The 1895 FA Cup Final was contested by Aston Villa and

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

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. Aston Villa won 1–0, with Bob Chatt being credited with scoring the fastest goal in

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official atten ...

history, scored after just 30 seconds. This record would stand for 114 years before being broken by

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of Everton in the

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with a goal after 25 seconds.

Summary

Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion became the first pair of clubs to meet in the FA Cup Final for a third time: the teams had previously met in the 1887 final, won by Villa, and the 1892 final, won by Albion. The final was played for the first time at

, which was to host the finals for the next twenty years. The weather for the final was described as "a beautiful spring day", and consequently the crowd and press were still coming into the ground when the game kicked off. Aston villa 1895 team

From the kick-off,

John Devey John Henry George Devey (26 December 1866 – 11 October 1940) was an English football player and a first-class cricketer. He is considered one of Aston Villa's greatest captains. Football career Devey was born in Birmingham and signed for Asto ...

, the Villa centre-forward, swung the ball out to his inside-left,

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. Hodgetts' long cross-pass found

Charlie Athersmith William Charles Athersmith Harper (10 May 1872 – 18 September 1910), known as Charlie Athersmith, was an English professional footballer who played as a winger. He played the majority of his club career at Aston Villa, making 307 appearances ...

on the right, and his centre fell to Bob Chatt who sent the ball goalwards on a half volley. Albion's keeper Joe Reader was only able to get his fingers to the shot, and turned the ball across the goal mouth and, after a goalmouth scramble involving Devey and Albion defender Jack Horton, the ball was turned in to the net. There are no accurate timings for the goal and different reports time it at between 30 and 39 seconds. At the time, many of the crowd and press missed the goal as they were still taking their seats, and the press reports indicated that Chatt had scored. According to Ward & Griffin in their "Essential History of Aston Villa" however, "''after the game, the Villa players confirmed that John Devey had netted after Chatt's shot had been blocked straight into the latter's path and had ricocheted off his knee."'' Despite this claim,

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still credit the goal to Chatt as having been scored on thirty seconds. The fastest accurately timed goal was

's effort for Everton after 25 seconds in the 2009 final. Despite pressure from the Albion forwards, especially the outstanding Billy Bassett, Villa were able to hold on to their lead until half-time. In the second half, neither side was able to add to the score and Villa held on to win the cup for the second time.

Match details

References

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Line-ups

Stealing the Cup
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fa Cup Final 1895

1895 Events January–March * January 5 – Dreyfus affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his army rank, and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. * January 12 – The National Trust for Places of Histor ...

1894–95 in English football Aston Villa F.C. matches West Bromwich Albion F.C. matches April 1895 sports events 1895 sports events in London

Summary

Match details

See also

References

External links