Aberystwyth Town v West Bromwich Albion 1895

South Wales Daily News  26.09.95 

Jack Edwards had joined Bury from Aberystwyth  in 1894. He only made 2 league appearances. At West Bromwich he made no competitive first team appearances and returned to Aberystwyth in 1896.

Charlie Perry

Lloyd's Weekly London  Newspaper 20.03.92

The Great Victory

I have seen all the best sides in Football but I have never seen a side that compared to Preston North End at their best. We beat them but I do not pretend for a moment that we deserved to beat them.
Billy Bassett

The FA Cup Final, 1888. Preston North End were strong favourites to win the match. From September 1887 to March 17th 1888 they had won every game. On March 17th they had drawn 1-1 with Crewe Alexandra.

 In the eyes of  the FA president and match referee Major Marindin Preston North End were a Bad Thing- he disapproved of their supposed reliance on Scottish imports. Now the Preston players incensed him further by asking to have a team photograph with the cup before the match. 

Anecdotally West Bromwich Albion players refused to bet with their Preston North End counterparts on the outcome of the match. The team featured the majority of the players that would go on to feature in the Invincibles squad the following season. Add to that impressive pool of talent the name of  Nick Ross, probably the best defender of his era.

West Bromwich Albion		Preston North End
Bob Roberts	GK		R.H Mills-Roberts
Albert Aldridge	RB		Bob Howarth
Harry Green	LD		Nick Ross*
Ezra Horton	RH		Bob Holmes
Charlie Perry	CH		David Russell*
George Timmins	LH		Johnny Graham*
George Woodhall	OR		Jack Gordon*
Billy Bassett	IR		Jimmy Ross*
Jem Bayliss	CF		John Goodall
Joe Wilson	IL		Fred Dewhurst
Tom Pearson	OL		George Drummond*

* Scottish players. Mills-Roberts was Welsh. Mills-Roberts and Dewhurst were amateurs. The majority of the  West Bromwich players  were born in that town, with others from nearby Walsall, Tipton and Handsworth. 

Contemporary reports condemn the Preston forwards for their profligacy. Each of the 5 North End forwards was guilty of at least one serious error in front of goal, and Nick Ross was reported as having said at half time 'our forwards will cost us this match',

Preston North End

Bayliss put Albion ahead in the 20th minute, shooting home from a Bassett cross. Dewhurst equalised in a scramble 7 minutes into the second half, and after Jimmy Ross had hit the post West Brom got a winner with just over 10 minutes left to play. 

Modern references credit the winning goal to Woodhall, but most contemporary

newspaper reports I have read give the winning goal to Bayliss, heading in after Woodhall had shot against the post. Another account has a shot by Woodhall being deflected in off Bassett's knee. The Birmingham Daily Post infers that Woodhall was responsible for the goal.  Such was life before the action replay.

Bayliss

Woodhall

Archie Hunter Memorial Match

Archie Hunter died in Novenber 1894 at the age of 35. 

In a League match against Everton at Anfield on 4th January 1890. Torrential rain and a quagmire of a pitch, the game reduced to 35 minutes each way.  Hunter had collapsed at half time (with Villa 4-0 down, reduced to 10 men they eventually succumbed 7-0). Press reports were that he had 'fainted' or 'had a fit'.Heart trouble appears to have been the reason for this collapse.

Hunter never played again.

Birmingham Daily Post - 16.01.90

The match advertised, 'for the benefit of his widow', was played on September 23rd 1895.

The teams lined up as follows:

Aston Villa		West Bromwich Albion
Wilkes	G	Reader
Welford	B	C. Perry
Crabtree	B	Williams
Reynolds	HB	Higgins
Jimmy Cowan	HB	Banks
Burton	HB	T.Perry
Athersmith	F	Bassett
Devey	F	McLeod
Campbell	F	Hutchinson
Hodgetts	F	Saunders
John Cowan	F	Edwards

Jack Burton, Jimmy Cowan, Harry Devey and Denny Hodgetts had been in the Villa side the day that Hunter was taken ill.  The Baggies took the lead through  Saunders but Villa came back with 2 goals by Johnny Campbell.                                                       

It was a  busy week for Albion , having played this match on the  Monday, they faced  Walsall away on Tuesday and Aberystwyth Town away on Wednesday.

The Staffordshire Senior Challenge Cup 1883

Matches such as this were the staple in the pre League football days.

Even in friendly competition local and regional rivalries could become fierce; when a trophy and medals were at stake competition became more intense. Winning a County trophy also enabled a club to secure more lucrative friendly fixtures. In the 1880–81 season West Bromwich Albion had inflicted Stoke's first defeat in competitive football in the first round of this competition. 

This Staffordshire Cup Final, played on April 21st 1883, drew a crowd of  6,150 . To put that into context the FA Cup Final at The Oval that season saw an attendance of 8,000, and the England v Scotland fixture at Bramall Lane  was watched by 7,000,

This match was played at Stoke Athletic Ground. Stoke had scored 42 goals en route to the final. 

1,500 West Bromwich Albion supporters travelled on a Football Special to Stoke.  The 2 clubs were founder members of the Football League 5 years later and 131 years later both feature in the Premier League. 

 Neither team wore the colours with which we now associate them- Albion wore red and white hoops and Stoke blue and black hoops. 

West Bromwich Albion won a thrilling game by 3-2. It was the club's first trophy. 

Both Stoke and West Bromwich Albion entered the FA Cup for the first time in the 1883–84 season.

West Bromwich Albion

Vital Statistics from the 1892 FA Cup Final

As well as being the first Cup Final to employ linesmen (assistant referees) instead of umpires, the first in which goal nets were used and the last to be played at the Oval- the 1892 FA Cup Final is the first instance that I have found of the press providing details of the players as regards age, height and weight.
The following is adapted from the Sheffield Independent of 21.03.92. I've added the players 'nationalities' and also provided metric measurements.

Aston Villa
		N	Age	Height		Weight
J Warner	G	e	27	5 10	1.77	12 7	79.3 kg
G Cox	RB	e	27	5 9	1.75	12 10	80.7 kg
W Evans	LB	w	24	5 8	1.72	13 10	87 kg
J Baird	HB	s	21	5 7	1.70	11 6	72.5 kg
J Cowan	HB	s	23	5 61/2	1.68	11 4	71.6 kg
H Devey	HB	e	27	5 91/2	1.76	11 0	69.8 kg
C Athersmith	F	e	19	5 8	1.72	10 4	65.3 kg
J Devey	F	e	24	5 81/2	1.73	11 9	73.9 kg
W Dickson	F	s	25	5 10	1.77	14 0	88.9 kg
D Hodgetts	F	e	27	5 111/2	1.81	13 10	87 kg
L Campbell	F	s	22	5 61/2	1.68	9 6	59.8 kg

West Bromwich Albion
		N	Age	Height		Weight
J Reader	G	e	25	6 0	1.82	12 2	77.1 kg
M Nicholson	RB	e	24	5 11	1.80	12 4	78 kg
T McCulloch	LB	s	24	5 7	1.70	11 0	69.8 kg
J Reynolds	HB	e*	23	5 51/2	1.66	11 10	74.3 kg
C Perry	HB	e	26	5 10	1.77	12 7	79.3 kg
W Groves	HB	e	23	5 9	1.75	11 10	74.3 kg
W I Bassett	F	e	23	5 51/2	1.66	10 5	65.7 kg
R McLeod	F	s	21	5 6	1.67	10 12	68.9 kg
S Nicholls	F	e	20	5 11	1.80	12 4	78 kg
T Pearson	F	e	26	5 8	1.72	11 0	69.8 kg
A J Geddes	F	e	21	5 41/2	1.63	9 7	60.3 kg

* Reynolds was English born and represented both Ireland and England . 

Of course, the only statistic that matters in football is the score-

This telegram, sent from the Oval, tells us Albion three Villa none- Jasper Geddes, Sammy Nicholls and Jack Reynolds were the scorers.

Albion