1908 FA Cup Final Score: Wolverhampton Wanderers 3 Newcastle United 1
Venue: Crystal Palace, London
Date: Saturday 25th April 1908
Scorers: Wolverhampton Wanderers – Kenneth Hunt, George Hedley, Billy Harrison. Newcastle United – James Howey
Wolverhampton Wanderers Team: Tommy Lunn, Jackery Jones, Ted Collins, Kenneth Hunt, Billy Wooldridge, Alf Bishop, Billy Harrison, Jack Shelton, George Hedley, Wally Radford, Jack Pedley
Newcastle United Team: Jimmy Lawrence, Billy McCracken, Dick Pudan, Alex Gardner, Colin Veitch, Peter McWilliam, Jock Rutherford, James Howie, Billy Appleyard, Finlay Speedie, George Wilson
Referee: T. P. Campbell
Attendance: 74,967
1908 FA Cup Final Match Report
Newcastle, reigning League champions, once again played their way through to a Crystal Palace Final. This time they met Wolverhampton.
A robust and fast-moving side was placed only in the middle of the Second Division. Surely now, after the disappointments of 1905 and 1906, Newcastle would carry off the prize.
Newcastle’s ‘pretty’ game of tip-tap from one man to the other came woefully unstuck against the quick-tackling Wolves team.
Wolves’ one chance of winning lay in offering such a stubborn and unyielding opposition that Newcastle would be prevented from developing their skillful attacks.
Newcastle probably had about ninety percent of the play. Still, the ten percent for which Wolves were responsible, plus their dash and more direct methods, proved sufficient to undo the Tynesiders.
A brace of goals in the last five minutes of the first half-Kenneth Hunt’s long shot and George Hedley’s quick shot after eluding two tackles suddenly put Wolves into a winning position.
James Howie scored for Newcastle shortly after the interval. George Harrison, the Wolves’ right-winger who played a brilliant match, later put the result beyond doubt. Only four players whose surnames started with the letter H on the soccer field, yet all scored curiously.
After finishing ninth in the second division of the Football League, they became the lowest-ranked club in the Football League to win the FA Cup trophy in the final.
1908 FA Cup Round By Round
First Round
Bradford City v WOLVES 1-1, 0-1; Bury v Milwall 2-1; Swindon Town v Sheffield United 0-0, 3-2; Queens Park Rangers v Reading 1-0; Stoke v Lincoln City 5-0; Gainsborough Trinity v Watford 1-0; Hastings v Portsmouth 0-1; Leicester Fosse v Blackburn Rovers 2-0; Notts County v Middlesbrough 2-0; Bolton Wanderers v Woking 5-0; Oldham Athletic v Leeds City 2-1; Everton v Spurs 1 -0; Burnley v Southampton 1 -2; West Bromwich Albion v Birmingham 1-1,2-1; Northampton v Bristol Rovers 0-1; Chesterfield v Stockton 4-0; NEWCASTLE UNITED v Nottingham Forest 2-0; West Ham v Rotherham Town 1-0; Liverpool v Derby County 4-2; Brighton v Preston North End 1-1, 1-0; Bristol City v Grimsby Town 0-0, 1 -2; Carlisle United v Brentford 2-2, 3-1; Coventry City v Crystal Palace 2-4; Plymouth Argyle v Barnsley 1 -0; Glossop v Manchester City 0-0, 0-6; New Brompton v Sunderland 3-1; Luton v Fulham 3-8; Norwich City v Sheffield Wednesday 2-0; Manchester United v Blackpool 3-1; Chelsea v Worksop 9-1; Aston Villa v Stockport County 3-0; Woolwich Arsenal v Hull City 0-0, 1-4
Second Round
WOLVES v Bury 2-0; Swindon T v QPR 2-1; Stoke v Gainsboro Tr 1 -1, 2-2,3-1; Portsmouth v Leicester Fosse 1 -0; Notts Co v Bolton Wand 1-1,1-2; Oldham Ath v Everton 0-0,1 -6; Southampton v WBA 1-0; Bristol R v Chesterfield 2-0; NEWCASTLE UNITED v W Ham 2-0; Liverpool v Brighton 1 -1, 3-0; Grimsby T v Carlisle Utd 6-2; Plymouth Arg v Crystal Palace 2-3; Man City v New Brompton 1-1,2-1; Norwich C v Fulham 1-2; Man Utd v Chelsea 1-0; Aston Villa v Hull C 3-0
Third Round
WOLVES v Swindon T 2-0; Portsmouth v Stoke 0-1, Bolton Wand v Everton 3-3,1-3; Southampton v Bristol R 2-0; NEWCASTLE UNITED v Liverpool 3-1; Grimsby T v Crystal Palace 1-0; Manchester City v Fulham 1-1,1-3; Aston Villa v Man Utd 0-2
Fourth Round
Stoke v WOLVES 0-1; Everton v Southampton 0-0, 2-3; NEWCASTLE UNITED v Grimsby T 5-1; Fulham v Man Utd 2-1
Semi-Finals
WOLVES v Southampton 2-0; NEWCASTLE UNITED v Fulham 6-0
