May 2 – Super Stan Wins the Cup | On This Football Day

May 2 – Super Stan Wins the Cup

IMAGINE being such a good player you have a match named after you. Lots of footballers have stands, stadiums and even people’s children named after them but few have their name inextricably linked with a particular match.

Sir Stanley Matthews is that man and the FA Cup final universally known as The Matthews’ Final took place on this day in 1953. It was the first final Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II attended after she ascended to the throne the year before – and what a match to pick as your first.

The man who was football’s first knight and the first winner of the Balon d’Or was in the last chance saloon when it came to picking up silverware as he was 38 at the time, and had already been on the losing side twice in the Cup final against Manchester United in 1948 and Newcastle in 1951.

Matthews had been dazzling the fans of Stoke and Blackpool for 20 years already when he lined up at Wembley that day and the most neutrals were hoping his Blackpool side would see off Bolton to give Sir Stan his first trophy.

From as early as the first minute it looked like one of the world’s greatest footballers was destined to end up trophyless when Nat Lofthouse scored early doors, but the Seasiders pulled back an equaliser ten minutes before half time through Stan Mortensen.

With 20 minutes left Bolton were 3-1 up and things really were looking bleak for Blackpool until Matthews stepped up to the plate and decided enough was enough. He began exerting his considerable skill on proceedings and slicing through the Bolton defence at will. Mortensen connected with Matthews’ cross to take it back to 3-2, and then with barely a minute remaining Mortensen scored a sensational free kick to level the tie, and score the first Wembley cup final hat-trick to boot.

The game now looked set for extra time but Sir Stan was not finished yet and in the most dramatic conclusion to a cup final ever he burst into the area and pulled the ball back for Bill Perry to fire into the net. Blackpool, and Stanley Matthews finally had their hands on the FA Cup.

It is a measure of his performance that day that despite Stan Mortensen scoring the first, and so far only hat-trick in a Wembley FA Cup final, the game is still known as The Matthews’ Final.

Sir Stan would go on playing at the top level until he was 50 years old but the 1953 FA Cup was the only trophy he ever won in his amazing career.

See a tribute to the great man below, including footage from that amazing day at Wembley, and come back tomorrow when we will have more footballing echoes from the past.