CORONATION CUP, ENGAGEMENT MEDAL

You get a nice long tale today....... Reason? I was deeply involved with Hepworth Juniors yesterday morning, watching our U10s play Northwothram (lovely names in West Yorkshire) in a 7 a side "league" game at Far Lane. Then, in the afternoon, I watched the club's Reserves play Almondbury Woolpack (lovely names!!) in the Huddersfield and District Div 2; a 3-4 cracker played in very blustery conditions and then, of course, it was rugby on TV, a meal in Huddersfield at a local Turkish and then "Parasite"....Oscar winning film....let's say an interesting creation, the film that is.

In 1937, Millwall FC was lying 7th in the Third Division South when the Lions almost pull off a sensation by getting into the semi-finals of the FA Cup but no further. No club at their level on the pyramid (as it wasn't known then) had ever been as far as this in the Cup. Millwall lost 1-2 to Sunderland, the eventual cup winners, at the neutral, Leeds Road, Huddersfield.

Millwall's cup run began with a 6-1 defeat of Aldershot (then a FL club) and a 7-0 victory over Gateshead (then a FL club) came next at The Den.
In Round Three they met Division Two side Fulham (now a Championship side), at home again, where 35,000 saw them win 2-0.

This led the Lions to meet First Division Chelsea (now a Premier League team), a club with a lion's badge, at home and 42,000 saw them thump the Pensioners, 3-0. Heady days!

In Round 5 they met Derby County, another First Division team (now a Championship club), who had been division runners-up the previous season. Nobody gave Millwall a hope but had not taken into consideration their goal strikers, McCartney and Dave Mangnall, performing in front of a record home crowd of 48,672.
McCartney scored the winner with minutes left, as Millwall won 2-1 .

Two weeks later it was Quarter-final time against the mighty Manchester City, soon to be First Division Champions (top flight), who came to The Den. Frank Swift, the legendry English goalkeeper, was between the City sticks, there was the gifted Irish forward, Peter Docherty and outside left Eric Brook who were part of this top club in the country. Mangnall converted a quickly taken corner to put Millwall 1-0 ahead and 12 minutes into the second half, Swift misjudged a McCartney cross to let Mangnall convert with a header. Big leap!

Cue pitch invasion and the press loved it, claiming Mangnall to be a "Giant Killer".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph8gF8soSeQ
This was the first time a Third Division side had gone this far in the FA Cup, although Millwall had reached the semi-finals in 1900 and 1903 as a Southern League club. The other semi-finalists in 1937 were; Preston NE and West Bromwich Albion.

A crowd of 62,000+ saw Mangnall put Millwall ahead after 11 minutes but by half time the famous England international Raich Carter, along with Scottish international, Patsy Gallacher and Bob Gurney of England, turned the screw.  Mangnall had scored 10 goals during the cup run.

Sunderland won 2-1 and went on to beat Preston 3-1 in the Final, in front of over 92,000 at Wembley. Their goals came from Carter, Gurney and Burbanks.

Horatio Stratton Carter married Rosie on the last Monday of April 1937. The next time he saw her, he had received the FA Cup from the Queen (mother) in Coronation year and got a medal.  The Queen had said that this was a nice wedding present for him!
Sunderland had won the League the year before, so Carter, who was only 23 years old was top man.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ejdi_0H6ZU