By Dave P
January 15 2005

Not having played Chelsea on 15th January I thought I would have a look through some of the early records again for games that were played at home on 15th January. Not having played Chelsea on 15th January I thought I would have a look through some of the early records again for games that were played at home on 15th January. Lets start with the first ever 15th January match which took place in 1887. We were not competing in any league at this time but on the 15th January 1887 we played an East End Cup match against Park. We won the game 2-0 and as is often the case with these early games records are a bit scant. We only know that the scorer of one of the goals was a certain W. Mason of whom we know little.

Moving on a few years to 1898 and only our second season in the Southern League. Our opponents on that day at Northumberland Park were Northfleet who were to become our adopted nursery club in later years. A crowd of 2,00 saw us win the match 4-0 with a hat trick from Billy Joyce and one from James Hartley, a forward who scored 35 goals in 65 games over two seasons with us, we've covered Billy Joyce in this column before. We finished that season in 3rd place in the Southern League behind the champions Southampton and Runners Up Bristol City.

On now to 1914 when on January 15th we entertained Leicester Fosse in an FA Cup 1st Round Replay. The first match at Leicesters ground on the 10th had ended in a remarkable 5-5 draw. Spurs goals coming from Fanny Walden, Billy Minter, James Cantrell and a pair from Bert Bliss. The replay at White Hart Lane was watched by 20,252 and was won by Spurs by the score of 2-0 with Walden and Bliss again on the scoresheet. We lost in the next round 2-1 to Manchester City.

And now on to 1921 and a year very similar in some respects to this season. We had a good side and were challenging for a place in the top 6 in the league (the position we eventually finished) and we faced a London Derby on January 15th. Our opponents at White Hart Lane on that day were however, The Arsenal. We won that day by the score of 2-1 in front of a crowd of 39,221 with the goals coming from James Cantrell and Bert Bliss again. 1921 was of course the chinese year of the cockerel and we went on to lift the FA cup for the second time in our history in addition to the 6th place finish.

Now a London opponent on January 15th, The Year of the Cockerel, an FA cup triumph and a 6th place finish! Would that be too much of a co-incidence to ask for I wonder?