did admit he was disappointed to have conceded in the manner he did during the game though, Hayes notching after a goalmouth scramble and then Smith slamming home at the far post.

He said: “The first was a scruffy goal for me,

"I think it's a knock down, drops down, rebounds, then knocked in the back of the net, so it's one of those scruffy goals, but sometimes you see those types of goals in cup final games.

“If anything, I'm always hyper critical now as a coach as I was myself as a player, I'm probably disappointed with the second goal as I think I might have sat down too early.

"I tried to read him, it's a good finish, but when I look back at it, I think if it was one of my goalkeepers nowadays, I'd be asking them 'could they do better?'

"So that's my own personal point of view."

There was every chance that Dibble's heroics might not have ever happened though, as he spent the majority of the season playing second fiddle to Les Sealey.

An injury to the keeper saw Dibble, who had signed from Cardiff City back in 1984, recalled just a few weeks prior though as he kept his place at Wembley, in what was his only appearance in the competition that season.

He added: "From a personal point of view, it was brilliant for me and what went on, at an important stage during my career.

"I'd been battling with Les Sealey for quite a long time, god bless him, he’s not here anymore.

"I’d come in to the club as number one and started very well as a young lad and then had a bad injury at Old Trafford.

"Les came in then and made it very difficult for me to come back in, over a period of time, being the goalkeeper he was.

"Of course we had Jake Findlay at the time too, but that day at Wembley, it was what dreams are made of really.

"The saddest thing for me was I picked up some nasty injuries at Luton, mainly being my elbow and then I had my opportunity which doesn't happen very much now.

"I went on loan a number of times and did well wherever I went, but my chance came along and I think I took it with both hands.”