1954 FA Cup final

Wembley Stadium, venue

Event

1953–54 FA Cup

West Bromwich Albion	Preston North End

3	2

Date

1 May 1954

Venue

Wembley Stadium, London

Referee

Arthur Luty (Leeds)

Attendance

100,000

← 1953

1955 →

The 1954 FA Cup final was a football match between West Bromwich Albion and Preston North End, played on 1 May 1954 at the original Wembley Stadium in London. It was the final match of the 1953–54 staging of English football's primary cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (better known as the FA Cup). The match was the 73rd FA Cup Final and the 26th to be played at Wembley.

West Bromwich Albion were appearing in their ninth final, having won the cup on three previous occasions, while Preston had won the competition twice and were playing in the final for the sixth time. The two clubs had met in one final before in 1888, with Albion winning 2–1 on that occasion; in this match, Albion won 3–2. Ronnie Allen opened the scoring but Preston soon equalised through Angus Morrison. Preston then took the lead through Charlie Wayman. Allen equalised from the penalty spot before a late goal from Frank Griffin secured the cup for Albion for the fourth time. Albion finished second in the league table, losing out on "the double" to Black Country rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The last surviving member of the winning team, Ray Barlow, died in March 2012 at the age of 85. Upon his death on 31 December 2020, Tommy Docherty was the last surviving player from the match.

Background

Both clubs were members of the First Division, West Bromwich Albion having finished as runners-up during the 1953–54 league season and Preston North End 11th. Albion were victorious in both league matches between the two sides, winning 2–0 at Deepdale and 3–2 at The Hawthorns.^[1] The teams had met on six previous occasions in the FA Cup. Albion had won four of those ties, including the 1886–87 semi-final and 1888 final, while Preston were victorious in the semi-finals of 1888–89 and 1936–37.^[2]

Route to the final

West Bromwich Albion

**West Bromwich Albion**
Round	Opposition	Score
3rd	Chelsea (h)	1–0
4th	Rotherham United (h)	4–0
5th	Newcastle United (h)	3–2
6th	Tottenham Hotspur (h)	3–0
Semi-final	Port Vale (n)	2–1

As a First Division club, West Bromwich Albion entered the FA Cup at the third round stage. They began their 61st FA Cup campaign at home against Chelsea, whom they beat 1–0 thanks to an own goal by Ron Greenwood.^[3] Their next cup match saw Albion defeat Rotherham United 4–0, in what was the first ever meeting between the two sides in any competition. Johnny Nicholls scored two of the goals and Ronnie Allen and Reg Ryan one each.^[4] A hat-trick from Ronnie Allen gave Albion a 3–2 win against Newcastle United in round five in a thrilling match. The game was played in front of 61,088 spectators, the highest attendance at The Hawthorns for 16 years. An estimated 20,000 more were locked out.^[5] Albion were then drawn at home for the fourth round in succession; this time Tottenham Hotspur were the visitors as the competition reached the quarter-final stage. A free-kick by Ray Barlow and two goals from Johnny Nicholls resulted in a 3–0 West Bromwich Albion victory.^[6]

Staffordshire rivals and Third Division North leaders Port Vale were the opposition in the semi-final, which was played at the neutral venue of Villa Park in front of a near 70,000 crowd. Vale's Albert Leake opened the scoring before the break, but Albion equalised just after the hour when Jimmy Dudley's cross evaded the Vale goalkeeper Ray King and ended up in the net. Ronnie Allen, playing against his former team, scored the winning goal for Albion from a penalty kick, following a foul on George Lee.^[7] leading to scenes of wild celebration from the Albion supporters.

Preston North End


Round	Opposition	Score
3rd	Derby County (a)	0-2
4th	Lincoln City (a)	0-2
5th	Ipswich Town (h)	6-1
6th	Leicester City	1-1 (a)
		2-2 (h)
		1-3 (a)
Semi-final	Sheffield Wednesday (n)	2-0

Match details

1 May 1954

West Bromwich Albion	3–2	Preston North End
Allen 21' 63' (pen.) Griffin 87'	(Report)	Morrison 22' Wayman 51'

Wembley, London

Attendance: 100,000 approx.

Referee: Arthur Luty

West Bromwich Albion

Preston North End



GK	1	Jim Sanders
RB	2	Joe Kennedy
LB	3	Len Millard (c)
RH	4	Jimmy Dudley
CH	5	Jimmy Dugdale
LH	6	Ray Barlow
OR	7	Frank Griffin
IR	8	Reg Ryan
CF	9	Ronnie Allen
IL	10	Johnny Nicholls
OL	11	George Lee
Manager:
Vic Buckingham



GK	1	George Thompson
RB	2	Willie Cunningham
LB	3	Joe Walton
RH	4	Tommy Docherty
CH	5	Joe Marston
LH	6	Willie Forbes
OR	7	Tom Finney
IR	8	Bobby Foster
CF	9	Charlie Wayman
IL	10	Jimmy Baxter
OL	11	Angus Morrison
Manager:
Scot Symon

References

Specific

^ McOwan, Gavin (2002). The Essential History of West Bromwich Albion. Headline. p. 245. ISBN 0-7553-1146-9.
^ Matthews, Tony; Mackenzie, Colin (1987). Albion! A Complete Record of West Bromwich Albion 1879–1987. Breedon Books. pp. 157–164. ISBN 0-907969-23-2.
^ Matthews (2004) pp. 62–63.
^ Matthews (2004) pp. 68–69.
^ Matthews (2004) pp. 74–75.
^ Matthews (2004) pp. 82–83.
^ Matthews (2004) pp. 88–89.

General

West Bromwich Albion Football Club History
1954 FA Cup final
Matthews, Tony (2004). West Bromwich Albion 1953/54. Tempus. ISBN 978-0-7524-3124-6.

v t e FA Cup
Seasons	1871–72 1872–73 1873–74 1874–75 1875–76 1876–77 1877–78 1878–79 1879–80 1880–81 1881–82 1882–83 1883–84 1884–85 1885–86 1886–87 1887–88 1888–89 1889–90 1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
Qualifying rounds	1888–89 1889–90 1890–91 1891–92 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
Finals	1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
History Trophy List of finals Semi-finals Final referees Winning managers Non-English clubs Scottish clubs Non-League clubs in the 5th Round Giant-Killing Award

v t e West Bromwich Albion F.C. matches
FA Cup Finals	1886 1887 1888 1892 1895 1912 1931 1935 1954 1968
League Cup Finals	1966 1967 1970
FA Charity Shields	1920 1931 1954 1968
Football League play-off Finals	1993 Second Division 2007 Championship
Other matches	1888 World Championship 5–3 v Manchester United (1978) Len Cantello Testimonial Match (1979) Battle of Bramall Lane (2002)

v t e Preston North End F.C. matches
FA Cup Finals	1888 1889 1922 1937 1938 1954 1964
Football League War Cup Finals	1941
FA Community Shields	1938
Football League play-off Finals	1994 Third Division 2001 First Division 2005 Championship 2015 League One
Other matches	1889 World Championship

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