Port Vale stun the FA Cup holders in one of Vale Park’s finest games of all time as it finishes Port Vale 2-0 Blackpool in 1954…
Top image: this photo shows a selection of the mascots who were delegated to entertain the crowd during the game
Vale beat Matthews’ Blackpool in Cup classic
Match details: Port Vale 2-0 Blackpool, FA Cup 5th Round, February 20th, 1954
onevalefan report
Freddie Steele’s Port Vale side in 1953-54 were in ferocious form. The Valiants had conceded just one goal in their last 20 home games and had just gone on a 21 game unbeaten run. After defeating Cardiff in the fourth round, next up in the FA Cup were the Seasiders. However, it was a very tough task. Blackpool were the current cup holders and their star-packed 1st Division squad contained six current Internationals alongside Stanley Matthews.
Typically, as one of Vale’s most important matches got closer and closer, the Burslem weather got steadily worse and reports stated that it rained solidly for a week before the match. The Vale Park pitch was a quagmire but interest still remained high as thousands queued for tickets.
However, surely the threat of First Division cup-holders Blackpool with their star studded line-up would be too much?
The match attracted a sell-out crowd of 42,000 with many thousands more locked out. A committed Vale side refused to let Matthews and the rest of the Blackpool stars into the match. In the 14th minute Dickie Cunliffe broke clear on the left and his shot was deflected out for a corner. From Cunliffe’s kick, inside-forward Albert Leake rose to head the ball in.
Vale made it 2-0 in the 26th minute as Cunliffe again started the move and laid the ball to centre forward Basil Hayward, whose low cross was driven into the net by Leake. Blackpool never got back into the game as Vale cleverly forced Matthews away from the drier edges of the pitch and into the muddy middle where he met a massed defence.
Late on, Ken Griffiths hit the post for Vale, while Basil Hayward was fouled in the box only for no penalty to be given. The national press praised “Vale’s hard-working display” and called it a “triumph of teamwork.” The Iron Curtain team went on to reach the FA Cup semi final that year and a record breaking promotion.
Image gallery
Tommy Cheadle leads the Vale out
The two captains shake hands
Mascots entertain the crowds
The programme
A clipping from a match preview piece
Match video (see highlights in this clip):
I was there – fan’s view from John Bates
For just one season 1953/54 Port Vale were the greatest team in the land, Third Division North maybe, but invincible. Blackpool were cup holders, first division contenders with players like the immortal Stanley, Stan Mortenson, Jack Mudie and Harry Johnson managed by another Potter Joe Smith.
What a day! Around 50,000 people at Vale Park, Blackpool dropped Mortenson and brought in an inside forward named Stephenson (destined to come to Vale Park a couple of years later).
What a game! Certainly the greatest in the Vale’s history, we won by two goals to nil, and we never stopped shouting and cheering from the first minute to the last. About the game I remember very little just the feeling that on that day in that season the Vale could have beaten anyone and they did (except West Brom but that was a fix they did not want a third division team winning the FA Cup).
I will not go through the names of all the players except perhaps to mention the great Tommy Cheadle, Basil and Colin Askey. They and the rest of them were the greatest set of players in the greatest team who played in the greatest ever match at Vale Park…
About Port Vale's 1953-54 Iron Curtain side
Known as the “Iron Curtain” for their tremendous defensive qualities, the Port Vale FC side of 1953-54 set numerous club records and are regarded as probably the greatest Port Vale side of all-time.
Managed by Freddie Steele, the side were crowned Third Division North Champions and also reached the FA Cup semi-final where they unluckily lost to West Brom.
Their success was based on a squad of nineteen players, many of whom were locally born. Players included Ray King, Roy Sproson, Tommy Cheadle, Colin Askey, Dickie Cunliffe, Albert Leake and Basil Hayward.
The side set three Football League records including the least number of goals conceded in a season, a club record eleven successive home wins and they were undefeated at home all season.
We have a series of special features, press clippings, images and video about the 1954 Port Vale side. Click the button below for more…
crowd was 42000, police on duty 100 ( no helicopters) George Formby sat in the railway stand it was not covered then,he threw is hat in the air when vale scored the second goal but he never saw his hat again
I’d love to find out more about this match and Port Vale’s run to the semi-final. If anyone would be interested in contacting me, my email address is [email protected]. Thanks Rick Jordan.
I was there at the Bycars end having queued a couple of weeks earlier at a reserve game to get my ticket through the boys turnstile. It was a bright sunny afternoon which I will always remember. Although I left Stoke nearly 50 years ago Vale is always the first resit I look for.
For my 80th birthday last year my son treated me to a memorable day at Vale Pk to watch them beat Wigan.
The programme for the game indicates that Vale could have sold double the amount of tickets for the game so had Vale Park been big enough, it could have been the biggest ever attendance for a game outside Wembley eclipsing the 84,000 who watched Stoke play in the FA Cup at Man City in the 1930s.
It’s an interesting theory as to whether the FA would have wanted a Third Division club in the final, it being the showpiece occasion of the football season. The troubling incident being Albert Leakes disallowed ‘equaliser’ near the end.
The mascot dressed as a clown was my grandfather 1954 the year I was born. His name was Enos Potts of Bradley.
These are scenes that almost certainly will never be replicated. The state of the pitch at Vale Park, players actually being allowed to tackle one another and the impact of money.
Always remember being at the match with my Dad, but like the other guy of my ages comment, I can remember little of the game itself only that we were packed in like sardines
Iike the comment of the other guy of my age ” 80 ” i was at the bycars end and can remember little of the game apart from the score and being packed in like sardines. Good job there was no health and safety rules at that time
A few years after the game i went on to play a few games for both Vale and Stoke as an amateur and also played a couple of seasons for the county as centre forward, while i was playing club football ⚽️ for Eastwood, all this in the 1960s, good decade for football and a top decade for pop music
Like the comment by Brian Hancock who like myself is 80 i was at the bycars end and can remember little of the day, except the score and having to stand on a sand bag to see the game. Later in the 1960s i went on to play a few games for both Vale and Stoke as an amateur and played a couple of years as county centre forward while playing my club football ⚽️ for Eastwood Hanley. Good times all round, top decade for Pop music as well