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1887 F A CUP FINAL
ASTON VILLA 2
VS
WEST BROMWICH ALBION 0
SCORERS- HODGETTS {60}, HUNTER {88}
2nd APRIL-KENNINGTON OVAL-LONDON
ATTENDANCE-15,534
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For the first and only time in the history of the F A cup entries were recieved from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The intention of the F A had always been to open the competition to any member team regardless of where they came from and had it not been for the Scottish F A who knows how far the cup may have spread. The Scottish banned it's members from entering the F A cup after this year and Ireland would later follow suit.
Yet again this year's competition was littered with byes, walkovers and disqualifications in the early rounds. With no preliminary rounds there was a string of teams who were hopelessly out of their depth in the early rounds as no less than five teams managed to score double figures in the first round alone.
Blackburn had become only the second ever club to win the cup three years on the trot and required only to get past the first round to better Wanderes attempt to win the cup for a fourth time in a row. Rovers couldn't have got it any easier as their first round opponents Halliwell withdrew. In the second round though Renton pulled off one of the biggest shocks for years when the Scottish club won their replay with the holders 2-0 after being held 2-2 at home.
The Scots failed to reach the quarter finals though as they went down at home to Preston in round three. Preston were favourites to win the cup by the quarter finals and had defeated Witton 6-0 along the way. Their opponents were Old Carthusians and the amateurs came within a whisker of a replay when they went down 2-1 at home after extra time. With just seconds remaining the ball came to Carthusians winger C Aubrey Smith but his shot went agonisingly wide of the Preston post. Years later the North End players could use Smith as a claim to fame. After his footballing days he became one of Britains most famous pre second World War character actors in Hollywood appearing in countless films as Sir, Lord or Colonel whoever.
That was the last of the four quarter finals this year and when the semi final draw kept Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion apart the talk of an all Birmingham final had the City on tenderhooks. Villa had come through a tough quarter final 3-2 against Darwen, having earlier beaten Wednesbury Old Athletic 13-0, Derby Midland 6-1 and Horncastle 5-0. Darwen had enjoyed a good cup run also though with a 7-1 win over Heart Of Midlothian.
West Bromwich were in their third consecutive quarter final after easily beating Burton Wanderers 6-0 in the first round and Derby Junction 2-1 in the second. A bye in round three had been followed by a tense 1-0 local derby win at Birmingham St Georges in round four before a controversial fifth round tie with Lockwood Brothers. Albion won the game 1-0 but the goal caused so much controversy that the F A ordered a replay. Lockwood Brothers had no complaints this time when Albion won 2-1. Next up for Albion was a daunting trip to Notts County for a place in the last four. County had beaten Basford Rovers 13-0, Notts Rangers 5-0 and Great Marlow 5-2 along the way but they collapsed in front of their own fans as Albion easily won 4-1.
The semi final line up would be completed by either a Scottish side or a Southern amateur team. Glasgow Rangers put paid to Old Westminsters 5-1 to give Scotland one last bid to take the cup north of the border.
Rangers brought the curtain down on the last serious bid by a Scottish club to win the cup when they lost their semi final at Nantwich Road in Crewe when an Archie Hunter double and a third from Albert Brown capped a 3-1 win for Aston Villa. Meanwhile West Bromwich Albion returned to Trent Bridge, the scene of their quarter final victory, to pull off a surprise semi final 3-1 win over Preston. Pearson, with two goals, and Paddock were the heroes who ensured there would be an all Birmingham final.
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THE FINAL
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It's not unreasonable to believe that some at the F A may have considered staging the final in Birmingham in view of the fact that both finalists came from that City. In truth it would have been a non starter as the only two stadiums in the City capable of staging the final were Aston Villa's Aston Lower Grounds and West Brom's Stoney Lane. Neither side would have been allowed home advantage in the cup final and the venue remained London's Kennington Oval.
The final was held twenty-eight days after both sides had won their semi finals and almost the entire City had been gripped by cup fever. Only the most die hard Small Heath and Birmingham St Georges fans avoided the subject in conversation as the City geared up to invade London.
Both the local and National newspapers were divided as to who would win the battle but on the day Albion were installed as slight favourites. This was probably due to them fielding eight of last years beaten side, not to mention their impressive semi final display against Preston. Villa were in the final for the first time and had no players in their ranks with cup final experience but they and their supporters still arrived at the Oval in confident mood.
Some eight thousand fans travelled from Birmingham for the game where local interest swelled the attendance to a record 15,534 and it was clear to all of them early on that the occasion had got to the Villa players. They had frozen on the big stage and it took a superb save from Jimmy Warner to deny Albion's captain Jem Bayliss from scoring early on. Minutes later Pearson's snap shot forced another fine save from Warner and before the quarter hour mark George Woodhall had also been denied by the Villa keeper with the goal at his mercy. Gradually though Villa began to get their game together and their two centre backs, Coulton and Simmonds visibly grew in confidence as the half progressed. By the interval Albion had been reduced to half chances from long range though Villa had rarely troubled Bob Roberts at the other end.
The second half started more evenly but it was still Albion who came closest to scoring when Bayliss rose above the Villa defence only to head narrowly over from eight yards with Warner motionless on his goal line. Then, with Albion still doing more of the attacking came a moment that would wrangle with Throstles fans for decades and would also turn the game on it's head. Villa had been hemmed back for the majority of the game and had resorted to the speed of the wingers, Davis and Dennis Hodgetts to try and hit Albion on the break but for the most part they had been ineffective without the support of Archie Hunter. Charles Perry had been able to keep the Villa striker in his pocket and Hunter dropped deeper in an attempt to get into the game. Finally free of the Albion defender, Hunter got a chance in the 60th minute. picking up the ball just inside the Albion half, he quickly slid it through to Hodgetts who had raced in from the wing but looked suspiciously off side. the Albion defence stopped but Hodgetts continued and, unchallenged by the keeper Roberts, he slid the ball home for the first goal. Albion were livid when Major Marindin did not disallow the goal and the game was stopped for a good three minutes as the protests raged but the referee was never going to change his mind and Villa had a precious 1-0 lead. Marindin never wavered in his belief that the goal was good and Villa fans who saw the goal agreed.
For decades after the game though Albion fans who saw the incident still fumed that the ref got it wrong.
The goal turned the game in Villa's favour and Albion became hesitant at the back in the remaining half hour of the contest. Villa though seemed to lack the ability to kill the match off and Roberts still remained largely untroubled until two minutes from time. There was little danger when Charles Perry attempted a back pass to his keeper but he scuffed it and Archie Hunter reacted quickest. He raced after the pass and got there just as Roberts did. The pair collided but Hunter managed to stick out a leg to steer the ball into the empty net with Roberts helplessly spreadeagled on the edge of his penalty area.
Two minutes later Francis Marindin put the throstles out of their misery, and misery it was as they had created the four most clear cut chances of the game but had still lost 2-0 to two of the softest cup final goals of all time. Aston Villa would be the first club from the Midlands to lift the cup but Albion were by now established as a good cup side and their fans would not have too long to wait for their own moment of glory.
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Photographers saw the cup final as a great place to try and capture an action photo. This is the earliest photo to survive as Jem Bayliss heads over the Villa bar early in the second half. Sadly the photo has required so much retouching over the years that it has largely dissappeared under the artists pencil. This was one of four great goalscoring opportunities for Albion but they were all squandered and Villa took the spoils with two soft goals.
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THE TEAMS
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ASTON VILLA
JIMMY WARNER
F COULTON
J SIMMONDS
H YATES
F DAWSON
J BURTON
R DAVIS
ALBERT BROWN
ARCHIE HUNTER {CAPTAIN}
HOWARD VAUGHTON
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WEST BROMWICH ALBION
BOB ROBERTS
H GREEN
ALBERT ALDRIDGE
EZRA HORTON
CHARLES PERRY
TIMMINS
GEORGE WOODHALL
T GREEN
JEM BAYLISS
PADDOCK
PEARSON
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