Chelsea and Barrow have indeed met before, but only the once, the occasion being a 3rd Round F.A. Cup Tie at Stamford Bridge on 10th January 1948.
Billy Birrell had arrived as Chelsea manager in April 1939 and had nursed the club throughout the 2nd World War, taking them to two war time cup finals at Wembley in the process. After hostilities ceased he went about the rebuilding of the club and although regarded as one of the shrewdest managers around, Chelsea’s progress in the football league in the early years after the war was just as unspectacular as it had been before. However, he will always be known as the man behind the Tudor Rose project, the name given to the Chelsea Youth set up in 1948.
The 1947-48 season for Chelsea had been something of a slog with the side struggling to put a decent run of results together and they went into the cup tie on the back of a 5-1 defeat against Derby County at the Baseball Ground on 3rd January 1948, a result that had them languishing in 18th place in Division I.
Barrow were formed in 1901 at the Old Drill Hall in the Cumbrian Town and played their first games at the Strawberry Ground before moving to Ainslie Street. They moved to Holker Street in 1909 where they remain to this day.
They played in the Lancashire Combination League where they won the Championship in the 1920-21 season. As a result of this success they were elected as a founder member of Division 3 North for the 1921-22 season.
The 1947-48 campaign had gone quite well for Barrow and after a 1-1 draw away to New Brighton on 3rd January 1948 they occupied 3rd place in the Division 3 North table, just 3pts off the top after 23 games.
Of concern on the day of the 3rd Round Tie was the state of the playing surface at Stamford Bridge as the country was in the midst of the wettest January on record with colder temperatures and snow yet to come.
Despite inclement conditions a very good crowd of 44,336 to witness what on paper looked a total mismatch.
Barrow almost took a shock lead within a minute of the start, but Chelsea went ahead in the 14th minute through Ken Armstrong which calmed the nerves somewhat. Bobby Campbell doubled the lead just after the half hour and it could have been even better had Benny Jones not seen his penalty saved by Alex Roxburgh in the Barrow goal.
The visitors gave a tremendous account of themselves throughout the first hour of the game and at times it was difficult to ascertain who in fact was the superior team.
As often happens in games like this the lower league team began to run out of steam in the heavy conditions. Len Goulden, who along with Tommy Walker had been the standout performers for Chelsea scored in the 68th minute and shortly afterwards, James Bowie added a 4th. With 12 minutes remaining Ken Armstrong rounded things off by scoring his 2nd of the game and Chelsea’s 5th. Final score 5-0.
Team was. H Medhurst, D Winter, S Bathgate, T Walker, J Harris, D Foss, B Campbell, J Bowie, K Armstrong, L Goulden, B Jones.
Scorers; K Armstrong 2, B Campbell, L Goulden, J Bowie.
Att. 44,336.
Despite the harsh scoreline Barrow headed back to Cumbria with a handsome share of the £3,840.00 gate receipts.
Chelsea’s reward was a 4th Round Tie against Manchester City at Maine Road and it was there that the road to Wembley ended as they lost 2-0 after extra-time.
By Paul Waterhouse of Bygone Chelsea
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