1954 FA Cup Final

Event

1953–54 FA Cup

West Bromwich Albion	Preston North End

3	2

Date

1 May 1954

Venue

Wembley Stadium, London

← 1953

1955 →

The 1954 FA Cup Final was a football match between West Bromwich Albion and Preston North End, played on 1 May 1954 at the original Wembley Stadium in London. It was the final match of the 1953–54 staging of English football's primary cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (better known as the FA Cup). The match was the 73rd FA Cup Final and the 26th to be played at Wembley.

West Bromwich Albion were appearing in their ninth final, having won the cup on three previous occasions, while Preston had won the competition twice and were playing in the final for the sixth time. The two clubs had met in one final before in 1888, with Albion winning 2–1 on that occasion; in this match, Albion won 3–2. Ronnie Allen opened the scoring but Preston soon equalised through Angus Morrison. Preston then took the lead through Charlie Wayman although the goal was probably offside. Allen equalised from the penalty spot before a late goal from Frank Griffin secured the cup for Albion for the fourth time. This capped off the club's greatest ever season as they also finished second in the table, agonisingly losing out on 'the double' to Black Country rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The last surviving member of the winning team, Ray Barlow, died in March 2012 at the age of 85. As of November 2015, Tommy Docherty is the only surviving player from the match.

Both clubs were members of the First Division, West Bromwich Albion having finished as runners-up during the 1953–54 league season and Preston North End 11th. Albion were victorious in both league matches between the two sides, winning 2–0 at Deepdale and 3–2 at The Hawthorns. The teams had met on six previous occasions in the FA Cup. Albion had won four of those ties, including the 1886–87 semi-final and 1888 final, while Preston were victorious in the semi-finals of 1888–89 and 1936–37.

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