A look back atthe first meeting between Saints and Derby County.

It was back in 1898/99 that Saints first played Derby County, drawing them at home in the 3rd round of the FA Cup, the first FA Cup game to be played at the brand new Dell.

This was perhaps the tie of the round, Saints were the best team South of Birmingham and were in the middle of what would be their third Southern League title winning season in a row, with Portsmouth just a twinkle in the eye of a Royal Artillery Portsmouth side who were about to be thrown out of the league. Saints had also been beaten semi finalists in the previous years FA Cup where they had been beaten in a replay controversially By Nottingham Forest.

Fe their part Derby had been the beaten finalists in the competition the previous year.

The offiial gate for the game on 25th February 1899 was 14,000, although pictures that survive from the game show packed terraces and spectators sitting on the top of the walls behind the terraces, perhaps suggesting that the gate was somewhay larger than was announced.

Tom Nicol wrote his name in the history books as the first Saints player to score in the FA Cup at the Dell but his effort was to no avail as the superstar of the 1890's Steve Bloomer scored for Derby alongside another from MacDonald to ease the Rams through 2-1 and on their way to another final.

Perhaps the man most upset at the result was Saints goalkeeper Jack Robinson, a former Derby player, he had recently been reported to the FA for attempting to lure the Great man Steve Bloomer to the Dell

Although it was disapointment for Saints this season, of course the following year we reached our first FA Cup Final, although sadly we were trounced by Bury.

Photo: Action Images

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