1 – Pre-Match

After five consecutive away ties Chester finally received a home draw for the first time since hosting Bishop Auckland in the 1st Round in 1947. They were the first team out of the bag and paired with the winners of the Goole Town v Scunthorpe United tie which had finished goalless the previous Saturday. Both teams were in the Midland League but top of the table Scunthorpe remained favourites to go through against a side who were bottom of the table with only five points from 13 games.

The replay took place the following Saturday and manager Frank Brown travelled to Goole to watch the game which was abandoned, due to fog, with 15 minutes to go. The home side had been winning 3-1 and the scoreline was repeated the following Monday as Goole sprung a major surprise to reach the 1st Round for the first time since 1915.

Remarkably, the Chester tie was scheduled to be Goole’s 10th in the competition that season with four of their Qualifying Round ties needing replays. Having comfortably beaten Barton Town in the Preliminary Round they had needed replays to dispose of Frickley Colliery, Bentley Colliery, Brodsworth Main and Scunthorpe.

The extended cup run partially explained why Goole were rooted to the bottom of the Midland League having played far fewer matches than everyone else. Frank Brown was keen to say that he wouldn’t take the opponents lightly and reported that: “They are a strong workmanlike side who believe in the direct approach to goal.”

The part-time visitors had every reason to be confident as Chester themselves were having an up and down season and languished in 17th place although they had beaten Lincoln City 3-1 at Sealand Road the previous week. This improved performance had come on the back of four consecutive defeats and the club were keen to have a good cup run to revive the flagging enthusiasm of supporters.

The victory over Lincoln had seen Chester make an enforced change. Eric Lee had missed the game due to an amateur international trial match so Frank Hindle, a summer signing from Blackburn Rovers, had been moved from left back to centre half while long-serving Dave McNeil returned to the team for the first time since the opening week of the campaign. Both were set to retain their positions for the Goole match with Hindle’s sturdy build seen as invaluable against robust opponents.

One other positive for Chester was the form of 18 year old defender John Molyneux. The Warrington-born, England youth international had made his debut against Rochdale in September after two years careful development with the ‘A’ team and reserves. He had replaced veteran Eric Sibley, a summer signing from Grimsby, at right back and was considered to be a very bright prospect.

Chester’s only injury concern was on the left wing where another former Grimsby player, Bill Pearson, had picked up an injury against Lincoln. He was expected to be replaced by Grenville “Bunty” Booth, a locally-born school teacher who had made eight league appearances in the 1948/49 season but had yet to feature in the current campaign. Booth had been a regular with the Cheshire County League team but had made his first appearance for the club in wartime football. Although recognised as a half back he was seen as a reliable replacement for Pearson with his height and weight seen as a positive asset against the strong Goole side.

Goole were expected to bring around 1,000 supporters and the game was scheduled to kick off at 2:15pm.

2 – The Match

As expected, Bill Pearson failed to recover from his knee injury and was replaced by Grenville Booth at outside left otherwise Chester lined up with the same side that had beaten Lincoln City the previous week. Meanwhile Goole relied on the same starting eleven that had beaten Scunthorpe in the previous round.

In the end Chester had little difficulty in disposing of their Midland League opponents and once Harry Jackson had put Frank Brown’s team ahead in the first five minutes there was little doubt about the result. Jackson went on to complete a hat-trick as Chester dominated the game and were much the better side. Goole did have a short spell of pressure at the end of the first half but it became a case of how many goals Chester would score.

Chester Chronicle headline

Chester almost opened the scoring in the opening minute. First of all goalkeeper Robert Ferguson had to make a smart save low down from Joe Davies before a smashing drive from Jackson struck the inside of the post and bounced back into play. The respite only lasted until the 4th minute when Jackson collected the ball from Davies and calmly steered the ball past Ferguson.

Chester continued to control the game but just before half time Ted Elliott was forced into a brilliant save when he pushed a powerful effort from Pringle round the post.

Early in the second half Brown missed a golden opportunity for Goole before Kimber cleared off the line from Albert Burgess and Ferguson saved well from Jackson. In the 68th minute Chester extended their lead through Jackson and 10 minutes later the centre forward completed his hat-trick when he headed in a Billy Foulkes cross.

Cutts pulled a goal back for Goole, after Brown had hit the post, but the afternoon was rounded off when Burgess added a fourth with two minutes remaining.

It was a comfortable win for Chester and could easily have been more convincing. Grenville Booth did himself justice at outside left and almost scored a couple of goals including a header that hit the underside of the crossbar. Joe Davies also did well at inside right and deserved to be amongst the scorers with two great shots, one of which was brilliantly saved by Ferguson.

Chester – Elliott, Molyneux, McNeil, Astbury, Hindle, Kirkpatrick, Foulkes, Davies, Jackson, Burgess, Booth

Scorer – Jackson 4, 68, 78, Burgess 88

Goole Town – Ferguson, Kimber, Rogers, Sherwood, Towle, Pringle, Cutts, Hall, Hunt, Glasby, Brown

Scorer – Cutts 85

Attendance – 6,774

3- Post-match

The attendance of 6,774 was the lowest FA Cup attendance for a Chester game since 1938 when 6,672 attended the 1st Round match against Bradford City at Sealand Road. It was estimated that 500 Goole fans made the journey, half the original estimate, and the receipts were £525.

The FA Cup match marks the only meeting between Chester and Goole.

Harry Jackson became the first Chester player to score an FA Cup hat-trick since Sammy Armes against Darlington in 1933.

Grenville Booth returned to the Cheshire County League side and made no further first team appearances for the club. He went on to play for Colwyn Bay but remained a teacher in Chester. He died in 1990.

The 2nd Round draw handed Chester a long trip to Devon where they faced Division Three South side Exeter City.

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