If history is anything to go by then Saturday’s FA Cup third round tie between Championship leaders Wolves and Premier League strugglers Swansea City should be full of goals.
The two teams have met twice before in the FA Cup with the Swans hoping to make it third time lucky against a side currently ranked only one place below them in the league rankings. Their first meeting was at the Vetch on 8 January, 1938, and their last clash was at Molineux on 5 January, 1957.
Wolves won both games – 4-0 in 1938 and 5-3 in 1957 – but weren’t able to go any further than the fourth round despite having home advantage of Arsenal (lost 2-1) and Bournemouth (lost 1-0). The Swans will have their work cut out this weekend to alter the course of history against a side beaten only once at home this season – by Cardiff City!
A Welsh double might beckon, but the FA Cup doesn’t carry the same weight or significance as it did back in the mists of time. There were 19,300 crammed into the Vetch for the game in 1938, while Molineux had a crowd of 38,399 in 1957.
To show how much times have changed, the gate receipts for the Vetch 80 years ago were £2,020 and for Molineux 61 years ago they were only £5,687. That might pay the weekly wages of the club’s media departments these days.
In that first meeting in 1938 it was a Welshman that did for the Swans. The brilliant Bryn Jones, in his final season flying up and down the wing at Wolves before his British record transfer to Arsenal for £14,000, scored the first and made the second for Dennis Westcott.
By half-time Westcott had plundered a hat-trick and Wolves led 4-0. No wonder that the Daily Herald headline on Monday roared: ‘Wolves Get Four Then ‘Play’ With Swansea’.
The Midlanders went one better in 1957 when they scored five goals in the last meeting between the two clubs in the FA Cup. Mind you, they had to because the Allchurch brothers inspired Swans scored three goals of their own.
A classic, end to end cup tie saw the First Division side heave a heavy sign of relief when they went two goals clear in the 89th minute to make the game safe and avoid a replay. This was a Wolves side led by the great Billy Wright and boasting other England internationals in Bert Williams, Ron Flowers, Jimmy Mullen, Peter Broadbent and Bill Slater.
It was Broadbent who scored the opening goal before Joe Bonson marked his FA Cup debut with the second. The Swans then had a goal ruled out for offside before Ivor Allchurch was put through by brother Len to make it 2-1.
A 30 yard pile driver from Flowers in the 36th minute restored the home side’s two goal advantage. Len Allchurch almost scored before the break and then began to torment the home side at the start of the second half.
Swansea were the better team for long periods, but a second goal from Bonson in the 77th minute left the visitors with a mountain to climb. They refused to give up, though, and with 10 minutes to play they clawed back another goal through Welsh international Des Palmer.
The game was back in the balance until Mullen nipped in to score a fifth, killer goal on the stroke of time. What sort of scoreline will we have this weekend?
The Swans have a poor record at Molineux, having won only twice there in 15 attempts in all competitions since 1925. Their last win at Wolves came on 14 September, 1985, in Division 3 when they won 5-1.
PREVIOUS FA CUP MEETINGS
Round 3, 8 January, 1938 – Swansea Town 0, Wolves 4
Swansea Town: Moore; Lawrence, Emmanuel; Warner, Simons, Lloyd; Foreman, Beresford, Vernon, Lewis (H), Lang
Wolves: Scott; Morris, Taylor; Smalley, Cullis, Gardiner; Ashall; Galley, Westcott. Jones, Kirkham
Round 3, 5 January, 1957 – Wolves 5, Swansea Town 3
Wolverhampton Wanderers: Williams; Stuart, Harris; Slater, Wright, Flowers; Hooper, Mason, Bonson, Broadbent, Mullen
Swansea Town: Jones (D); Thomas, Jones (B); Charles, Peake, Brown; Allchurch (L), Griffiths, Palmer, Allchurch (I), Jones (C)