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1949 FA Cup final

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1949 FA Cup Final
Event1948–49 FA Cup
Date30 April 1949
VenueWembley Stadium, London
RefereeReg Mortimer (Huddersfield)
Attendance98,920
1948
1950

The 1949 FA Cup final was the 68th final of the FA Cup. It took place on 30 April 1949 at Wembley Stadium and was contested between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leicester City. Wolves had finished sixth in the First Division that season and had several England internationals among their ranks, while Leicester had narrowly avoided relegation from the Second Division and were making their first Wembley appearance.

Wolves won the match 3–1, thus winning the FA Cup for the third time. Jesse Pye (2) and Sammy Smyth scored Wolves' goals, with Mal Griffiths replying for Leicester. Captain Billy Wright was presented with the cup by Princess Elizabeth.

Road to Wembley

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Leicester City

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3rd Round Leicester City 1–1 Birmingham City
3rd Round (Replay) Birmingham City 1–1 Leicester City
3rd Round (2nd Replay) Leicester City 2–1 Birmingham City
4th Round Leicester City 2–0 Preston North End
5th Round Luton Town 5–5 Leicester City
5th Round (Replay) Leicester City 5–3 Luton Town
6th Round Brentford 0–2 Leicester City
Semi-final Portsmouth 1–3 Leicester City [1]
(at Highbury)

Wolverhampton Wanderers

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3rd Round Wolverhampton Wanderers 6–0 Chesterfield
4th Round Sheffield United 0–3 Wolverhampton Wanderers
5th Round Wolverhampton Wanderers 3–1 Liverpool
6th Round Wolverhampton Wanderers 1–0 West Bromwich Albion
Semi-final Wolverhampton Wanderers 1–1 Manchester United
(at Hillsborough)
Semi-final (Replay) Manchester United 0–1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
(at Goodison Park)

Match summary

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Wolves started determinedly and took a 13th-minute lead when Jesse Pye, who had been preferred to Dennis Wilshaw, stooped to head in an inch-perfect Hancocks cross. Leicester kept Wolves at bay until almost half-time, when Pye collected the ball in the penalty area with his back to goal, after the Foxes had struggled to clear a corner, and turned to slam it home for his second.

Leicester brought the game to life immediately after the interval courtesy of Mal Griffiths, who flicked the ball home after Williams parried Chisholm's initial effort. Within minutes, they believed they were level only for a narrow offside decision to rule out Chisholm's finish. Sammy Smyth quickly turned the game around when he picked up the ball in the centre circle and drove through the Leicester defence before hitting the ball low into the far corner to make it 3–1 and clinch the cup for Molineux men for the third time in their history. It was the first of five major trophies that they would win under the management of Stan Cullis.

Leicester were without two of their key players for the game, both of them ruled out by injury. Goalkeeper Ian McGraw was unable to play due to a broken finger, while Don Revie had suffered a nose injury.

Match details

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Leicester City1–3Wolverhampton Wanderers
Griffiths 47' Report Pye 13', 42'
Smyth 64'
Attendance: 98,920
Referee: R. A. Mortimer (Huddersfield)
Leicester City
Wolverhampton Wanderers
1 England Gordon Bradley
2 England Ted Jelly
3 Scotland Sandy Scott
4 England Walter Harrison
5 England Norman Plummer (c)
6 England Johnny King
7 Wales Mal Griffiths
8 England Jack Lee
9 England Jimmy Harrison
10 Scotland Ken Chisholm
11 Scotland Charlie Adam
Manager:
Scotland Johnny Duncan
1 England Bert Williams
2 England Roy Pritchard
3 United States Terry Springthorpe
4 England Billy Crook
5 England Bill Shorthouse
6 England Billy Wright (c)
7 England Johnny Hancocks
8 Northern Ireland Sammy Smyth
9 England Jesse Pye
10 Scotland Jimmy Dunn
11 England Jimmy Mullen
Manager:
England Stan Cullis

References

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  1. ^ "The Giant Killers". Archived from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
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