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1899 F A CUP FINAL
SHEFFIELD UNITED 4
VS
DERBY COUNTY 1
SCORERS-{SU} WALTER BENNETT-60, W BEERS-65, J ALMOND-69, FRED PRIEST-89
{DC} JOHN BOAG-12
15th APRIL-CRYSTAL PALACE-LONDON
ATTENDANCE-73,833
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The last F A cup of the 1800's kicked off in January 1899 and considering the weather, which was bitterly cold, it was a minor miracle that not one tie in the competition had to be postponed. The first round on January 28th passed without any shock results as holders Nottingham Forest saw off Aston Villa 2-1 while defending league champions Sheffield United were held 2-2 at Turf Moor by Burnley before going through in a replay. Last years beaten finalists, Derby made short work of their first round tie as Arsenal were swept aside 6-0 at Plumstead with some reports crediting McDonald with a hat-trick. There was no question about the first rounds other three hat-trick men. Pratt helped himself in Preston's 7-0 win over ten man Grimsby while Billy Basset and his West Brom team mates took pity on their South Shore opponents at half time. Leading 7-0, Albion took their foot off the gas and restricted themselves to getting the one goal Billy Bassett required to complete his hat-trick. Spare a thought for Bryant of Newton Heath who scored a hat-trick in their first round replay against Tottenham only to end up on the wrong end of a 5-3 scoreline.
The two shocks of the competition were reserved for the second round when Southern League Southampton sent Notts County crashing out in Nottingham thanks to a solitary first half Hartley goal. Tottenham's progress to the quarter finals was even more nail biting as they produced a terrific second half performance to over turn Sunderland's half time leade to win 2-1. Derby scraped through by the skin of their teeth against Wolves thanks to a last gasp winner by McDonald after Wolves had dominated the game which ended 2-1.
Sheffield United needed a replay again in round two after twice being pegged back by Preston in a 2-2 draw. The replay was equally tight before United won 2-1. Stoke also needed a replay to join Nottingham Forest, Liverpool and West Bromwich in the last eight.
Despite rock hard pitches up and down the Country on quarter final day, all four ties went ahead as advertised and all four were settled at the first attempt. 16,000 saw Liverpool win 2-0 at West Bromwich thanks to second half goals from Morgan and Robertson. Stoke had to thank cup luck in beating Tottenham 4-1 but with the scores tightly poised at 0-0, Spurs had seen a goal disallowed and moments later hit the post before Molyneux put the home side into a half time lead. Stoke ran out easy winners in the second period. Southampton gave Derby a real scare on the South coast as they took a first half lead before Derby rallied to win 2-1. Sheffield United produced the late late show at the City ground with the only goal of the game coming in the dying seconds from Fred Priest to put paid to the cup holders Nottingham Forest.
Three of the four semi finalists had never reached the final before while the only one who had, Derby, had yet to win the trophy. Semi final day was March 18th and Derby met Stoke at Molyneux in Wolverhampton. The game was played at a frenetic pace with first blood going to Stoke as Maxwell put them in front midway through the first half only for Steve Bloomer to take advantage of a defensive mix up to head Derby level ten minutes before the interval. The second half was very different as Derby took the game by the scruff of the neck. McDonald saw an early goal chalked off for offside but Derby's cup final place was settled by Bloomer in the 55th minute and he went on to complete his hat-trick with another goal late on to make the final score 3-1. Sadly for the dejected Stoke fans leaving the ground, they would never see their team reach the cup final.
The other semi final was a marathon affair that had everything. The first meeting was at Nottingham Forest's newly opened City ground and it was a story of defensive blunders and last gasp heart break for Liverpool. The Merseysiders were 2-1 up thanks to a terrible defensive mix up between Thickett and Foulke that had allowed Morgan to score the softest of goals. That after United had taken the lead when Storer was polaxed by one of his own defenders when trying to prevent Hedley firing into an empty net. Just when the Liverpool fans were arranging for their trip to the Palace, Ernie Needham popped up with a last gasp equaliser to force a replay at Bolton. The replay was even more frenetic than the first game and this time it ended with both sides scoring double their first game tally to end 4-4 after two hours of football. The third meeting went down in history as the first semi final to be abandoned. Allan had given Liverpool a half time lead but repeated pitch invasions of the woefully inadequate Fallowfield ground in Manchester left the referee with no choice but to call the game off at half time due to fading light. Finally at the fourth attempt at Bolton, Fred Priest scored for United and Liverpool were unable to reply. In all, including the abandoned game it had taken five and three quarter hours of football to decide the fixture and both sides had still scored seven goals each. Sadly for Liverpool their seventh goal didn't count and they would have to wait another fifteen years to clear the penultimate hurdle.
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THE FINAL
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Having been crowned league champions for the first and only time in the history in 1898, now Sheffield United found themselves in the cup final for the first time in their history and few could begrudge them their place at the Crystal Palace. Both sides had failed to live up to their form of the previous season in the league and United had slumped under the weight of defending their title and were in free fall down the table. They would finish their league campaign just one place above the drop but were fortunate that their early season form had been good enough to ensure that they were never in danger of being relegated. Derby had lost their league visit to Sheffield in November in a season that saw them in mid table throughout but they established themselves as a strong cup side especially when outplayed in the second round against Wolves only to snatch a last minute vistory to avoid a trip to Molyneux. Other than that Derby had been convincing in their cup run and it was this plus their greater experience in the final that made them slight favourites on the day. Six of their team returned from losing to Nottingham Forest the previous year while the entire United team were experiencing their first final. One big plus about United though was the fact that in the cup they never knew when they were beaten. Having been held themselves in the first round, they had required a very late goal to get a replay against Preston in round two and they left it to the very last kick of the game to force a replay in the semi final against Liverpool. In all United had played eight games to get to the final and only won one of their four ties at the first attempt. Added to that, one of their semi final clashes with Liverpool had been abandoned at half time with United trailing by a goal to nil.
The rain had poured down all week before the final but fortunately the sun did show its head on the morning of the final although the dark clouds soon rolled in again to provide some light rain. At least the addition of a new stand at the Palace meant that there was more opportunity than ever to get some shelter.
Sheffield United were able to field their strongest team when Tom Morren was declared fit but Derby had injury worries on the morning of the final as their Irish International Oakden was ruled out through injury, giving Arkesden an unexpected call up. Archie Goodall also paid a heavy price for his failure to turn up for a pre semi final training session for which he had been suspended. Paterson had impressed so much in the game against Stoke that he retained his centre half spot for the final.
Derby kicked off the final at half past three with the sun back out to warm the fans and it was the Rams who quickly got on top. They forced a series of corners in the opening fifteen minutes and when, in the twelfth minute, one of these was cleared only as far as Bloomer on the edge of the box, they made the break through. Bloomer's cross caused mayhem in the United defence and in a scramble, John Boag managed to prod the ball home from close range. The United players were incensed as they felt Boag was clearly offside but the goal stood and Derby were one up. United did manage to make the odd foray into the Derby goalmouth but for the remainder of the first half it was very much looking like Derby's day.
Two minutes before the break it looked like curtains for United when Steve Bloomer, the leagues most dangerous marksman was presented with an open goal only for the England International to screw his shot tamely wide of goal.
Derby were still the better side in the opening minutes of the second half but surprisingly it was their star player who prevented them from wrapping up the game as Bloomer yet again missed a sitter in the early stages. The two glaring misses would prove costly as when United were presented with a sniff of a chance on the hour mark they grabbed it with both hands. Needham tricked his way to the byline before sending in a perfect cross which Bennett headed home powerfully to level matters. The cup was won in the next nine minutes as United took Derby apart. Beers raced through the Derby defence in the 65th minute to blast a second past Fryer and when the same player rattled the post in the 69th minute, Almond was first to react to put the game beyond doubt. Derby were looking every bit a beaten side at this stage and there was never any danger of their tired front line gaining any consolation. All that was left was for Fred Priest to round off the victory in the final minute with United's fourth goal of the game. In fairness 4-1 flattered United as they had been second best for an hour but Derby should have had the game sown up at that stage and failed to take their chances. When United got the chances they took them all in a devastating spell which was deserving of the cup.
Ernest Nudger Needham led his side up to collect the cup for the first time from Lord Balfour on a day when it was particularly good to be a Sheffield red. When the United fans returned to Sheffield that evening they were informed by the evening papers that local rivals, Wednesday had lost a crucial league game against Newcastle and had been relegated.
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THE TEAMS
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SHEFFIELD UNITED
BILLY {FATTY} FOULKE
HARRY THICKETT
PETER BOYLE
HAROLD JOHNSON
THOMAS MORREN
ERNEST "NUDGER" NEEDHAM {CAPTAIN}
WALTER BENNETT
W BEERS
GEORGE HEDLEY
J ALMOND
FRED PRIEST
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DERBY COUNTY
JACK FRYER
JIMMY METHVEN
J STALEY
{CAPTAIN} JOHN COX
R PATERSON
JOHN MAY
T ARKESDEN
STEVE BLOOMER
JOHN BOAG
W MCDONALD
H ALLEN
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