1954–55 Stoke City F.C. season

The 1954–55 season was Stoke City's 48th season in the Football League and the 15th in the Second Division.

Stoke City
1954–55 season
ChairmanMr T. Duddell
ManagerFrank Taylor
StadiumVictoria Ground
Football League Second Division5th (52 Points)
FA CupFourth Round
Top goalscorerLeague: Harry Oscroft
(21)

All: Harry Oscroft
(21)
Highest home attendance47,000 vs Port Vale
(4 September 1954)
Lowest home attendance7,050 vs Fulham
(26 March 1955)
Average home league attendance21,131

Taylor continued to add new players to the squad as the aim for 1954–55 was to gain promotion back to the First Division. Stoke made a great start to the season winning five out of their first six matches. Taylor was able to field a settled team for the majority of the season alas Stoke could not keep up their form and promotion was missed with Stoke finishing in 5th position. In the FA Cup Stoke were involved in one of the longest cup ties as their third round encounter with Bury went on to a fourth replay with Stoke finally winning 3–2 after 9 hours and 22 minutes of football.[1]

Season review

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League

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Stoke manager Frank Taylor continued to purchase players as he attempted to guide Stoke back into the First Division.[1] He added the Wolverhampton Wanderers left back Jack Short to his squad in the summer of 1954.[1] Things looked to be improving when Stoke started the 1954–55 season in fine form winning five out of six.[1] Taylor was fortunate to be able to field a settled side but the form rate was not maintained and promotion was missed, albeit by a narrow margin, Stoke taking fifth spot just two behind promoted Birmingham City and Luton Town.[1] During the season Stoke beat Liverpool away 4–2 their first victory at Anfield for 60 years.[1]

FA Cup

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In the FA Cup Stoke were drawn with Bury in the third round and after four draws the tie went to a fourth replay with Stoke finally beating Bury 3–2 in extra time.[1] In total the tie took 9 hours and 22 minutes of football and had an aggregated scoreline of 10–9.[1] Unfortunately for Stoke it was all in vain as in the next round they were defeated by Swansea Town.[1]

Final league table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GAv Pts
3 Rotherham United 42 25 4 13 94 64 1.469 54
4 Leeds United 42 23 7 12 70 53 1.321 53
5 Stoke City 42 21 10 11 69 46 1.500 52
6 Blackburn Rovers 42 22 6 14 114 79 1.443 50
7 Notts County 42 21 6 15 74 71 1.042 48
Source: [citation needed]
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Goals scored

Results

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Stoke's score comes first

Legend

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Win Draw Loss

Football League Second Division

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Match Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
1 21 August 1954 Birmingham City H 2–1 27,984 Oscroft, Hutton
2 25 August 1954 Nottingham Forest A 3–0 20,515 King (3) (2 Pens)
3 28 August 1954 Middlesbrough A 2–1 17,820 King, Oscroft
4 30 August 1954 Nottingham Forest H 2–0 22,925 Hutton, Oscroft
5 4 September 1954 Port Vale H 0–0 47,000
6 8 September 1954 Leeds United A 1–0 20,000 King
7 11 September 1954 Rotherham United H 1–2 27,271 Oscroft
8 13 September 1954 Leeds United H 0–1 18,737
9 18 September 1954 Luton Town A 1–3 17,352 Bevans
10 22 September 1954 Ipswich Town A 1–0 15,536 Oscroft
11 25 September 1954 Hull City H 0–0 10,185
12 2 October 1954 Lincoln City A 4–1 13,728 Oscroft (3), Hutton
13 9 October 1954 Notts County A 0–1 23,000
14 16 October 1954 Liverpool H 2–0 23,569 Oscroft, Hutton
15 23 October 1954 West Ham United A 0–3 27,200
16 30 October 1954 Blackburn Rovers H 1–1 27,540 Bowyer
17 6 November 1954 Fulham A 2–2 32,000 Bowyer, Oscroft
18 13 November 1954 Swansea Town H 4–1 19,993 Hutton, Malkin, Short (2)
19 27 November 1954 Derby County H 3–1 18,055 Bowyer (2), Oscroft
20 4 December 1954 Bristol Rovers A 1–1 21,240 McCue
21 11 December 1954 Plymouth Argyle H 3–1 17,397 Bowyer, King (2)
22 18 December 1954 Birmingham City A 0–2 22,100
23 25 December 1954 Bury H 3–2 18,312 King (3)
24 27 December 1954 Bury A 1–1 24,091 King
25 1 January 1955 Middlesbrough H 1–2 19,272 Harris (o.g.)
26 5 February 1955 Luton Town H 0–0 21,156
27 12 February 1955 Hull City A 1–1 10,165 Oscroft
28 19 February 1955 Lincoln City H 4–2 12,363 Bowyer (3), King
29 5 March 1955 Liverpool A 4–2 35,635 King (2), Oscroft, Malkin
30 12 March 1955 West Ham United H 0–2 20,496
31 19 March 1955 Blackburn Rovers A 0–2 27,200
32 26 March 1955 Fulham H 1–1 7,050 Oscroft
33 28 March 1955 Notts County H 3–0 8,171 Oscroft (2), Finney
34 2 April 1955 Swansea Town A 5–3 12,534 Oscroft (2), Finney, Bowyer, King
35 9 April 1955 Doncaster Rovers H 3–0 20,259 Oscroft, Bowyer, King
36 11 April 1955 Ipswich Town H 3–0 20,551 Oscroft, Bowyer, Malkin
37 16 April 1955 Derby County A 2–1 12,584 Finney, King
38 18 April 1955 Rotherham United A 1–2 19,888 Bowyer
39 20 April 1955 Doncaster Rovers A 1–1 9,857 Malkin
40 23 April 1955 Bristol Rovers H 2–0 18,139 Oscroft, Finney
41 25 April 1955 Port Vale A 1–0 40,066 Bowyer
42 30 April 1955 Plymouth Argyle A 0–2 23,844

FA Cup

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Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
R3 8 January 1955 Bury A 1–1 20,227 King
R3 Replay 12 January 1955 Bury H 1–1 (aet) 13,352 Ratcliffe
R3 Second Replay 17 January 1955 Bury N 3–3 (aet) 2,469 Bowyer (2), King
R3 Third Replay 19 January 1955 Bury N 2–2 (aet) 9,881 Ratcliffe, King
R3 Fourth Replay 24 January 1955 Bury N 3–2 (aet) 22,549 Thomson, Coleman (2)
R4 28 January 1955 Swansea Town A 1–3 27,892 Malkin

Squad statistics

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Pos. Name League FA Cup Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
GK   Wilf Hall 1 0 5 0 6 0
GK   Bill Robertson 41 0 1 0 42 0
DF   George Bourne 28 0 6 0 34 0
DF   John McCue 41 1 0 0 41 1
DF   Jack Short 25 2 6 0 31 2
DF   Ken Thomson 41 0 6 1 47 1
MF   Bobby Cairns 18 0 6 0 24 0
MF   Frank Mountford 40 0 3 0 43 0
MF   Alan Martin 3 0 3 0 6 0
MF   John Sellars 38 0 0 0 38 0
FW   Stan Bevans 11 1 0 0 11 1
FW   Frank Bowyer 29 13 6 2 35 15
FW   Neville Coleman 2 0 2 2 4 2
FW   Bill Finney 11 4 4 0 15 4
FW   Colin Hutchinson 6 0 0 0 6 0
FW   Joe Hutton 19 5 0 0 19 5
FW   Johnny King 36 17 6 3 42 20
FW   John Malkin 26 4 5 1 31 5
FW   Harry Oscroft 37 21 1 0 38 21
FW   Don Ratcliffe 6 0 5 2 11 2
FW   Derrick Ward 3 0 1 0 4 0
Own goals 1 0 1

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.