A century ago and we nearly made it “four times” by Marc ap Dafydd

It’s the 30^th April 1924 and Merthyr Town are in the Welsh Cup Final for the first time. 

A 2-1 semi-final victory at Penydarren Park in front of 10,000 fans over local rivals and fellow Football League members Aberdare Athletic means that the Red & Greens faced Wales’s oldest club and the Welsh Cup’s perennial winners Wrexham AFC in the Final tie to be played at Taff Vale Park near Pontypridd. 

Taff Vale Park was the home of Pontypridd FC at that time and had hosted a previous Welsh Cup Final two years earlier when Cardiff City had hoisted the famous trophy after a 2-0 win over Ton Pentre.

Pontypridd FC were members of the Southern League from 1911 until their demise in 1926 (their first game at Taff Vale Park had been for the visit of Queen’s Park Rangers). The venue though had been a multi-sports arena from the 1890s when it was built for Pontypridd RFC. Sports such as athletics, greyhound racing, speedway, cycling, rugby league, boxing contests and even baseball would use Taff Vale Park over the years.

The main feature of the stadium was the large grandstand which at the time was one of the biggest in Wales. This stand was flanked by man-made cinder banks which completely around the circumference on the ground.

Merthyr Town were managed at the time by Thomas David Jones who was a former Wales international and a FAW Vice-President. He was a solicitor by profession, he was made Secretary-Manager in July the previous year and had steered the Romans to a creditable 13^th position in the Football League 3^rd Division South.

Wrexham finished the season in a similar place to Merthyr Town as 16^th at the same level but in the Northern Division.

 Despite the stormy weather approximately 10,000 fans were in the ground with special trains bringing supporters from Merthyr Tydfil and Wrexham. Albert Lindon won the toss and made Wrexham play into a fierce wind. Mr. T.G. Bryan from Willenhall started the game. The referee was a very experienced Football League official who would also take charge of the 1928 FA Cup Final between Blackburn Rovers and Huddersfield Town.

Merthyr Town’s team still contained a few players that had been with the Romans since their entry into the Football League in 1920 so they had a lot of experience as a team especially with the great Albert Lindon in goals, Bobby Ferrans at left-back and Bert Turner leading the attack.

 The team that day was as follows: 

1.        Albert Lindon

2.        William Partridge

3.        Robert Ferrans

4.        Thomas Lewis

5.        George Sewell

6.        Albert Thomas

7.        Vince Jones

8.        Bert Turner

9.        Ernest Turner

10.   Bill Arblaster

11.   Harry Nash

 

Bill Arblaster opened the scoring after 25 minutes after some clever play from Vince Jones and a quarter of an hour later after a lot of pressure it was 2-0 when Bert Turner scored from a nicely worked free-kick after Matthews had handled the ball just outside the Wrexham penalty area and that was how the first half ended but not before the Wrexham goalkeeper Godding had been knocked out by another Arblaster shot.

The same duo had scored the goal to win the semi-final game too.

Football tactics probably have changed much in the past 100 years so I’m sure T.D. Jones told his players to keep the game tight at the start of the second half and in a tradition that reaches out across the decades for Merthyr fans it fell on deaf ears as Willie Jackson had pulled back a goal within ten minutes of the restart after considerable pressure by the North Wales team. Five minutes later the game was level when Matthews headed past Lindon from a Williams corner.

Arblaster and Errnie Turner had further chances to win the game late on but Lindon was also forced into a few fine saves so a draw was considered the right result on the day. 

However the drama wasn’t over yet as obviously a replay was needed but where? The original replay venue was supposed to be at Shrewsbury Town FC but that had been found to be double booked. The venue was therefore settled on the toss of a coin. The date for the replay? The next day of course.

Mr. Bryan tossed the coin with both team managers and Wrexham won the right to host the replay the next day at the Racecourse Ground. It’s unlikely that both teams had made any arrangements for a replay up until that point but it’s testament to the intensive transport system of that era that both teams would have probably travelled up to the North by train on a journey that almost certainly takes longer today.

Penydarren Park would have to wait 75 years before it finally hosted a Welsh Cup Final.

So 24 hours later the two teams once again faced each other for the Welsh Cup trophy, the only change for Merthyr Town was that Reg Phillips replaced Partridge at full-back and despite the short notice 8,000 fans were in the Racecourse Ground to see Wrexham win the game 1-0 with Billy Cotton scoring the winning goal after 15 minutes.

Billy Cotton was a prolific goalscorer for Wrexham and finished his career at the Racecourse Ground with 34 goals in 88 games and it was probably no surprise that he would settle the tie.

The game was described as a “ding-dong” affair but it seems that Merthyr’s forwards didn’t take their chances and Lindon was once again man of the match as he made three fine saves at the end of the game.

Mr. Bryan also travelled to Wrexham to referee the game so he would have been happy with his two match fees.

T.D. Jones resigned shortly after the team’s return from Wrexham with Albert Lindon taking on a Player-Manager role three months later for an additional £1.00 a week on top of his player’s wage.

The glory years after World War Two provided more opportunities for the Martyrs to lift the Welsh Cup and of course we defied the odds in 1987 to win it one last time but it was a century ago that Merthyr Town first reached the Final and probably lost out to a toss of a coin.