1948
Saturday, 19 March 1949
Surrey Senior Cup - Semi-Final
 
Wimbledon
Vic Bird, Freddie Gauntlett, Harry Stannard
3 - 1
Woking
?
At Dulwich Hamlet. After Extra Time. 1-1 after 90 minutes.

Aspecial train took the visiting fans to Champion Hill to see their favourites attempt to reach the final of the Surrey Senior Cup for the first time since winning the emergency Wartime competition in 1939/40. Ken Twigg carried on where he’d left off in the previous game on the wing, with Jack Wallis, having finally recovered from injury, replacing Billy Laws alongside him.

The first half was a nervy affair, which combined with the hard ground meant the ball was often sent hard and high and neither side made much headway. Woking, on the back of five consecutive Isthmian League wins, including victory on the same ground the previous week, has the first chance, but centre-forward Wiles had strayed offside before putting the ball in the net. Harry Stannard then hit the post with a shot that the keeper misjudged; then Jim Haydock did well to turn over the rebound from a free-kick on the edge of the area and Pink should have opened the scoring for Woking when he broke clean through, but he steered the ball wide of both Haydock and the post, hence the teams turned around without any score.

Sailing against the wind in the second-half the Dons found a bit more control to their game and Stannard’s wizardry soon set Twigg free on the wing, his cross found Vic Bird and his fine header put Wimbledon in front. Woking’s disputed equaliser came from a corner that resulted in a melee in the area, it fell to Pink on the blind-side of the referee and he punched the ball in. There was whistling from the crowd and vehement protests from the Wimbledon players, but the official allowed the goal to stand.

It came good for Wimbledon in extra time. Stannard delighted the crowd, putting them in the lead by hooking the ball over his shoulder and into the net and Freddie Gauntlett sealed it soon after, latching on to Stannard’s pass and having no difficulty finding the net for his nineteenth goal in fifteen games.