MATTHEW'S DAY IN MAY, LOGAN, DAFT

On 2nd May 1953, in one of the most memorable FA Cup Finals, Blackpool beat Bolton Wanderers 4-3 at Wembley. It was known as the ‘Matthews' Final’ as a 38-year-old Stanley Matthews finally won a club honour, after previously being on the losing side in two FA Cup Finals: in 1948 beaten by Manchester United 2-4 and in 1951 by Newcastle Utd 2-0 .

It was a close thing, with Bolton 3-1 up with less than 25 minutes remaining. The 'Mortensen Final' would have been a more appropriate title though with Matthews' team-mate Stan Mortensen scoring hat-trick. The match was "a bit special"!!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Y5XidXdP4

It was only the third hat-trick in an FA Cup Final, this one being the first at Wembley. One of the other two hat tricks was scored on March 29th,1890, when Blackburn Rovers beat Sheffield Wednesday 6-1 in the first "Roses Final", at The Oval. William Townley scored three for Rovers, in front of 20,000. 

The 31st March 1894 Final, saw another hat trick, this time by Jimmy Logan, when Notts County beat Bolton Wanderers 4-1. The match was played at Goodison Park and 37,000 saw it. 

Jimmy, who was born in Troon, started his career for Ayr FC, but with Scottish Football languishing in amateurism at the time, many Scots migrated south. He made his debut for Scotland in 1891, scoring against Wales in a 4-3 win at Wrexham.

Logan joined Notts County after spells at Sunderland and Aston Villa. He would have his most famous moment in the Final, scoring that hat trick against Bolton, a feat that has only been repeated once in the 122 years since. 

In the Notts County side that day was Harry Butler Daft, a celebrated Corinthian, who kept alive the "spirit" of amateurism, amongst the growing number of professionals. Daft had an outstanding final, along with Logan. Daft won three England caps and also played county cricket for Notts, just as his uncle and father done before him.

Harold Butler Daft was yet another member of a great sporting family to achieve success on more than one field of play.  He played  around 200 First-Class cricket matches and was an England trialist at Lacrosse. His real fame came on the football pitch, playing for Notts County, with a brief four-match interlude at rivals Nottingham Forest, in 1885. He left County for a couple of years and was back at the club for the start of the Football League in 1888. Daft was a forward with a good goal-scoring record, although he did not score in Notts County’s FA Cup final win over Bolton Wanderers in 1891, nor in the defeat to Blackburn Rovers in 1894.  He was capped five times by England, captaining the side in his last appearance against Ireland in 1892.

Son of Richard Daft, who also played for Notts County and for Nottinghamshire, Harry made his First-Class cricket debut in 1885 against the MCC at Lords and his final match – with 190 matches in between – against Lancashire at Trent Bridge in 1899. Not as accomplished a batsman as his father, Harry’s top score was 92 no against Kent but he was a solid defensive player whose resolution was of great value to the rather weakened Nottinghamshire XI of the 1890s.

He scored 4,221 runs at an average of just 16.11, passed fifty 16 times, with one century, 103no in a non-First-Class match against Northants in 1897; his slow bowling brought him 86 wickets in his First-Class career, at a cost of 23.51.

Harry Daft was born in Radcliffe-on-Trent on 5 April 1866 and died at High Cross in Hertfordshire on 12 January 1945.

His brother, Richard Parr Daft and uncle, Charles Daft, also played cricket for Nottingham; Harry got his middle name from his grandfather and Richard senior's father-in-law, Butler Parr (no relation to another great cricketing family) who played in 23 First-Class matches.

Full name:	Harry Butler Daft
Born:	5th April 1866, Radcliffe-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, England
Died:	12th January 1945, High Cross, Hertfordshire, England
Batting:	Right-hand batter
Bowling:	(unknown hand) Slow
Relations:	Brother: RP Daft; Father: R Daft; Uncle: CF Daft
Teams:	Nottinghamshire (Main FC: 1885-1899); BELOW, if it works for you, a list of his statistics. https://cricketarchive.com/Nottinghamshire/Players/28/28920/statistics_lists.html