The 1939 FA Cup Final was contested by

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

and

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

. Portsmouth won 4–1, with goals from

Bert Barlow Herbert Barlow (22 July 1916 – 19 March 2004) was an English footballer who played as an inside forward in the Football League, where he made over 250 league appearances for Barnsley, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Portsmouth, Leicester City and Col ...

John Anderson John Anderson may refer to: Business *John Anderson (Scottish businessman) (1747–1820), Scottish merchant and founder of Fermoy, Ireland * John Byers Anderson (1817–1897), American educator, military officer and railroad executive, mentor of ...

and two by Cliff Parker.

Dicky Dorsett Richard Dorsett (3 December 1919 – November 1999) was an English footballer, who played as a striker. Dorsett was sometimes known as "the Brownhills Bomber" after his birthplace of Brownhills, Staffordshire (now West Midlands). Football c ...

scored Wolves' effort. As a result of the suspension of the FA Cup for the duration of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the next FA Cup final was not until seven years later in

1946 Events January * January 6 - The 1946 North Vietnamese parliamentary election, first general election ever in Vietnam is held. * January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into f ...

, thereby enabling Portsmouth fans to claim that their team has held the Cup for the longest time. Wolves had entered the game as clear favourites, having scored 19 goals in their five FA Cup games and lying second in the league table. By contrast, Portsmouth were struggling in the relegation zone. Captain Jimmy Guthrie was presented with the cup by

King George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of Ind ...

. Portsmouth manager

Jack Tinn John William Tinn (20 January 1878 - 13 March 1971) was an English football manager. He managed South Shields in the early 1920s and Portsmouth from 1927 until 1947. Career Tinn became manager of South Shields in 1919, the year they were elec ...

said afterwards that his side won thanks to the help of his "lucky spats".

Match summary

Approaching the half-hour mark, Barlow scored Portsmouth's first goal from within the area. Portsmouth pressed their advantage, refusing to let Wolves back into the contest. Anderson hooked in a second just before half time after McAlinden's chip in from the right had left the advancing Scott in no-man's-land. Immediately after the restart, Wolves goalkeeper Scott fumbled a shot on the goal line and only prevented the strike creeping in with an outstretched hand on top of the ball. However, Cliff Parker slid in to kick the ball from under the keeper's hand to make it 3–0. Wolves drove forward to try to mount a recovery but a solitary Dorsett strike from eight yards was their only success. Portsmouth put the result beyond any doubt when Parker headed in his second and Portsmouth's fourth from close range from a Worrall cross.

Additional history

When

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

began in September 1939, this caused the 1939 FA Cup champions Portsmouth to hold the distinction of holding the FA Cup trophy for the longest uninterrupted period - seven years - as the FA Cup competition was not held again until the end of World War II. Portsmouth manager

was rumoured to have kept the FA Cup trophy 'safe under his bed' throughout the duration of the war, but this is an

urban myth An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...

. Because the naval city of Portsmouth was a primary strategic military target for German Luftwaffe bombing, the FA Cup trophy was actually taken ten miles to the north of Portsmouth, to the nearby Hampshire village of

Lovedean Lovedean is a village in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is 1.4 miles (2.2 km) west of Horndean. The nearest railway station is Rowlands Castle, 2.8 miles (4.6 km) southeast of the village. Although this is the ne ...

, and there it resided in a quaint thatched roof country pub called ''The Bird in Hand'' for the duration of the war. After the war, the FA Cup trophy was presented back by Portsmouth F.C. to the Football Association in time for the 1946 FA Cup Final. Portsmouth's Tommy Rowe, who died in May 2006 at the age of 92, was the last surviving player from the 1939 FA Cup Final match.

Match details

Road to Wembley

External links

FA Cup Final lineups

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:1939 Fa Cup Final FA Cup Finals

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football ev ...