There had been some hopes that this game would be the first final (or first major game for that matter) to use goal nets although these failed to materialise. The Rovers team that day was Pennington, Brandon, Forbes (captain), Barton, Dewar, Forrest, Lofthouse, Walton, Jack Southworth, Hall and Townley. County started the game well and looked confident but after eight minutes they were shocked after a Lofthouse throw in was followed by a goalmouth scramble and the centre half Dewar opened the scoring for Rovers. For the next ten or so minutes County had plenty of possession but didn’t seem able to convert it into any decent chances and when Southworth finished a fast paced counter attack to make it 2-0 they must have regretted trying to walk the ball into the net. The hero of the previous final, Billy Townley, couldn’t manage a hat trick this year but did head the third to make the half time score 3-0 to Rovers. The Nottingham side did pull back one in the second half and frantically strove for a second but for no avail and the score had finished 3-1 in front of 23,000 or so at a packed Kennington Oval. It was to be the fifth success for Rovers at the ground yet they wouldn’t play there again.

Five FA Cups in eight years wouldn’t be equalled again and it meant they were now equal with The Wanderers in numbers of cups won. Jimmy Forrest also equalled a record, with his fifth winners’ medal, a feat that has still to be bettered. It was to be the end of the heyday of Rovers the all-conquering FA Cup team. There would be another victory to come but after winning five out of eight, just one win in the next century and more would seem a poor return.

If I was pompous I’d say that this was a definitive fin de siecle in the progression of the Rovers (end of period) but as this is about football I’ll belt up with that kind of talk. Instead of it was just the beginning of Rovers as what they were. They would have many decades of top flight football to come but actual success in the cup would be a thing of the past. With their new ground at Ewood Park and attendances on the increase there seemed much to look forward to. However, in a repeat of the last time they stopped winning trophies, it ended with a bump rather than at a gradual pace. Mediocrity would soon be the order of the day...