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1900 F A CUP FINAL
BURY 4
VS
SOUTHAMPTON 1
SCORERS-J MCLUCKIE-9 & 23, WILLIAM WOOD-16, JOHN PLANT-80
21st APRIL-CRYSTAL PALACE-LONDON
ATTENDANCE-68,945
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The nineteenth Century came to an end having seen mankind advance further than it had in all the other Centuries put together. The average middle class family could now enjoy music from the privacy of their own home without having to learn to play an instrument first, thanks to the phonograph. "When you were sweet sixteen" was the most popular 78 on sale as the new Century dawned. Of course a huge proportion of the population were still living from hand to mouth and such luxuries were out of the question. At least the Cinema was one new entertainment springing up around the Country that most people would be able to afford, although the idea of making a feature film was still a long way off. The most popular viewing at the penny shows at the turn of the Century was a short film of less than five minutes called "The kiss in the tunnel." A raunchy tale of matrimonial passion, stolen when a train plunges into the darkness. The first deathknell of the old steam train was also being sounded as the first diesel engines were put to use, though it would still be six decades before they surpassed the old coal engines.
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The charge for the cup in 1900 was a difficult one as the weather played havoc with the competition. From January to early April it snowed and rained constantly while temperatures sank below freezing most of the time. Despite the weather there were few problems on first round day, that is unless you were an Everton fan. On a quagmire of a pitch, the Merseysiders were stunned by Southern league Southampton. Former Everton hero Alf Milward deservedly put the Saints in front with fifteen minutes left and added another in stoppage time to seal an easy 3-0 shock. There was no such result at Trent Bridge though, where Notts County easily sank Chorley 6-0 while cup holders, Sheffield United began the defence of the trophy with a 1-0 win over Leicester Fosse. West Bromwich Albion survived a scare at Walsall before coming through 6-1 in the replay while Blackburn needed three attempts before finally seeing off Portsmouth 5-0.
The second round proved more difficult to complete then the first as 10,000 unlucky souls turned up to see giant killers Southampton take on first division Newcastle on a brick hard pitch. Saints were reduced to ten men just before the break when Farrell dislocated his shoulder and the referee wisely abandoned the game early in the second half during a blizzard with the score still at 0-0. Only four of the other seven ties survived the weather as Champions Aston Villa put down a firm bid for the double with an easy 5-1 win over Bristol City with four goals from John Devey. The rescheduled games and replays went ahead a week later and Southampton added a second scalp when they sent Newcastle crashing out 4-1 after being a goal down early on. It could have been worse for the Magpies as Southampton also had two goals disallowed. The cup holders also progressed into the last eight when United knocked out local rivals Wednesday in a replay. Bury, Nottingham Forest, Preston and West Brom were joined in the last eight by a second Southern League club, Millwall Athletic.
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Fortunately the weather had improved enough for all four quarter finals to go ahead on February 24th with both Southern league clubs drawn at home. Only one of the four ties produced a decision though and yet again it was Southampton making the headlines as a third top flight club were dismissed on the South coast in the shape of West Bromwich Albion. Yet again the non leaguers had found themselves a goal down before Albion goalkeeper Joe Reader put the ball through his own goal eighteen minutes from time before a late winner came from McLeod. Millwall also had an opposing defender to thank as they recorded a memorable 1-1 draw at home to Champions Aston Villa, the Londoners equalising just three minutes from time. Sheffield United needed an Ernie Needham penalty to force a replay with Bury 2-2 while Preston and Forest failed to find the net. Forest booked a semi final birth four days later with a 1-0 win while Millwall again defied the odds in a goal less draw with Villa but the holders, Sheffield United bowed out the following day when they went down 1-0 at Bury. Having performed miracles in holding the best side in the land for two hours of football, Millwall went even better when they became only the second club ever from non league football to defeat the reigning champions in a cup tie when Villa went spinning out 2-1. To make the game even more significant the semi final draw had paired the two Southern league clubs together to guarentee a non league cup finalist and a team from the South for the first time in over twenty years.
The clash of the non leaguers was naturally staged at the Crystal Palace while Bury and Forest clashed at Stoke's Victoria ground. For the first time since 1872 neither game produced a winner at the first attempt. Southampton were taking their semi final clash very seriously as the team were taken to Buxton to prepare. The game was an ill tempered one that saw Millwall reduced to ten men in the second half when Banks was carried off injured. Millwall did have the ball in the net in the first half when Burgess fired an indirect free kick into the Saint's net only for the referee to judge that the ball had not been touched by another player.
There was a much better game in Stoke where Bury took the lead early on when Richard's shot came back off a post and was then punched clear by Forest defender Ironmonger when a goal seemed certain. Pray smashed the spot kick home but Ironmonger was not sent off. Arthur Capes headed the equaliser in the twenty fifth minute for Forest. Bury were the better side in the second half but chances were few and far between.
Southampton were the first to book their place in the final on March 28th when they finally finished off Millwall 3-0 while Bury joined them the following day in a classic semi final which ended 3-2.
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THE FINAL
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Bury may have been overwhelming favourites as they turned up for the final at Crystal Palace but the vast majority of the 68,000 crowd were rooting for Southampton as the first club from the South to reach the final since 1883. The Saints though were far from out of their depth in this company and Bury had plenty to be wary of as their opponents boasted no less than four players with previous experience of the final. Peter Meehan and Alf Milward had both played in the final three years earlier for Everton while Milward had also been in the team beaten at Fallowfield in 1893. He now found himself teamed up with Harry Wood who had picked up a winners medal with Wolves in that '93 final and was making his fourth appearance in the final having been on Wolve's losing sides of 1889 & 1896. Completing the quartet was Bob Petrie who had been a team mate of Wood's in 1896. Also in the side was Arthur Chadwick, whose cousin Edgar had been a beaten finalist in 1893 & 1897 with Everton. Despite all this previous experience, Southampton dispensed with tradition and did not leave for the cup final until the morning of the game. Bury, without any previous finalists in their ranks, had taken the opportunity to enjoy the sites and sounds of London, having journeyed down on the Thursday.
Those who were hoping for a Southern victory didn't have long to wait to see their hopes dashed though. In conditions resembling mid July rather than mid April Bury went at Southampton from the start. The first goal came in the ninth minute when Ward forced a corner which was taken by Richards and headed home by McLuckie. Bury could already have been two or three goals to the good even at that stage. The goal woke Southampton up though and they enjoyed a good spell in the five minutes after the goal before being caught with a sucker punch for Bury's second. In the sixteenth minute McLuckie fired in a shot which Robinson did brilliantly to save only to see his parry fall straight to Wood who couldn't miss from close range. McLuckie was determined to make a strong claim for man of the match and in the twenty-third minute he killed off the game as a contest. McLuckie brilliantly controlled a long raking pass with his head and in an instant had raced clear of a static Saint's defence to fire in the third with Robinson again hopelessly exposed by his back four. Much of the wind of the game had been taken out by that goal as both sides knew the destiny of the cup had been decided. Alf Milward could have made the game more of a contest just before the break but fired wide witha clear site of Bury's goal. Southampton were a much better side in the second half but in truth Bury had taken their foot off the gas and were playing out time. The Shakers were content to let the non league outfit have as much of the ball as they wanted as every Southampton attack ended with some wild shooting from long range. With the game wilting to a conclusion in the heat wave conditions, Bury hammered the final nail in Southampton's coffin when John Plant smashed home a rocket with ten minutes left to make the score 4-0. All that remained was for Bury to get their hands on the cup but that was delayed when the referee blew for a foul in the 85th minute only for the fans to think it was the final whistle. The Bury fans poured onto the pitch and it took some time before order was restored and the final minutes played out. That though was a formality and a second pitch invasion did signal the final whistle. Pray gained the honour of being the first Bury captain to get his hands on the little tin idol while Southampton received three cheers for playing their part.
Bury had won nothing in the nineteenth Century but had started the twentith with a bang. The key for them now was to improve their standing in the top flight and add to their honour. Southampton's aging team had surely missed their chance to lift the cup but their fans could still hold their heads up high. The club had sent three top flight clubs crashing out of the cup en route to the final and it seemed that it would be very difficult for the football league to ignore a future application from the Saints for league status. With Millwall having reached the semi finals in addition to Southampton's final appearance, the Southern league had sent a clear signal that one of its member clubs could one day win the trophy.
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BURY CAPTAIN PRAY ACCEPTS THE CUP FROM LORD JAMES. THE GAME WAS PLAYED IN HEATWAVE CONDITIONS DESPITE THE HEAVY LOOKING APPEARANCE OF THE SPECTATORS CLOTHING
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THE TEAMS
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BURY
THOMPSON
DARROCH
DAVIDSON
PRAY {CAPTAIN}
JOE LEEMING
GEORGE ROSS
RICHARDS
WILLIAM WOOD
J MCLUCKIE
CHARLIE SAGAR
JOHN PLANT
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SOUTHAMPTON
JOHN ROBINSON
PETER MEEHAN
PETER DURBER
SAMUEL MESTON
ARTHUR CHADWICK
BOB PETRIE
ARTHUR TURNER
JAMES YATES
JOHN FARRELL
HARRY WOOD
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