FA Cup Final 1934
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The 1934 FA Cup Final was won by Manchester City in a 2-1 win over Portsmouth. The cup is most remembered for a young Frank Swift's heroics in goal and the predictions of City forward Fred Tilson.
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[edit] The Final
The 1934 Final was played in a thunderstorm. The storm made the ground very sluggish and slow. A shot by Rutherford span away from Frank Swift and the ball curled very nicely in the corner of the net.
At half time, Frank was blaming himself for what had happened with the goal. He was the youngest player in the team and felt he had let the team down. However, Man City's bustling forward Tilson came up to him and said "You don't need to worry, I'll plonk (score) two in (the) next half".
With just seventeen minutes to go, Jimmy Allen, Portsmouths tall defender, left the field injured. Man City now had a man advantage. Busby took a throw in and played the ball to Brook. Brook played the ball through to Tilson, who had plenty of time to place the ball home. Gilfallan, the Portsmouth goalkeeper was out of place and Tilson had equalized. There was more to come however, as, with three minutes to go, Tilson latched on to a cross from Herd, to rifle the ball home. True to his word, Tilson had notched two goals.
At the other end of the pitch, Frank knew that all his team had to do was hold on for another two minutes and they would win. A photographer behind the goal was making him more nervous by counting down the seconds on his watch. When the game ended, Frank fainted in relief. The young goalkeeper went on to captain England in the future, his goalkeeping error forgotten.
[edit] Match Statistics
[edit] The Line Ups
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STATISTICS
- Competition: FA Cup (Final)
- Date: April 28th, 1934
- Venue: Wembley Stadium, London
- Attendance: 93,258
- Referee: Stanley Rous (Hertfordshire)
[edit] The Tournament
The FA received 554 entrants for the 1933-34 tournament. As usual, these were whittled down to just 64 in the Third Round proper.
[edit] Route to the Final
Manchester City started off against Blackburn Rovers. Blackburn, although cup winners in 1928, had disappointed since. After a 3-1 home win, the City were drawn against Hull City. They drew away, 2-2, however the Blues resoundlingly won the replay 4-1. Sheffield Wednesday were the opponents in the 5th Round. Once again a score draw was fought out. However Manchester won the replay by two goals to none. The Quarter Final was another away tie, to Stoke City. The Potters were beaten 1-0. This result set up an intriguing Semi Final against Aston Villa, who had knocked out the 3-times champions Arsenal in the previous round. The game was played at Leeds Road in Huddersfield, and produced a big shock. A lot of people were expecting a close game, but the Blues romped home with a 6-1 thrashing.
Portsmouth started away to Manchester United. Following a 1-1 draw, Portsmouth won the Fratton Park replay 4-1. Under the guidance of Jack Tinn, Portsmouth managed to only concede five goals in the whole competition, two of those in Round 1. After defeating Grimsby and Swansea by 2-0 and 1-0 respectively, they faced Bolton Wanderers in the Quarter Finals. Bolton had scored 12 goals in 3 FA Cup games thus far, however they could not get a goal against Man City who won emphatically, 3-0. Leicester were the opponents in the Birmingham Semi Final, which was won 4-1.
