Middlesbrough FC v Coventry City

Researcher and historian Dr TOSH WARWICK uncovers treasures from Middlesbrough
Football Club’s past. This issue: Manchester, Middlesbrough and the magic of the FA Cup…
On the evening of 20 December 1893 the
draw for the FA Cup First Round Proper
was made at a meeting of the Football
Association, with the pick of the ties pitting
cup-holders Wolverhampton Wanderers
against league leaders Aston Villa.
Locally, Boro’s town rivals Middlesbrough
Ironopolis were handed home advantage
against Luton Town, while Boro faced a
long journey across the Pennines to visit
Newton Heath, the club which was renamed
Manchester United in 1902. Interestingly, on
the same evening Boro – then still amateur
– discovered their opponents for their FA
Amateur Cup tie, Leadgate Exiles, the same
side they had disposed of to set up the tie with
Newton Heath.
While this season’s Fourth Round tie
with Manchester United has captured the
imagination of Teessiders, with all visitors
tickets quickly sold-out and plans for national
and international broadcast, the 1893 draw
pairing Middlesbrough with Newton Heath
generated little interest beyond the two areas.
However, the tie provided an opportunity
for the then Linthorpe Road side to test
themselves against new opponents, founded
in 1878 as a football team of the Lancashire &
Yorkshire Railway Company. Previews for the
tie suggested a potential away success, with
The Standard suggesting ‘it would not be
surprising should “The Heathens” be relegated
at the end of the season, so badly had they
been performing in their league matches.
As with this season, Catherine Budd’s Sport
In Urban England: Middlesbrough notes
how Boro were backed by such a significant
following that the club considered it
“necessary to reserve two saloons on the train
across the Pennines and provide cheap hotel
accommodation for travelling supporters” who
made up part of the 5,000 in attendance for
the clash at Clayton on 27 January 1894.
The home side enjoyed most of the early
pressure and had a few shots that went wide
of the target. They soon had the ball in the net
after good work from Donaldson and Farman
allowed McNaught
to beat Kitson in
the Boro goal –
but the effort was
disallowed for
offside.
Alan Peacock
Left: Newton Heath
in 1893, and a match
report from Boro’s
cup visit that year.
Above: Boro star
Tom Bach.
28 #UTB