Nottingham Forest 3 – 1 Derby County
Crystal Palace, London
Attendance: 62,017
Referee: J. Lewis
Capes 19' 42' McPherson 86' Bloomer 31'
Round By Round
First Round
Southampton St Mary's v Leicester Fosse 2-1; PNE v Newcastle Utd 1 -2; Luton T v Bolton Wand 0-1; Man C v Wigan C 1 -0; WBA v New Brighton Tower 2-0; Sunderland v Sheff Wed 0-1; NOTT'M FOREST v Grimsby T 4-0; Long Eaton Rangers v Gainsboro Tr 0-1; Liverpool v Hucknall St John's 2-0; Newton Heath v Walsall 1 -0; Notts Co v Wolves 0-1; DERBY CO v Aston Villa 1-0; Burnley v Woolwich Arsenal 3-1; Burslem Port Vale v Sheff Utd 1-1,2-1; Everton v Blackburn R 1 -0; Bury v Stoke 1 -2
Second Round
Southampton St Mary's v Newcastle Utd 1 -0; Bolton Wand v Man C 1 -0; WBA v Sheff Wed 1 -0; NOTT'M FOREST v Gainsboro Tr 4-0; Liverpool v Newton Heath 0-0, 2-1; Wolves v DERBY CO 0-1; Burnley v Burslem Port Vale 3-0; Everton v Stoke 0-0, 5-1
Third Round
Southampton St Mary's v Bolton Wand 0-0, 4-0; WBA v NOTT'M FOREST 2-3; Liverpool v DERBY CO 1-1, 1-5; Burnley v Everton 1-3
Semi-Final
Southampton St Mary's v NOTT'M FOREST 1-1,0-2; DERBY CO v Everton 3-1
F.A. Cup winners 1898,
the day Nottingham Forest won the FA Cup for the first time, and wore the Derby County shirts for the Winners Team Photo, due to the adverse lighting conditions for the days of Black and White pictures.
Nottingham Forest 3 Derby County 1
at Crystal Palace
Seated :- Tommy McInnes, Charles H. Richards, Leonard Benbow, Arthur Capes, Alf. Spouncer.
The 1898 FA Cup Final was contested by Nottingham Forest and Derby County at Crystal Palace. Forest won 3–1, with goals from Arthur Capes (2) and John McPherson. Steve Bloomer scored Derby's effort.
Forest went ahead early on due to a goal from Capes, but Bloomer scored an equalizer with a header. The turning point was near the midway point. Richards tried to lob from a Mcinnes cross, but Fryer was easily first to it. The custodian, however, dropped the ball at the feet of Capes, who turned it in to the empty net.Forest lost a player with injury, but Mcpherson killed off the contest.
Nottingham Forest FC Dan Allsop, Archie Ritchie, Adam Scott, Frank Forman (c) ,John McPherson,
Willie Wragg, Tom McInnes, Charlie Richards, Len Benbow, Arthur Capes, Alf Spouncer,
Secretary-Manager: Harry Haslam
Derby County FC Jack Fryer, Jimmy Methven, Joe Leiper, John D. Cox, Archie Goodall, James Turner,
John Goodall, Steve Bloomer, John Boag, Jimmy Stevenson, Hugh McQueen
Manager: Harry Newbould
MATCH REPORT
Derby, the favourites, had knocked out both the previous year's finalists earlier in the competition and had beaten Forest 5-0 in a League match only one week before the Final.
Nevertheless from the very beginning it was Forest most of the way, although the standard of play generally fell a long way behind the superb exhibition provided by Villa and Everton the previous year. In an early attack, Methven was lucky to get in the way of Capes's shot, after Mclnnes and Richards had dallied unnecessarily.
One of the Forest team. Spouncer, had missed most of the pro-Final training sessions, being unable to obtain leave of absence from his work, but it was Spouncer who featured in the build-up to the first goal after nineteen minutes. Benbow raced down the middle and clipped a fine pass out to Spouncer on the left. The winger was fouled by Cox near the by-line. and Wragg's free-kick went to Capes whose low shot went through the defensive wall and beat Fryer in goal.
Derby began to have slightly the better of things after the goal, and in the thirty-first minute the legendary Steve Bloomer headed a good goal from Leiper's expertly placed free-kick, the ball striking the crossbar and bouncing down behind Allsop. Forest made a concerted effort as the interval approached and scored the goal that effectively won the Cup when Fryer parried Richards' shot and Capes closed in to shoot steadily along the ground and into the net.
Wragg, injured in the first half, wrenched his leg again and had to move out to the wing. Capes retreated into midfield and Spouncer had to go inside. Though handicapped. Forest came back with a third goal four minutes from time. Boag headed out from a corner-kick but McPherson slipped in to drive in a ground shot.
Play had almost all been in Derby's favour in the second half. but the rock-like Forest defence held out. Allsop leapt to turn away Cox's drive and McPherson saved a certain goal by charging down Bloomer's shot. Victory undoubtedly went to the better team. Indeed, their marked superiority must have come as a surprise to those who had expected a Derby walk-over.
