1909 FA Cup Final Score: Manchester United 1 Bristol City 0
Venue: Crystal Palace, London
Date: Saturday 24th April 1909
Scorer: Sandy Turnbull – Manchester United
Manchester United Team: Harry Moger, George Stacey, Vince Hayes, Dick Duckworth, Charlie Roberts, Alex Bell, Billy Meredith, Harold Halse, Jimmy Turnbull, Sandy Turnbull, George Wall
Bristol City Team: Harry Clay, Archie Annan, Joe Cottle, Pat Hanlin, Billy Wedlock, Arthur Spear, Fred Staniforth, Bob Hardy, Sam Gilligan, Andy Burton, Frank Hilton
Referee: Jim Mason
Attendance: 71,401
1909 FA Cup Match Report
The year 1909 brought two newcomers to the FA Cup Final, and, for once, the favorite won. The previous season, Manchester United, League winners, had the more significant experience and the boost of a victory over Newcastle United in the semi-final.
United won a disappointing, rough game. The ninth FA Cup final was decided by a solitary goal – with Sandy Turnbull’s twenty-second-minute effort. Sandy was the last-minute inclusion back into the team after passing a fitness test just before kick-off.
Only two players stood out for their skills. Billy Wedlock, the tremendous little Bristol City center-half who won nineteen caps for England, and the legendary Billy Meredith added another winners’ medal to the one he had gained with Manchester City in 1904.
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Bristol City set the pace in the game’s opening stages, but Manchester United soon wore down their attack and began to assert themselves. A movement by the United right-wing pair left the inside-right Harold Halse poised for a shot.
The ball was struck firmly against the angle of the crossbar and post. And ‘Sandy’ Turnbull hit an unstoppable drive into the net from the rebound.
The nearest Bristol City came to emulating this was when Bob Hardy, left unmarked in front of a goal after a fine bout of passing, had his hard shot turned aside in masterly fashion by a dive from Harry Moger.
In the aftermath of the 1909 FA Cup final, the Manchester United mascot, Billy the goat, drank too much champagne and passed away from alcohol poisoning. Old Trafford’s Manchester United museum displays his preserved head on the wall.
1909 FA Cup Round By Round
First Round
MANCHESTER UNITED v Brighton & Hove Albion 1-0; Everton v Barnsley 3-1; Notts County v Blackburn Rovers 0-1; Hull City v Chelsea 1-1, 0-1; Manchester City v Spurs 3-4; Carlisle United v Fulham 1-4; Wolves v Crystal Palace 2-2,2-4; Bristol Rovers v Burnley 1-4; Newcastle United v Clapton Orient 5-0; Blackpool v Hastings 2-0; Oldham Athletic v Leeds City 1-1, 0-2; Queens Park Rangers v West Ham 0-0,0-1; Sheffield United v Sunderland 2-3; Preston North End v Middlesbrough 1-0; Workington v Bradford City 0-0. 0-2; West Bromwich Albion v Bolton Wanderers 3-1; BRISTOL CITY v Southampton 1-1, 2-0; Bury v Kettering 8-0; Norwich City v Reading 0-0, 1-1, 3-2; Liverpool v Lincoln City 5-1; Grimsby Town v Stockport County 2-2, 0-2; Chesterfield v Glossop 0-2; Birmingham v Portsmouth 2-5; Sheffield Wednesday v Stoke 5-0; Northampton v Derby County 1-1, 2-4; Watford v Leicester Fosse 1-1, 1-3; Plymouth Argyle v Swindon 1-0; Wrexham v Exeter City 1-1, 1-2; Nottingham Forest v Aston Villa 2-0; Brentford v Gainsborough Trinity 2-0; Luton v Millwall Athletic 1-2; Croydon Corn v Woolwich Arsenal 1-1, 0-2
Second Round
MANCHESTER UNITED v Everton 1-0; Blackburn R v Chelsea 2-1; Spurs v Fulham 1-0; Crystal Palace v Burnley 0-0,0-9; Newcastle Utd v Blackpool 2-1; Leeds C v W Ham 1-1.1-2; PNE v Sunderland 1-2; WBA v Bradford C 1-2; BRISTOL CITY v Bury 2-2.1 -0; Liverpool v Norwich C 2-3; Stockport Co v Glossop 1-1,0-1; Portsmouth v Sheff Wed 2-2. 0-3; Leicester Fosse v Derby Co 0-2; Plymouth Arg v Exeter C 2-0; Nott’m Forest v Brentford 1-0; Woolwich Arsenal v Millwall Ath 1-1, 0-1
Third Round
MANCHESTER UNITED v Blackburn R 6-1; Spurs v Burnley 0-0,1 -3; W Ham v Newcastle Utd 0-0,1 -2; Bradford City v Sunderland 0-1; BRISTOL CITY v Norwich City 2-0; Sheffield Wednewsday v Glossop 0-1; Derby County v Plymouth Argyle 1 -0; Nottingham Forest v Millwall Athletic 3-1
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Fourth Round
Burnley v MANCHESTER UNITED 2-3; Newcastle United v Sunderland 2-2,3-0; Glossop v BRISTOL CITY 0-0, 0-1; Derby Co v Nottingham Forest 3-0
1909 FA Cup Semi-Finals
MANCHESTER UNITED v Newcastle United 1-0; BRISTOL CITY v Derby County 1-1, 2-1
