FA Cup Semi-Final 1954
Port Vale came within a whisker of becoming the first team from the Third Division to reach the FA Cup final.
An adventure that kicked off at Darlington and took in Southport, Queens Park Rangers, Cardiff, FA Cup holders Blackpool and Leyton Orient reached its nail-biting climax on Saturday March 27, 1954 when Vale squared up to First Division leaders West Bromwich Albion in the semi-finals.
The image on the right shows the crowd of 68,221 which was shoe-horned into Villa Park that afternoon when the fates clearly conspired against the plucky Valiants.
Tommy Cheadle leads out the Vale.
The names of manager Freddie Steele’s heroic outfit still trip off the tongue of long-serving Vale supporters:
King, Turner, Potts, Mullard, Cheadle, Sproson, Askey, Leake, Hayward, Griffiths, Cunliffe.
All but three — Ray King, Albert Mullard and Dickie Cunliffe — were homespun. The unlucky Ken Griffiths actually missed out on the big occasion through injury and was replaced by Derek Tomkinson.
Vale took the lead in the game just before half time and given their “Iron Curtain” defence, which rarely conceded, the expectation was that Vale would go on to beat their first division opponents. However, what was widely described as a fluke equaliser for West Brom in 62 mins changed the course of the game. Then Tommy Cheadle was adjudged to have tripped George Lee inside the penalty area and former Vale player Ronnie Allen stepped up to convert the kick to give Albion the lead.
The Vale players insisted in vain after the game that the foul on Lee took place outside the area and also that Lee handled the ball in the process
Vale also thought they had equalised through Albert Leake shortly before the full time whistle but to the astonishment of the 25,000 Vale supporters in Villa Park the effort was ruled out as offside and Vale therefore failed to be the first third-tier club to reach an FA Cup final.
Ronnie Allen’s penalty winner.
The tackle. Was it a penalty?
(pic courtesy of Phil Sherwin)