Looking back at the 1909-10 FA Cup run
In our last FA Cup programme, we shared the story of the last time we made the first round proper - against Swansea City in 1985. That didn’t seem to tempt fate too much... so here’s the story of the last time we were in the third round, in 1909.
There is perhaps a dislaimer in this third round run, that at the time, Leyton were a professional team, and therefore entered at the fourth qualifying round. Still, four wins against strong opponents are not to be sniffed at.
Strong, except perhaps for Bitterne Guild, Leyton’s first opponents. Bitterne were an amateur team from the Southampton area, and were no match for Leyton’s professionals who hit nine past them in front of around 4,000 people. The Sportsman even reported that W Matcham, in the Bitterne goal was the pick of their players and kept the score to nine! Pepper Renneville was Leyton’s star, scoring four that afternoon.
Familiar Southern League opponents Croydon Common were next up, but this tie was far more fiercly contested. Leyton had beaten Croydon 5-2 on the opening day of the season, and were well-facied to win again, but the 1-0 victory was a fortunate one, with reports that a 2-1 win for the Common would have been the right result.
7,000 packed into Croydon Common which was sodden with rain and covered in standing water, but conditions like that wouldn’t even come close to calling a game off in the 1900s. Renneville was again Leyton’s hero, tapping in from close range after the Common keeper Hewitson had only half saved Josiah Gray’s shot. This time it was John Whitbourne in the Leyton goal’s turn to put in a fine performance, and saved a number of good Common shots after they fell behind.
So to the first round proper, and it was again Southern League opposition that came out of the hat. Leyton would play New Brompton not once, not twice, but three times in the FA Cup, after the first two games were drawn.
New Brompton, now known as Gillingham travelled to London to play on Leyton’s “heavy and treacherous” pitch, which made the game “quite against classic football”. Leyton’s pitch troubles were a feature of their time as a professionals. Perhaps if they had a giant mound in the goal-mouth, a-la-Wadham Lodge, they may have fared a bit better.
Lloyd’s paper described Leyton’s start as “a footballing earthquake”, but at the break the score was still 0-0. This was down in part to injuries to Renneville and Jimmy Robertson of Leyton, and to Ephraim Longworth, who on this display, was judged as the best right-backs in the Southern League.
Despite 13,000 people cheering Leyton on, they couldn’t break the deadlock and were forced to make the trip to Gillingham four days later for the replay.
This time, they really tried to get a result, with extra time played, but a 2-2 draw meant a third replay would have to take place. All back to Leyton!
After five hours of football, Leyton finally made the breakthrough, winning by the solitary from Irish international Tom Shanks. This game was played at Tottenham Hotspurs’ ground, for what can only be asumed, was the state of Leyton’s pitch.
The winter of 1909 must have been a wet one, because for another Saturday, it rained. A fine drizzle fell all game at Edgeley Park, Stockport, where only 6,000 were present. George Ryder headed home early in the first half, and not long after, Jimmy Robertson made it two. Stockport huffed and puffed, but Leyton were resolute at the back, and eased into the third round proper for the first time.
Leicester Fosse, now Leicester City, would be Leyton’s opponenets. All reports from the game suggested that Leyton did not deserve to lose the game, and should have earend a draw, at least. The game was won by Fosse’s defence, rather than their attack, and they performed admirably to keep out Renneville and Walter Busby’s cosistent attacks. Unfortunately, it was Busby’s attacking positioning which left space at the back, and allowed Fred Threlfall to score the game’s only goal.
Fosse would lose 3-0 to Newcastle United in the next round, and the Magpies lifted the cup beating Barnsley 2-0 in a replay. Leyton would reach the second round three more times, but never the third again.
