Tottenham v Bolton 1948 FA Cup Match Report

Tottenham and Bolton meet on Tuesday at White Hart Lane in their re-arranged FA Cup 6th Round tie which was abandoned  a week ago on Saturday because of the cardiac arrest suffered by Fabrice Muamba, the Bolton midfield player.  At the time as the medical staff worked with him on the pitch and as he was carried to the ambulance, there were very grave concerns about him but thankfully he has taken remarkable early steps in his recovery and all wish him continued progress in the coming weeks.

Bolton Wanderers v Tottenham Hotspur  FA Cup 3rd Round 1947 - 48

While writing the previous article for this blog, Spurs FA Cup Record against Bolton, I came across this match report for their 1948 meeting in an old scrapbook which I had bought in an auction at Sportingold.  That season, Spurs who were in the old 2nd Division progressed to the semi-final where they lost out in extra time to Blackpool who had only equalised in the final minutes of normal time.  To reach that stage Spurs had defeated Bolton (a) 2 - 0 (aet), West Bromwich Albion (h) 3 - 1, Leicester City (h) 5 - 2 and Southampton (a) 1 - 0.

Bolton were in the 1st Division and the match was played at their old ground, Burnden Park, where Spurs had won the FA Cup Final in 1901 in a replay against Sheffield United.  In season 1947-48, the football authorities decided to dispense with replays so as to avoid unnecessary absenteeism from work in the early post war years.  As the game was level after ninety minutes, extra time was played.

The following is a transcript of the match report from a newspaper of the time.
10th January, 1948 

Scored When 

On His Knees  

Bolton Wand.  0  Tottenham H.  2 (aet)

Extra time produced the goals and 

most of the thrills at Bolton.  Up

 to the end of the first 90 minutes

 the game was of a rather mediocre

 kind with Spurs definitely revealing

 the greater craft and understanding.

Bolton put in plenty of pressure, 

but made no real impression on a 

strong defence in which Ditchburn 

and Woodward were in masterly form.

When extra time started Spurs 

would have taken the lead on their 

merits but for Brook heading Baily's 

shot away with Hanson yards out of goal.

Almost immediately afterwards, 

however, Atkinson missed his 

tackle and let in Duquemin who 

shot from a splendid goal after running 

30 yards with the ball.

Bolton's strenous efforts to get 

on terms and the constant danger 

from Tottenham breakaways made 

the game end on an exciting note 

and there was a dramatic finale 

when Duquemin went almost on his 

knees to head a second goal almost on time. 

Spurs's only fault was that they 

allowed this match to last too long.  

They were obviously superior to 

Bolton in football art, but with their 

greater speed in attack they should 

have had Bolton's shaky defence 

beaten well inside 90 minutes.

Baily, at inside right, was the 

cleverest forager on the field, and 

both Cox and Stevens were good on 

the wing although the latter faced 

Bolton's best defender in Roberts.

Team: Ditchburn; Tickridge, Buckingham; Nicholson, Woodward, Burgess; Cox, Baily, Duquemin, Bennett, Stevens 

The team contained five of the players who would be part of the successful Tottenham 'Push and Run' side at the turn of the decade - Ted Ditchburn, Bill Nicholson, Ronnie Burgess, Eddie Baily and Len Duquemin.