Chelsea Beaten in Front of Record Kenilworth Road Crowd

In 1934/35 the Town received another exemption to the third round of the F.A.Cup competition and drew another plum tie in the shape of Division One side Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

The Town were going through one of their wonderfully inconsistent periods where they would win by four goals one week then lose by the same scoreline the next.  Chelsea were in a comfortable mid-table position in the top flight.

A crowd of 46,492 gathered to see the Town put in one of their better performances against strangely lacklustre opponents and it was no real surprise when Sam Bell forced the ball home, following a corner, five minutes before the interval.  The goal was hotly disputed, as many in the ground felt that the ball had not crossed the line and the London press had a field day trying to prove the impossible by hanging a ball from the crossbar to show how photographs can be deceiving, especially when taken from anywhere apart from along the goal line.

Despite all the protests the goal stood and it was not until the last ten minutes that Chelsea decided to make a game of it and push everyone forward in an effort to score an undeserved equaliser.  This they did when James Argue shot through a crowd of players to take the tie back to Luton.

In the days before floodlights cup tie replays had to be fought out in mid-week afternoons which in turn would normally affect the attendance.  To say that there was unprecedented interest in the game is an understatement as realised by the town’s major employers who faced a major display of downing tools on the afternoon of the match.

Skefco, George Kent, Vauxhall, Electrolux, Davis Gas Stove Co and all the hat factories saw sense and decided to close from mid-day, with only the first two asking employees to go back after the match to make up for lost time.

The official attendance was 23,041 which smashed the previous record by over 4,000 but this figure did not account for the non-payers.  The ground was dangerously overcrowded and it is a minor miracle that no-one was badly injured or even killed.

The game kicked off with a double line of spectators on the running track and rather more on the Bobbers Stand/Kenilworth Road corner where there had to be a major re-shuffle every time there was a flag kick.

The Town were forced into a couple of changes from the first game with Tom Mackey suspended and Billy Thayne injured.  Harry Reece and Hugh McGinnigle took their places.

Again Chelsea did not seem to have much stomach for a fight and their attempts to play ‘first division football’ were doomed to failure against a fired up Luton side that fought for every ball as if their lives depended on it.

The game remained scoreless until 25 minutes from the end when a throw-in from Charlie Fraser to Fred Roberts saw the latter hook the ball into the goalmouth where Chelsea goalkeeper Jackson could only parry the ball to Jack Ball who shot into an empty net.

The second goal came soon after when Bob MacAuley was dispossessed by Jack Ball who played the ball inside to Fred Roberts who smashed it home.

With 20 minutes left the injured Reece became a passenger on the wing but even then Chelsea could not raise themselves from their torpor and at the final whistle Luton supporters raced on to the pitch to chair off their heroes.

Sadly, the story does not have a happy end as the Town went out at Burnley in the next round, but the cup run had put a few more pennies into the pot which was added to when several honest supporters sent in postal orders to pay for their illegal entry to the Chelsea tie.

You can find more photos, and match reports, of the game here.

Luton Town:  Coen, Smith, Reece, Brown, McGinnigle, Fraser, Crompton, Bell, Ball, Roberts, Stephenson.

Chelsea:  Jackson, Barber, MacAuley, Russell, Craig, Miller, Spence, Argue, Bambrick, Gibson, Horton.