|
|
|||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
1878 F A CUP FINAL
WANDERERS 3
VS
ROYAL ENGINEERS 1
SCORERS- {WA} KENRICK {5} {55}, KINNAIRD {35}
{RE} UNKNOWN {20}
23RD MARCH-KENNINGTON OVAL-LONDON
ATTENDANCE-4,500
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
KITS BY ANDY BURTON
Kits produced here by permission of the CLASSIC KITS WEBSITE
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
The cup well and truely caught on in the North in 1878 as clubs from Sheffield, Darwen, Nottingham and Manchester all entered in a bid to take the cup out of the home counties. Queen's Park as usual represented Scotland and as usual they withdrew without playing a fixture. Wales was also represented for the first time as the famed Druids club lined up in round one. The home County old boys would still dominate however and the holders, Wanderers were in no mood to relinquish their hold on the cup. Panthers and High Wycombe were both hit for nine goals each by the holders in the opening two rounds with Hubert Heron netting four and Henry Wace getting a hat-trick against Panthers. A replay victory over Barnes gave the holders one of the six available quarter final spots to maintain a record of never having failed to reach that stage of the competition.
Last year's beaten finalists, Oxford University were also in fine scoring form and after a 5-2 win over Herts Rangers in round one they too booked a quarter final spot with wins over Old Forresters and Clapham.
Round ones biggest winners were Maidenhead, notching up double figures in a 10-0 win over Reading. Their own cup run came to an end at Cambridge University. The University side then met Old Harrovians, 6-0 winners over 1st Surrey Rifles in round two, for a quarter final spot which the Harrovians claimed in a replay.
Hawks had fun in what was the clubs very first cup tie when they beat Minerva 5-2 but they also went down in round two to a team curiously called Remnants. Remnants in turn failed to make the quarter final line up as they lost at Upton Park in round three.
R B Hedley had a great cup run with Royal Engineers scoring a hat-trick in a 6-0 round two win over Pilgrims and then notching another against Druids in an 8-0 romp which booked their quarter final spot. Sheffield made up the last six as the only side North of Watford still in the cup.
The Northern challenge died on quarter final day as Wanderers saw off Sheffield by 3-0. Old Harrovians defeated Upton Park 3-1 to reach their first ever semi final but in the tie of the round Oxford and Royal Engineers battled out a marathon tie which went to a second replay before the Engineers won 4-2.
With only three semi finalists there was a bye straight to the final on offer and it went to Wanderers leaving Royal Engineers as red hot favourites to book the other final place. Naturally Old Harrovians had other ideas but the Engineers were too strong on the day and came through 2-1 with the winner coming from C B Mayne.
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
THE FINAL
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
Wanderers arrived at the oval on March 23rd bidding not only to win the cup for a record fifth time but also to win the trophy outright, having taken posession of the cup in the previous two years. They boasted nine of the team which had lifted the cup last year including Charles Wollaston and Arthur Kinnaird both making a record fifth final appearance. Wollaston had played in all Wanderer's finals and had yet to finish on the losing side. One of their two newcomers was also bidding to make history. John Wylie came to the Oval having become the first player to score in every round on the way. This was Wylie's first appearance in the cup final as it was also for Wanderers keeper Kirkpatrick.
The Royal Engineers by contrast were about to become the first club to play in the final without a single player in their eleven with previous cup final experience, not including their team and the Wanderers team which had battled out the very first final in 1872 of course. Just three short years after winning the cup not one of their cup winners was available to represent them.
The attendance for the final, played on a gloriously sunny spring day with a slight breeze was a record 4,500. Many journalists noted the high proportion of women in attendance proving that the game has not always been the sole preserve of the working class male. And for the first, and perhaps only time in history the referee could not take his parentage being questioned by an angry fan as an insult. His name was S R Bastard.
The final was decided by the speed of Wanderers forwards on the day and it took them just five minutes to open their account when Henry Wace broke through to square the ball for Jarvis Kenrick to apply the easiest of finishes.
Wanderers decided to sit on their advantage at that point but it proved costly as Royal Engineers laid siege to their goal. Finally after about twenty minutes the deserved equaliser came. Morris' long throw resulted in a goal mouth scramble before the ball was finally placed in the Wanderers goal. With so many bodies in the area it was impossible to see who got the vital touch and the goal was described as "from a rush" basically meaning half a dozen Engineers trying to get a shot in and half a dozen Wanderers desperatly trying to clear before Kirkpatrick was beaten.
Despite being underdogs it was the Royal Engineers who took control at this point and Wanderers were forced into sporadic counter attacks from Denton and Kenrick. the Engineers were made to pay for not taking advantage of the posession when they gave away a free kick on thirty five minutes. Yet again a goal mouth scramble ensued before a Wanderers forward got a touch to steer the ball goalwards. LB Friend, the Engineers keeper couldn't get back and two defenders on the goal line failed to clear and Wanderers were back in front. There was no question this time as to who had scored as Arthur Kinnaird quickly sought and recieved the congratulations from his team mates. Early in the second half Kinnaird had to go in goal for Wanderers when Kirkpatrick suffered a broken arm. Despit the obvious pain he remained on the pitch as a virtual passenger on the wing. Kinnaird meanwhile found himself having to pick the ball out of his goal with his first touch as keeper. Hedley was the scorer for the Engineers but his delight was cut short when Bastard ruled the goal out for offside. It was the last threat from the Engineers and Wanderers took the second half by the scruff of the neck from that point on. the game was settled by an error from Morris when he miscued a defensive clearance straight into the path of Kenrick. The forward was as lethal in front of goal as they came in the 1870's and he made no mistake in slotting his second and Wanderers third of the match. In the final twenty minutes Wylie was pushed up from centre to forward and every Wanderers attack was sent to him in an effort to gain the record of having scored in every round but it wasn't to be and he had to settle instead with being part of a cup final winning side.
The victory left the F A with the problem of finding themselves a new trophy but Wanderers came to the rescue as they offered to return the cup when their year as holders expired on condition that no other team winning the trophy three years in sucession be allowed to keep the cup outright.
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
THE TEAMS
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
WANDERERS
J KIRKPATRICK
ALFRED STRATFORD
WILLIAM LINDSAY
ARTHUR KINNAIRD {CAPTAIN}
FREDERICK GREEN
CHARLES WOLLASTON
HUBERT HERON
JOHN WYLIE
HENRY WACE
C A DENTON
JARVIS KENRICK
|
OXFORD UNIVERSITY
L B FRIEND
JAMES COWAN
WILLIAM MORRIS
C B MAYNE
F C HEATH
C E HAYNES
M LINDSAY
{CAPTAIN} R B HEDLEY
F G BOND
HORACE BARNET
O E RUCK
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| page created with Easy Designer |