FA Cup 1952-53

The FA Cup 1952–53 was the 72nd staging of the world's oldest football cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup. Blackpool won the competition for the first and only time, beating Bolton Wanderers 4–3 in the final at Wembley.

Matches were scheduled to be played at the stadium of the team named first on the date specified for each round, which was always a Saturday. Some matches, however, might be rescheduled for the Sunday or other days if there were clashes with games for other competitions or the weather was inclement. If scores were level after 90 minutes had been played, a replay would take place at the stadium of the second-named team later the same week. If the replayed match was drawn further replays would be held until a winner was determined. If scores were level after 90 minutes had been played in a replay, a 30-minute period of extra time would be played.

Calendar

Third Round Proper

The 44 First and Second Division clubs entered the competition at this stage. The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 10 January 1953, although two matches were postponed until the mid-week fixtures. Six matches were drawn and went to replays.

ixth Round Proper

The four quarter-final ties were scheduled to be played on Saturday, 28 February 1953. The Birmingham City–Tottenham Hotspur game went to two replays before it was settled.

emi finals

The semi-final matches were played on Saturday, 21 March 1953. Blackpool and Bolton Wanderers won their ties to meet in the final at Wembley.

footballbox
date=21 March 1953
time= 15:00
team1=Blackpool
score=2–1
report=
team2=Tottenham Hotspur
goals1=
goals2=
stadium=Villa Park, Birmingham
attendance=
referee=

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footballbox
date=21 March 1953
time= 15:00
team1=Bolton Wanderers
score=4–3
report=
team2=Everton
goals1=
goals2=
stadium=Maine Road, Manchester
attendance=
referee=

Final

The 1953 FA Cup Final, known as the "Matthews Final" due to Stanley Matthews' astonishing dribbling in the last 30 minutes of the game, was contested by Blackpool and Bolton Wanderers at Wembley. Blackpool won 4–3, with the first and only ever FA Cup Final hat-trick from Stan Mortensen.footballbox
date=1953-05-02
time=
team1=Blackpool
score=4 – 3
report= [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/1321960.stm Report]
team2=Bolton Wanderers
goals1=Mortensen goal|35 goal|68 goal|89
Perrygoal|92
goals2=Lofthouse goal|2 Moir goal|40 Bell goal|55
stadium=Wembley Stadium, London
attendance=100,000
referee=B. M. Griffiths (Newport)

ee also

*FA Cup Final Results 1872-

ources /External links

* [http://www.thefa.com/TheFACup/TheFACup/ Official site; fixtures and results service] at TheFA.com
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/engcup1953.html 1952-53 FA Cup at rssf.com]
* [http://www.soccerbase.com/cup2.sd?competitionid=58 1952-53 FA Cup at soccerbase.com]