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1876 FA Cup Final

1876 FA Cup Final
A trophy, silver in colour and topped by a figure of a footballer, on an ebony plinth
Event 1875–76 FA Cup
Date 11 March 1876
Venue Kennington Oval, London
Referee W.S. Buchanan (Clapham Rovers)
Attendance 3,500
1875
1877
1876 FA Cup Final replay
Date 18 March 1876
Venue Kennington Oval, London
Referee William Rawson
Attendance 3,500

The 1876 FA Cup Final was a football match between Wanderers and Old Etonians on 11 March 1876 at Kennington Oval in London. It was the fifth final of the world's oldest football competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (known in the modern era as the FA Cup). Wanderers had won the Cup on two previous occasions. The Etonians were playing in their second consecutive final, having lost in the 1875 final. Both teams had conceded only one goal in the four rounds prior to the final. In the semi-finals Wanderers defeated Swifts and the Etonians beat the 1874 FA Cup winners Oxford University.

The match finished in a 1–1 draw, the second time an FA Cup Final had finished all-square. John Hawley Edwards scored for Wanderers, but the Etonians equalised with a goal credited in modern publications to Alexander Bonsor, although contemporary newspaper reports do not identify him as the scorer. A week later, the replay took place at the same venue. The Etonians were forced to make a number of changes due to players being unavailable, and the revised team was no match for the Wanderers, who won 3–0. Charles Wollaston and Thomas Hughes scored a goal apiece in a five-minute spell before half-time, and Hughes added the third early in the second half.

Old Etonians, the team for former pupils of Eton College, had reached the 1875 final but been defeated by Royal Engineers. Wanderers had won the competition in both 1872 and 1873 but had not progressed beyond the quarter-finals in the subsequent two seasons. Both teams entered the 1875–76 competition at the first round stage and were allocated matches at home. Wanderers defeated a team from the 1st Surrey Rifles regiment 5–0, and the Etonians overcame Pilgrims 4–1. In the second round Wanderers defeated Crystal Palace (not the modern club) 3–0 and the Etonians had an easy win over Maidenhead, scoring eight goals without reply.


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