1959 FA Cup final

The 1959 FA Cup final was contested by Nottingham Forest and Luton Town at Wembley. Forest were playing in their second FA Cup final, while Luton were making their first final appearance in their history. Forest won 2–1 to win their second title, with goals from Roy Dwight and Tommy Wilson just four minutes apart. Dave Pacey scored Luton's consolation goal. As of 2023, this is Forest's most recent FA Cup title.

1959 FA Cup final
Event1958–59 FA Cup
Date2 May 1959
VenueWembley Stadium, London
RefereeJack Clough (Bolton)
Attendance100,000

Road to Wembley

Nottingham Forest

Round[1]Home teamScoreAway teamDateAttendance
Round 3Tooting & Mitcham United2–2Nottingham Forest10 January 195914300
Round 3 ReplayNottingham Forest3–0Tooting & Mitcham United24 January 195942320
Round 4Nottingham Forest4-1Grimsby Town28 January 195934289
Round 5Birmingham City1–1Nottingham Forest14 February 195955300
Round 5 1st ReplayNottingham Forest1–1Birmingham City18 February 195939431
Round 5 2nd ReplayBirmingham City0-5Nottingham Forest23 February 195934458
Round 6Nottingham Forest2–1Bolton Wanderers28 February 195944414
Semi FinalNottingham Forest1-0Aston Villa14 March 195965707
(at Hillsborough, Sheffield)

Luton Town

RoundHome teamScoreAway teamDateAttendance
Round 3Luton Town5-1Leeds United10 January 195918534
Round 4Leicester City1-1Luton Town24 January 195936984
Round 4 ReplayLuton Town4–1Leicester City28 January 195927277
Round 5Ipswich Town2–5Luton Town14 February 195926700
Round 6Blackpool1-1Luton Town28 February 195930634
Round 6 ReplayLuton Town1–0Blackpool4 March 195930069
Semi-finalLuton1-1Norwich City14 March 195965000
(at White Hart Lane, London)
Semi-final ReplayNorwich City0-1Luton18 March 195949500
(at St Andrew's, Birmingham)

Match summary

The game was notable for an unusually large number of stoppages due to injury, particularly to Nottingham Forest players, which was put down to the lush nature of the Wembley turf. The most notable of these stoppages occurred when goalscorer Roy Dwight was carried off the pitch after breaking his leg in a tackle with Brendan McNally after 33 minutes.

This also proved a turning point in the game as Forest had been the more dominant team to that point, leading by two goals at the time. Luton gradually took control of the match from this point on, scoring midway through the second half.

Forest were reduced to nine fit men with ten minutes remaining when Bill Whare was crippled with cramp, being forced to play wide on the wing where he was little more than a spectator.

The high volume of injuries during the second half led to four minutes of additional time being added on by the referee, during which time Luton twice came close to forcing extra time as Allan Brown headed narrowly wide of goal before Billy Bingham hit the side netting. Given the condition of the Forest team at that time it would have been a remarkable feat for them to have won the game or even forced a replay in extra time had Luton equalised.

At the final whistle the Forest manager Billy Walker entered the field to congratulate his team and was chased by a steward who tried to marshall him back off. The steward mistook Walker to be a pitch invader.

Match details

Nottingham Forest2–1Luton Town
Dwight 10'
Wilson 14'
Report Pacey 66'
Attendance: 100,000
Referee: Jack Clough
Nottingham Forest
Luton Town
1Scotland Chic Thomson
2Guernsey Bill Whare
3Scotland Joe McDonald
4England Jeff Whitefoot
5Scotland Bobby McKinlay
6England Jack Burkitt (c)
7England Roy Dwight
8Scotland Johnny Quigley
9England Tommy Wilson
10England Billy Gray
11Scotland Stewart Imlach
Manager:
England Billy Walker
1England Ronald Baynham
2Republic of Ireland Brendan McNally
3England Ken Hawkes
4England John Groves
5England Syd Owen (c)
6England Dave Pacey
7Northern Ireland Billy Bingham
8Scotland Allan Brown
9England Bob Morton
10Republic of Ireland George Cummins
11England Tony Gregory
Player-Manager:
England Syd Owen

Coverage

The game was televised live on the BBC Grandstand programme, which introduced score captions into their broadcast for the first time in an FA Cup final. This however caused much annoyance in Nottingham where their team's name was displayed on the screen at regular intervals as Notts Forest. Commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme apologised live on air for the mistake, stating that the caption should read Nott'm Forest.[2]

During the game the Forest fans were heard to sing the theme tune to the then-popular television programme The Adventures of Robin Hood (the legendary outlaw who was allegedly from Nottingham). This was the first time ever that popular television culture had made its way into a terrace song during a cup final.

References

  1. Smales, Ken (2006). Nottingham Forest The Official Statistical History. Pineapple Books. ISBN 978-0954-357627.
  2. "1959 FA Cup Final: Nottingham Forest vs Luton Town". therollingball. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
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