The FA Cup Final

Bolton Wanderers 1     Notts County 4
Cassidy 87                                                                Watson 18
                                                                                 Logan 29, 67, 70
 
 

Attendance :- 37,000
Referee:- C. J. Hughes

Bolton Wanderers
Colours:- White shirts, Navy shorts, Navy stockings
League Position:- 13th/16 in the top flight
Manager:- John Somerville

1.   John Sutcliffe
2.   John Somerville
3.   Di Jones [Captain]
4.   Harry Gardiner
5.   Alex Paton
6.   Achie Hughes
7.   Bob Tannahill
8.   Jim Wilson
9.   Jim Cassidy
10. Handel Bentley
11. Joe Dickenson

Notts County
Colours:- Balck & white striped shirts, Black shorts, Black stockings
League Position:- 2nd/15 in the 2nd tier
Manager:- Tom Harris
Trianer:- Joe Goode

1.   George Toone
2.   Theo Harper
3.   Jack Hendry
4.   Charlie Bramley
5.   Davey Calderhead [Captain]
6.   Alf Shelton
7.   Arthur Watson
8.   Sam Donnelly
9.   Jimmy Logan
10. Dan Bruce
11. Harry Daft
 

The Association Challenge Cup - Final Tie

Tremendous interest was taken in the final tie of the Association Cup at Everton yesterday, and over 30,000 people witnessed the match. Both teams had good records, and there was little to choose between them, though if anything the Wanderers had a slight advantage. In the previous rounds the Bolton Wanderers bad beaten Small Heath, Newcastle United, Liverpool, and Sheffield Wednesday, while Notts County bad triumphed over Burnley, Burton Wanderers. Notts Forest, and Blackburn Rovers. Fortunately for all interested the weather turned out delightfully fine, while the ground proved to be in excellent condition.

Both elevens were cheered as they entered the field. Notts won the toss, but as there was scarcely a breeze no advantage was derived. The Wanderers first attacked, but without avail. Then Notts got away, and their forwards tried to rush Sutcliffe, who however, was equal to the occasion. From this point Bolton pressed for some time and forced a corner, but to no purpose. Then Sutcliffe fisted out a fine shot by Daft. The play afterwards favoured Notts, who sent in three good shots without success. After twenty minutes had elapsed Donnelly [sic] scored for Notts. Play continued to be very fast, and Toone defended wonderfully well, but Logan obtained a second point for the County. When half-time arrived the score stood at two goals to none in favour of Notts.

In the second half the Notts forwards showed superior combination, and twice the ball was sent over the Bolton goal . A few minutes later Logan sent in a shot which puzzled Sutcliffe, and the ball was eventually sent through. The same player quickly added a fourth point half an hour before the finish. Towards the close Cassidy scored for the Wanderers, but all interest in the game had by this time evaporated. The final result was a somewhat rather easy victory by Notts County by four goals to one.

Back; Bramley, Harper, Calderhead, Toone, Hendry, Shelton, Goode(trainer).
Front; Watson, Donnelly, Logan, Bruce, Daft.
.
The following text is from a now defunct web page created in 2000 (The address was http://hometown.aol.co.uk/captainbeecher/1894FACUPFINAL.html)

For the second year in a row the F A again had to sit down and decide where to hold the cup final and this time their decision was a controversial one. The announcement was made that the final would be held at Everton's recently built Goodison Park in Liverpool, much to the annoyance of most of the clubs in the first division. Everton were among the strongest clubs in the Country and were widely tipped by the press to get to the final, having been beaten by Wolves in the 1893 showpiece. Naturally if the Toffeemen reached the final of 1894 they would have home advantage which was against the rules of the competition but the F A made no provision for the possibility of this happening.  Fortunately there was never any real danger of a home final as Everton were one of two top flight sides sent crashing out of the competition at the first hurdle away to second division opponents Stoke 1-0. Notts County produced the same result against Burnley while four other top flight clubs went down in round one in all first division ties including the holders, Wolves who lost 4-2 at league leaders Aston Villa. Preston produced the biggest ever victory by a top flight club when they destroyed Reading 18-0 on a quagmire of a pitch. Preston prepared for the tie by nailing hob nails through their boots to gain a grip on the turf and went on to score as they liked against a Reading side who made no such preparation and were probably loathed to takle a player with nails protruding. Reading themselves made history in the qualifiers as they fielded the only convict ever to play in a cup tie. Their star striker being sprung in time for the match and spirited back inside after the game.
     There was mixed fortunes for the two giant killers in round two as Notts County marched on with a 2-1 win at Burton Wanderers while Stoke bowed out at Sheffield Wednesday 1-0. Notts were joined in the last eight by another second division club though when Liverpool upset Preston 3-2 with the top flight club presumably leaving the hob nails at home. The tie of the round was without doubt at Sunderland where the champions met the league leaders, Aston Villa to battle out a 2-2 draw. Villa went on to win the replay 3-1 and would ultimately beat Sunderland for the championship as well. Bolton booked their quarter final place with a 4-3 win over Small Heath followed by another away win, 2-1 at Newcastle United. Nottingham Forest made the last eight as well while Blackburn and Derby completed the line up after replays, the former convincingly seeing off Newton Heath 5-1.
     Sheffield Wednesday must have been cursing their luck as they found themselves drawn at home to Aston Villa in the quarter finals. It was Wednesday's seventh consecutive quarter final but so far they had won just one of the previous six and Villa were by now the favourites to lift the cup. It proved to be the best match of the four and required extra time before Toodles Woolhouse put Wednesday 3-2 up and into the semi finals. Derby were also expected to beat Blackburn in the other all top flight quarter final but again the form book was torn up as Haydock scored a hat-trick for Rovers in a comfortable 4-1 win to take them to their second consecutive semi final. Neither of the two second division sides managed to book a semi final place on quarter final day though. Liverpool were outclassed at Bolton where Dickenson scored twice in a 3-0 win. Notts County did make it into the hat though when ' Daniel Bruce's goal earned a 1-1 draw against local rivals Nottingham Forest, Mcinnes scoring for the reds. McInnes scored again in the replay but Notts County took their second top flight scalp and the local pride when Bruce netted a brace followed by goals from Sam Donnelley and Jimmy Logan in an emphatic 4-1 win.
     Both semi finals provided chances for one of the sides to gain a bit of cup revenge for previous semi final defeats. Notts County had lost to Blackburn in the semi final ten years earlier but there seemed little chance of them gaining any revenge at Bramall Lane in their semi final meeting this time. First division clubs seemed to hold no fear for County however and Rovers became their third top flight victim of the campaign when Harry Daft scored the only goal to make County the first club from division two to reach the final. Meanwhile at Fallowfield in Manchester, the scene of last years final, Bolton were bidding to gain revenge for their semi final defeat by Sheffield Wednesday four years earlier. Again it was the underdog who won through as Bentley scored both Bolton's goals in a 2-1 victory, Toodles Woolhouse netted Wednesday's consolation.

 THE FINAL

 Goodison Park was always one of the leading grounds in the Country and the organisers of the final had little difficulty with crowd control as thirty-seven thousand fans took their seats for the final between favourites, Bolton and underdogs, Notts County.  The two clubs were on course to meet in the league test matches as Bolton were fighting with Preston to avoid the
third from bottom position in division one while County were on course to finish third in division two. As it was, Bolton won their fight against finishing third bottom and County were due to meet Preston for a place in the top flight instead. With hindsight the Bolton fans must have been hugely relieved at that outcome after witnessing this final. More canny fans among the spectators took note that although County were a second division side, they had all the cup final experience in their ranks with John Hendry, Harry Daft, Alfred Shelton and club captain David Calderhead all returning from the beaten 1891 side. By contrast Bolton had no previous experience in their side and surprisingly also found themselves out numbered in the International experience of the two sides with just club captain Jones of Wales and keeper John Sutcliffe of England up against three England and three Scotland internationals for County.
     Never before or since has the underdog so dominated a final as County did this one against Wanderers. Right from the kick off the Magpies made it clear that they had no intention of  being cautious as many of the press had suggested they should be, and it wasn't long before Bolton found themselves having to defend in numbers. The breakthrough came after eighteen minutes when Logan fed Arthur Watson who made no mistake in beating Sutcliffe from close range. Eleven minutes later and it was Logan again who tormented the Wanderers defence when he was left unmarked to double County's advantage. Bolton were by this stage all over the place but they survived until half time at two goals down, although County should have had the game well won by the interval. Bolton looked as though they could muster a fightback as they started the second half as the better side but time and again the forward line were stopped in their tracks long before getting a sight of George Toone's goal. It wasn't long before County began to regain the upper hand and the cup was wrapped up in a three minute spell midway through the second half. James Logan found himself with a clear sight of goal in the sixty-seventh minute to virtually seal the victory and just three minutes later he became only the second player in history to bag a cup final hat-trick. Bolton set out to try and re-establish some pride in the last twenty minutes and curiously enough they played some of their best football during the final period. County could be forgiven for taking their foot off the gas, considering they were four goals to the good but even when they did concede a consolation goal from Jim Cassidy three minutes from time there was a large slice of luck involved. George Toone came out to meet a Bolton attack only to slip while attempting to clear and leave Cassidy with one of the easiest cup final goals of all time. To their eternal credit Bolton were first to applaud their opponents but it has to be said that their dressing room after the game resembled a battlefield dressing station with one player swathed in bandages, another bleeding from a head wound, another barely able to walk and a fourth being violently sick. Worse still is the fact that only the head wound was picked up during the game, the others had started the match in their described conditions.
     The County team returned to Nottingham to a heroes reception as the first club from outside the top flight to win the cup but the season ended on a disappointing note four weeks later when County were easily beaten 4-0 by Preston in their promotion test match. Had they won that game and gained promotion, the club may well have gone on to other successes but it wasn't to be. County have enjoyed few highs since March 31st 1894. They did finish in the top five in the league in 1899 and 1901 and reached the semi finals of the cup in 1922 but that was as good as it got for the fans who saw them win the cup. That gave County the unwanted record of being the only club still in existance in 2000 to have won the cup in the nineteenth Century and not returned in the twentieth Century to win it again. Their fans will no doubt hope that in 2022 they are not marking the Centenary of their last semi final appearance.

Other notes
Notts moved into the West Kirby Hotel on Monday March 26th. The team then travelled from West Kirby to Liverpool by train on the Saturday morning.
Hat-trick hero Jimmy Logan tragically died just two years later, in 1896, of pneumonia at the age of twenty five.

Notts County Season 1893/94
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