TUESDAY 1ST JANUARY, 1952
F.A. CUP SECOND ROUND (SECOND REPLAY) AT VILLA PARK, BIRMINGHAM
READING 2 (Henley, Hacking og) SOUTHPORT 0 Attendance 11,000
Marks; Moyse, Wicks; Lewis, Brice, Johnston;
Simpson, Edelstone, Blackman, Henley, Bainbridge;
Minshull; Taylor, Reilly; Hacking, Barrett, Hitching;
Billingham, Livesy, Lindsay, Pennington, Musgrove;
Referee:- Mr F.W. Chadwick, Leicester
Having already played out two drawn games, this marathon F.A. Cup tie continued with a second replay on a neutral ground, approximately half way between the two clubs. Reading, from the Third Division South, played in a set of Portsmouth jerseys against their opponents from the Third Division North. An excellent New Year's Day crowd of 11, 000, mainly neutrals, turned up to watch an entertaining game.
Reading soon adapted themselves to the heavy ground and went ahead after only five minutes play.
Blackman's pass giving Henley a good opening to score. Musgrove, who was Southport's liveliest forward, missed a great chance to equalised by delaying his shot when well places.
Reading went further ahead after fifteen minutes. Minshull, the former Liverpool goalkeeper, fumbled a high centre from Simpson on the right and Hacking dashing back headed the ball into his own net as Minshull threw himself backwards in an effort to reach it.
Maurice Edelstone, the England amateur international and a fine tactician, was Reading's star forward and in deference Brice and Wicks were outstanding. Barrett, although twice injured, and Hacking did well for Southport. Reading extended their run of unbeaten matches to fourteen and will no meet Swansea in the third round of the cup on January 12th.
SATURDAY 3RD JANUARY 1952 Attendance 28,500
LEAGUE DIVISION TWO AT ST ANDREWS, BIRMINGHAM
BIRMINGHM CITY 1 (Wardle) BRENTFORD 2 (Dare, Badham og)
Merrick; Green, Martin; Badham (capt), Atkins, Warhurst;
Stewart, Purdon, Briggs, Smith, Wardle;
Gaskell; Horne, Munro; Harper, Latimer, W.J. Slater;
Dare, Coot, Lawton, Sperrin, Paton;
Referee:- Mr. E.S. Vickery, Bristol
Birmingham, second in the table, faced Brenford who were sixth and having conceded only 24 goals in 25 matches the visitors had the best defensive record of any First or Second Division club. Making his debut for Brenford was England amateur international Bill Slater, formerly with Blackpool.
The ground was very muddy and Birmingham were soon on top. Briggs put Purdon through but his weak shot was saved by Gaskell. Briggs, Purdon and Wardle were all prominent in early attacks and Gaskell had to dive full length to save from the centre forward. Ken Green, the full back, came upfield to join the attack and when his centre was deflected to Badham, the Brentford goalkeeper saved again.
When Brentford did break away their forwards looked dangerous and after thirty five minutes, against the run of play, they scored. Merrick pushed a grand shot from Coot over the bar, Paton's corner was then headed down by former full back Monk to Dare, who put it into the net. Coot had another grand shot saved by Merick before Birmingham equalised.
Gaskell dived at Smith's feet but could only deflect the ball to Briggs whose shot was kicked off the line by Horne, but Wardle dashed in and slammed it home. Half time 1-1.
At the start of the second half it was all Birmingham and they went near to scoring on several occasions. After only ten minutes, however, Purdon left the field with an ankle injury and although he returned to limp along the wing for a while, he soon left the field for good.
Bimringham still dominated the play with ten men and when Stewart intercepted a back pass from Horne it looked as though they must score, but the ball rolled just wide of the post. Two minutes from the end, with the crowd beginning to drift away, Badham put through his own goal to give Brentford two points they scarcely deserved.
SATURDAY 12TH JANUARY, 1952
FRIENDLY MATCH AT FELLOWS PARK, WALSALL
WALSALL 2 (Winter, Giles) DARLINGTON 1 (Murray)
Lewis; Jones, Walters; Holding, Russon, Green;
Barber, Stockin, Winter, Aston, Giles (P);
Dunn; Eves, Collitor; Wardle, Howe, Williams;
Steele, Clarke, Scarborough, Murray, Kirk;
This friendly match against Third Division North opponents was arranged as both teams had been knocked out of the F.A. Cup. The third round was being played today.
SATURDAY 19TH JANUARY, 1952
LEAGUE DIVISION ONE AT MOLINEUX, WOLVERHAMPTON
WOLVES 1 (Broadbent) PORTSMOUTH 1 (Munday)
Parsons; Shorthouse, Gibbons; Wright (capt), Chatham, Baxter;
Hancocks, Smith, Short, Broadbent, Mullen;
Butler; Gunter, Ferrier; Scoular, Froggatt, Dickinson;
Harris, Reid, Clarke, Munday, Gaillard.
SATURDAY 26TH JANUARY, 1952
LEAGUE DIVISION ONE AT THE HAWTHORNS, WEST BROMWICH
WEST BROMWICH ALBION 0 FULHAM 2 (Barlow og, Taylor (Jeff))
Heath; Rickaby, Millard (capt); Kennedy, Horne, Barlow;
Griffin, Dudley, Allen, Ryan, Lee;
Black; Dodgin, Lowe (R); Macauley, Taylor (Jim) capt., Lowe (E);
Stevans, Bowie, Jezzard, Taylor (Jeff), Mitten;
Referee:- Rev. S.V. Davis, Oxford
Albion continued with Les Horne at centre half in preference to Jack Vernon, the Irish international and club captain. The pitch had a light covering of snow and was very hard.
Jeff Taylor, the former Huddersfield Town player, had bad lunch early on when he hit the bar. Both Fulham's wingers were proving troublesome to the Albion defence as they they were receiving good service from the clever little inside forward Jimmy Bowie, but Rickaby was doing quite well against the dangerous Mitten.
Ronnie Allen, Albion's danger man was being well held by Jim Taylor and it was full back Millard who suddenly raced upfield to get in Albion's first shot at goal which went about a yard wide. Allen was injured and changed places with Lee for a while.
Ryan then shot against a post, and when Griffin lobbed the ball back into the middle it was only cleared with difficulty. Albion looked likely to score at any moment now and when 18 year old Bill Dodgin, son of the Fulham manager, slipped - Grffin ran past him and pushed the ball to Lee, who was unmarked but the winger shot wide. HT 0-0.
After only twenty three seconds of the second half Fulham took the lead. Bowie crossed the ball from the right and Barlow in an effort to turn the ball for a corner only succeeded in heading into his own net like a rocket. Heath then saved well from Stevans and then pushed over a fierce drive from Bowie, before Jeff Taylor added a second just before the end.
SATURDAY 2ND FEBRUARY 1952
F.A. CUP FOURTH ROUND AT ST ANDREWS, BIRMINGHAM
BIRMINGHAM CITY 0 LEYTON ORIENT 1 (Harris)
Merrick; Green, Martin; Badham (capt), Atkins, Warhurst;
Stewart, Smith, Briggs, Murphy, Wardle;Welton;
Welton; Evans, Banner; Blizzard, Aldous, Deverall;
Woan, Pacey, Harris, Brown (capt), Blatchford;
Referee:- B. J. Flanagan, Sheffield
Birmingham, lying second in the Second Division, faced Leyton Orient, who were ninth in the Third Division South. The visitors had already played seven cup game - three against non-league Gorleston, two against Wrexham and two against Everton who they beat convincingly 3-1 at Goodison Park in the third round.
Both teams changed colours, Blues playing in Albion's blue and white stripes and Orient in Arsenal's red and white. A large contingent of Orient supporters soon made themselves heard and hung a huge banner between two pillars of the stand. The visitors were the first to attack and after Woan had shot over the bar their giant forward Dennis Pacey, beat Green and sent in a glorious shot which Merrick pushed round the post.
Leyton's clever football kept Birmingham penned in their own half, but the home side gradually came more into the game, before Harris broke through on his own only for Ken Green, who played a grand game throughout, to come across and rob him at the last moment. Smith broke through in similar fashion for Birmingham but Banner was on hand to avert the danger.
Then after twenty six minutes play the Third Division side took the lead. Harris and Pacey broke through, passed to former Scottish international Tommy Brown who put it back to Harris and the centre forward put the ball into the net as Merrick threw himself forward. Amid great jubilation among their supporters Orient swept into the attack again and Merrick had to push a left foot shot from Brown over the bar.
After a spell of Leyton pressure, Green cleared to Stewart and from his pass Briggs sent across a powerful centre. Smith shot and Welton could only push the ball up into the air and the ball appeared to be dropping into the net until Banner dashed across and chested it clear. Leyton continued to defend for the rest of the game and thanks mainly to some splendid work by goalkeeper Welton and centre half Aldous they managed to hole out and progressed to the fifth round with their giant killer label still intact.
Orient's cup run came to an end in the fifth round when they lost 3-0 to Arsenal.
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