This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. It needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since July 2011. It may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Tagged since July 2011.

1958 FA Cup Final

Event	1957–58 FA Cup
Bolton Wanderers Manchester United 2 0
Date	3 May 1958
Venue	Wembley Stadium, London
Referee	J. Sherlock
Attendance	99,756
← 1957 1959 →

The 1958 FA Cup Final was contested on 3 May 1958 by Bolton Wanderers and Manchester United at Wembley Stadium, London, in front of a crowd of almost 100,000. The referee was J. Sherlock. Bolton won 2–0, with a double by Nat Lofthouse, who scored the goals in the 3rd and 55th minutes.^[1] United, who had lost the previous final to Aston Villa, had been decimated three months earlier in the Munich air disaster, and fielded only four crash survivors, along with several newcomers. Just two players featured in the United side from the previous year's final; six of them were among the dead (along with two others who had not played), two were injured to such an extent that they never played again, while another had not yet fully recovered from his injuries.

The second Bolton goal was a source of considerable controversy as it resulted from the Manchester United goalkeeper Harry Gregg being bundled over the goal line by Lofthouse. Goalkeepers were, at that time, much less protected from physical contact with opponents. The resulting debate was one of the high profile incidents that led eventually to the situation that prevails nowadays where no contact with the opposing goalkeeper is permitted.

Not one of Bolton's 11 players in the cup-winning team cost the club a transfer fee. Five of them were full internationals. Only Nat Lofthouse and Doug Holden played in The Matthews Final.

Match details[link]

3 May 1958	Bolton Wanderers	2–0	Manchester United	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 99,756 Referee: J. Sherlock
	Lofthouse  3'  50'	(Report)

Bolton Wanderers

Manchester United

GK 1 Eddie Hopkinson RB 2 Roy Hartle LB 3 Tommy Banks RH 4 Derek Hennin CH 5 John Higgins LH 6 Bryan Edwards OR 7 Brian Birch IR 8 Dennis Stevens CF 9 Nat Lofthouse (c) IL 10 Ray Parry OL 11 Doug Holden Manager: Bill Ridding

GK 1 Harry Gregg RB 2 Bill Foulkes (c) LB 3 Ian Greaves RH 4 Freddie Goodwin CH 5 Ron Cope LH 6 Stan Crowther OR 7 Alex Dawson IR 8 Ernie Taylor CF 9 Bobby Charlton IL 10 Dennis Viollet OL 11 Colin Webster Manager: Jimmy Murphy

Road to Wembley[link]

• Both clubs received a bye to round three.
• Square brackets [ ] represent the opposition's division

References[link]

The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the Football Association Challenge Cup. With an official attendance of 89,826 at the 2007 FA Cup Final, it is the fourth best attended domestic club championship event in the world and the second most attended domestic football event. It is the culmination of a knockout competition among clubs belonging to The Football Association in England, although Scottish and Irish teams competed in the early years and Welsh teams regularly compete, with Cardiff City winning the Cup in 1927 and reaching the final in 2008.

Early FA Cup Finals were held at various venues including Fallowfield Stadium but were mainly in London. In the period from 1923 until 2000, the final was held at Wembley Stadium, English football's national stadium. From 2001–2005, the final was moved to Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, during the rebuilding of Wembley Stadium. Millennium Stadium was used again in 2006 due to construction delays in opening the new Wembley Stadium.

Until 1993, if the final could not be decided in a single match, the match would be replayed. After only six replays since 1923, The Football Association then decided that all future finals would be decided 'on the day', putting an end to FA Cup Final replays. This meant that a draw at the end of normal time would be followed by 30 minutes of extra time (two 15-minute halves); if scores were still level there would be a penalty shootout to determine the winner of the competition. Only two FA Cup Finals have been decided by a penalty shootout; those of 2005 and 2006. Note that the Football League War Cup is not considered part of the official FA Cup competition.

Stan Mortensen's hat-trick for Blackpool in 1953 remains the only hat trick ever scored at Wembley in the competition's final.^[1] Everton's Louis Saha scored a goal after 27.9 seconds in the 2009 FA Cup Final. It is currently the fastest goal in FA Cup Final history. Bury's 6-0 victory over Derby County in 1903 FA Cup Final is the largest winning margin. With his goal in the 2012 Final, Chelsea's Didier Drogba became the first man to score a goal in four different Finals.

The FA Cup Final is one of ten events reserved for live broadcast on UK terrestrial television under the Ofcom Code on Sports and Other Listed and Designated Events.

Winners[link]

For a full list of FA Cup winners and runners-up, see List of FA Cup winners

See also[link]

• FA Cup Final referees
• FA Cup Semi-finals

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• Full results history at rsssf.com
• Archive of almost every result at SoccerBase.com
• Post-war finals at sporting-heroes.net

External links[link]

• The 10 greatest FA Cup Final goals at midfield dynamo classic football website