“Spiksley’s match”
124 years ago today Wednesday faced Villa in the FA Cup and the atmosphere amongst the 22,100 Olive Grove crowd was tremendous.
Henry ‘Toddles’ Woolhouse opened the scoring. However, by 73 minutes Villa led through two Bob Chatt goals
With under 120 seconds remaining Fred Spiksley collected the ball. The Wednesday fans crossed their fingers and looked on transfixed. When the winger left Cowan and Groves for dead a great roar went up.
As Bill Dunning, Villa’s massive ’keeper, advanced Spiksley sent the ball perfectly round him and into the back of the net. 2-2 and ecstasy among the relieved home fans.
On 115 minutes Spiksley did it again, beating all his markers before finding the unmarked Woolhouse who, with every Wednesday fan’s heart beating strongly, drove home the winner.
The Villa game thus became known for decades afterwards as ‘Spiksley’s match’. An excited crowd remained long after the final whistle so unexpected was Wednesday’s success.
If you can contribute to turning Fred Spiksley’s remarkable story into a film see:- https://www.birthoffootball.com
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