BLACKPOOL

Terry Alcock (pictured) was a versatile player born in the Potteries in 1946, he played 112 times for Port Vale before joining Blackpool, where he scored 21 goals in 196 games. Brief stints at Bury, Blackburn, Port Vale and Halifax followed before he played one season in North America with the Portland Timbers in 1977.

Known as the ‘Matthews Final’, it was third time lucky for both Blackpool and the legendary winger. Having twice left Wembley empty-handed in 1948 and 1951, the Seasiders returned to the famous stadium eager to avenge their previous disappointments, but it would take an extraordinary performance by the sensational Matthews to rescue victory from the jaws of defeat.

Bolton’s newly-crowned footballer of the year Nat Lofthouse maintained his record of scoring in every round as early as the second minute, and the Wanderers looked in control. But Blackpool came back and Mortensen levelled with ten minutes of the first half remaining, only for Bolton to regain the lead within five minutes and then score again shortly after the re-start to make Blackpool’s task almost insurmountable.

But with his teams’ destiny looking incredibly bleak, Matthews began to take control of the proceedings and started to dazzle the Bolton defence with his trickery down the right.

Mortensen capitalised on a mistake by the Bolton keeper with just over twenty minutes remaining, and the fight-back was on, the noise levels rose, and the momentum was now swinging Blackpool’s way.

Mortensen completed his hat-trick with a sweetly struck free kick with just three minutes left on the clock to level the score, before Matthews pulled the ball back for Bill Perry to score a sensational winner and complete the most remarkable recovery in the history of the FA Cup.

So, if you were there or not, this is one piece of history that must be owned by fans.