On January 23rd 2020, Watford fell foul at Tranmere Rovers in a Round 3 replay, losing 1-2 aet. In their first encounter, Rovers forced a brave 3-3 away draw.
On January 13th 1912, as a Southern League club and underdogs, Watford held the very experienced Wolverhampton Wanderers, 0-0 in a First Round FA Cup tie on their home ground, not Vicarage Road in those days.
The replay on the 24th was not quite so satisfying when Watford, The Hornets, were hammered 10-0 at Molineux.They weren't known as the Hornets then.
Yes, nickname the Hornets! Obvious isn't it? Originally known as "The Benskins" after the local Brewery, (the building is now a museum), the club changed its colours to blue and became known as The Blues. In 1959 they took up the present colours and nickname, The Hornets, rather than The Harts, a male deer (from the county Hertfordshire).
Wolves went on to beat Lincoln City 2-1 on February 3rd, but met their match against Blackburn Rovers away in the next round 3-2.
Rovers then met Manchester United away, drawing 1-1 and beating United 4-2 in the replay.
Rovers continued on their cup campaign to play West Bromwich Albion drawing 0-0 at neutral Anfield and then losing at Hillsborough 0-1.
IN the FA Cup Final, West Brom met Barnsley at Crystal Palace on April 20th, drawing 0-0 and lost the replay at Bramall Lane 1-0 three days later. Barnsley conceded only 4 goals in 12 Cup ties.
Of the 32 First Round ties that season obviously involving 64 clubs, the following were Non-League clubs:
Brentford, Blackburn Rovers, Crystal Palace, Portsmouth, Millwall, Crewe Alexandra, Croydon Common, Darlington, Brighton HA, Lincoln City, Leyton, Luton, Northampton, Norwich, Southport Central, Southampton, Reading, Plymouth A, Sutton Junction, Walsall, West Ham and Watford.
AND QPR who drew league club Bradford City, who were the cup holders. 22 in total.
Teams that were regarded as "professional" at the time of playing in this First Round were:
Clapton Orient, Gainsborough Trinity, Glossop, Leicester Fosse, Stockport County and Woolwich Arsenal.
To round this off, in the 2019-2020 competition, Manchester United played at Wolves and drew 0-0 in Round 3 and won the replay 1-0.
United, of course, play Tranmere Rovers in the Cup this weekend, on Sunday, at Prenton Park.
so there is a sort of link up here!
No comments:
Post a Comment