THE CUP FINAL

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 131, 7 June 1929, Page 7

THE CUP FINAL

BOLTON'S THIRD WIN

AT WEMBLEY

PORTSMOUTH BEATEN

To Bolton Wanderers and Lancashire sportsmen in . general Wembley Stadium must be fast becoming.the place of accustomed victory,,, says the Soccer writer of "The Times." s No doubt as the seasons slip.by, and with them the existing band [of redoubtable cup-fighters, this impression will become less intense in the townj of Bolton itself, but the fact always, will remain that, •in the seven seasons that followed the 'removal of ■ the Cup final from ■ Stamford Bridge to: Wembley, Bolton Wanderers won^the Cup three times. \ ";'. ' "';.. . "

Bolton: were the', visitors in 1923, on that never-to-be-forgotten occasion when at least 100,000 too many people decided to be present at the opening match and all but made the name of Wembley stand for : complete fiasco. Bolton's combination of nerves and skill then.was too much for West Ham United. Next, in 1926, they had the. better of a; purely Lancashire final and .scored the only goal of their match with.Manchester City." Another two »easons passed' and, on 27th April last, Bolton met another hope of the South in Portsmouth and beat them slowly but surely by two" goals to none. This is decidedly a great record, and cbm.parable in its way with the more extensive, triumphs of Aston Villa and Blackburn Rovers.

Anything more docile and apparently impersonal • than the crowd that watches a. Gup- Final 1 at Wembley in these days I could hardly be imagjne'd. The : edict of the •''■■ Football Association, "admission by ticket only," means that each year approximately. 93,000 , people, adroit, and even excited before the event, but calm and-even, majestic on the day itself, take train or motor-car out: to all that remains.: of; the, famous, exhibition. Perhaps the size and silence of the surrounding wilderness and the mountaineering exploits that follow have something. to do: with the subdued' atmosphere inside the Stadium itself. Massed bands, raucous appeals from' a dozen or more loud speakers pointing here, there, -and everywhere, even the : gymnastics ,of /the ■ Community Singing conductor : himself,; failed - to extract from the crowd more than. a few ghostly echoes—that is, until the band, started to/ play,"Abide With Me." Thefambus'hymn, curiously enough, suited the spirit of the crowd better than anything else, and 93,000 Welshmen could: not-have let themselves go with'more effect..: The singing, indeed, suddenly became most impressive and paved the way for; two ;mbr6 outbursts of sound; one, when the Wanderers and "Pompey" emerged from a great cleft in the surrounding stands, and tlie other when the Prince'of Wales stepped out on to the field of play to shake hands with the two teams, and. that most important of' all officials, the referee. -.'.■• \ f PORTSMOUTH'S CHANCE.

■ -Bright sunshine • made the newly laid but -well.rolled turf look fit for super-men to ,play football on and; ■ when, the Portsmouth team in, their 'first Cup Fin&l startedto play, as they had promised, to do, like- a side . that/believed'in themselves, a largely Southern.' crowd indulged '.-■in! a few,, sympathetic roars v.of applause.' The: .fact;., that - half of 'the ; Portsmouth team !■• came from Britain did not affect this way lof looking .at J;he match. : The • general" atmosphere of complacency • and calm, .however, seemed to have trans-' lated ''itself .to * the . players; Portsmouth, as befitted challengers, pressed the harder, but never" with anything like, Berserk force; ; - Some of their' passing and 'drib^ bling was quite pleasant to see;- and if— this, is the;:"ifs,"<- thei fatal "ifs," begiii-r-if;; there; vhadsbeen. a more experienced; and- finishecl: centre-forward -to back up; several clever-bits of play, Portsmouth jnight well havj£; scored that''first and generally goal. ■ ■■'■;.;■: ■' JBOWTON'S RESERVE^ - '-. Bolton's share in; a goalless first half, though /significantly complacent, . almost dull'in fact/ except on the rarest occasions, was not to be despised except by blind partisans. . .They . appeared to be playing, so ; well within \ themselves and were so iriuch:.-the i more solid team, in weight; as-well- as skill, that in the exhausting atmosphere of a Gup 1 final they always promised to last longer than their harder-looking.." opponents.' ■:■ This admittedly came as rather a surprise, though the presence";in> the:Boltdn team of six men who. hafl-;played before at Wembley helped, "to: explain what were obviously, wellrthought-out tactics. In addition to

this, Bolton's attacks, though beaten off or balked at the last moment every time, also suggested considerable reserves of strength if- and whenever the game really went their way.

Blackmore,Bolton's centre forward, was as much a cause of Portmouth's defeat as anyone; it .was his powerful physique and method of boring his way through a tiring and eventually disorganised defence^ that at.last, led up to a goal, a goal that came -barely .12 minutes from the finish and. was quickly followed by and decisive one! &re, in ; fairness to Portsmouth, it should be, pointed out that an injury to Bell; their left; back, also had a good deal to do with the actual scoring of the first goal .of the match. Bell bad returned to ; the field of play, but so much the limping passenger that Thackeray had to coyer.him all the time. This, and the additional fact that for some time the'Bolton backs had;so. subdued the Portsmouth forwards that Kean, Seddon, and - Nuttall could concentrate upon keeping up the pressure, at last gave the crowd something: tangible to cheer or bemoan as the'case might: be. *" : Twice Grilfillan had warded off almost certain disaster as -only a .;great goalkeeper can, but this time he had little chance to do so^ Blackmore, defying a charge off the ball, had sent a pass over to the right, where Thackeray, caught on the wrong foot, failed in an attempt to intercept it, and Butler dashed in and drove home a terrific shot at an angle, fiilfillan flung himself forward, but was beaten by the pace of .the shot, and the ball probably was just over the goal-line ■when Maekie, in dashing! across to cover

Gilfillan, was struck ,on the foot, by the ball and sent it crashing back to the edge of the gpal-post and thence back again to: himself asiKes plunged on, ahnost into the net. •■:.: ;;■■.'. V"- ■■"■'■'■ , It was a remarkable; but not undeserved goal, and no one%;waß.' ; surprised at the second, which - quickly" "followed—an. unstoppable one from'the-foot--of Blackmore. All that remained of 'interest .was one last despairing • long .shot -byr'M,llwaine^that certainly tested .Pym's capabilities^ as a goalkeeper, fairly compjetelyy and- the. presentation of 4 the : Gup, and medals by the Prince of Walesl'. ..y j. The teams were: 1—; '■'■'.:■"■..' . Boltbn Wanderers.—R. H-. Pym, goal; K. Haworth ■arid -A. r-Finney, backs; F. M. Kean, J;:Seddon, and H. Nuttall, halfbacks; W. Butler, J. M'Celland,: H. A* Blackmore, G.:: B. Gibson, and W. ■> Cook, forwards.- '.: '■■■. Y'.v ■...'• i.v 1. . ; Portsmouth.-rJ. : Gilfillan, goal; i. J. A. -Mackie and. T. Bell, backs; J. Nichol, J. M'llwaine; and D. Thackeray, half-backs; F. Forward, J. W. Smith;.; J. ".Weddle, D.' Watson, andF; Cook; fonvards. '. Referee: Mr. A^ Josephs (South Shields). The attendance-was 92,576, and the receiptß were approximajielyV £23,400.