More on Richard Williams

The third meeting between the two rivals was staged at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, on Monday, 20 March 1893, just five days before the date scheduled for the FA Cup Final. Had this clash also ended in stalemate it would have been necessary to postpone the final, but the Toffeemen had other ideas, taking the lead thanks to an Alan Maxwell strike just before the break. Preston equalized in the second half through one J. Gordon and duly proceeded to lay siege to the Everton goal in a desperate attempt to break the deadlock. However, young Richard Williams between the sticks for Everton was equal to anything and everything which the Preston forwards had to offer, and with only three minutes remaining on the clock before extra time once again beckoned, Everton, in the shape of Alex Latta, broke from defence and won a corner. The ensuing corner‑kick found Paddy Gordon, no relation to the Preston goal scorer, unmarked in the box and he it was who, amid scenes of wild celebration among the hordes of travelling Everton supporters, headed the Toffeemen to victory and the first FA Cup Final appearance in the club’s history. A remarkable reception awaited the Everton players upon their return to their home city, with goalkeeping hero of the hour Richard Williams being carried shoulder high from Exchange Station by jubilant supporters.

He dropped a clanger in the final, mind, cost us the cup, voila

Then, on the hour mark, there occurred the most controversial moment of the clash. Five‑times England international and Wolves captain Harry Allen, a veteran of the 1889 FA Cup Final which the Black Country side had lost 3:0 at the Oval to the Invincibles, Double‑winning Preston North End, lobbed a ball high into the air and towards the Everton goal, and he was the most stunned player on the field of play when Everton’s otherwise faultless young goalkeeper Richard Williams allowed this half‑hearted effort to sail past him and drop into the net. It ultimately transpired that he had lost sight of the ball in mid-flight because he was temporarily blinded by the sun shining into his eyes. The Everton players were outraged, though with the referee rather than the at‑fault Richard Williams, for he had neglected to stop the game when an Everton player about to clear his lines had had the ball unfairly whisked from his feet by a spectator. Wolves had subsequently gained possession and it was from this move that Allen had scored for the Midlanders. Everton’s vociferous protests did not sway the referee and the out‑of‑kilter and disgruntled Toffeemen failed to create anything remotely close to an equalizer during the remaining thirty minutes of the encounter. The Wolves players were mobbed by their ecstatic followers when the final whistle blew, but for Everton this was not the end of the matter. In a fit of pique and bad grace, the club lodged an appeal on the grounds that the crowd conditions had been inappropriate for the purpose of staging a competitive match and demanded that its status should be changed to that of a friendly and that the FA Cup Final should be restaged at a different venue the following week. This line of argument cut no ice whatsoever with a stonewalling Football Association, which countered that Everton should have lodged their objections prior to the commencement of the match and ruled that the result would stand. It was on this rather ignominious note that Everton’s first full‑scale foray into the magic of the FA Cup came to its conclusion. As for Wolverhampton Wanderers, the importance which was attached to their first unexpected triumph in this or any other competition can be gauged by the fact that not only, as the Wolverhampton Wanderers versus Everton programme dating from 22 September 1973 reveals, did all the members of the victorious Wolves team receive a silver replica of the FA Cup from club supremo Sir Alfred Hickman, but also by the fact that one delighted well‑heeled follower even constructed a row of houses in Wolverhampton named Fallowfield Terrace in honour of the club’s achievement, a success which was widely welcomed in press circles given the fact that the Midlanders had fielded eleven Englishmen, whereas the luckless Everton side had featured no fewer than six Scots.