1964 Football League Cup final

1964 Football League Cup Final

Winners' tankard awarded to Graham Cross for winning the 1963–64 Football League Cup
Event	1963–64 Football League Cup
Stoke City Leicester City 3 4
First Leg
Stoke City Leicester City 1 1
Date	15 April 1964
Venue	Victoria Ground, Stoke-on-Trent
Referee	Bill Clements
Attendance	22,309
Second Leg
Leicester City Stoke City 3 2
Date	22 April 1964
Venue	Filbert Street, Leicester
Referee	A Jobling (Morecambe)
Attendance	25,372

The 1964 Football League Cup Final, the fourth to be staged since the competition's inception, was contested between Stoke City and Leicester City, both of the First Division, over two legs. Leicester City won 4–3 on aggregate.^[1]

Match review

First leg

The First leg was played at Stoke City's Victoria Ground and was a very exciting encounter.^[1] Peter Dobing hit the post early on and John Ritchie had a shot brilliantly cleared off the line by John Sjoberg.^[1] After a goalless first half Keith Bebbington broke the deadlock putting Stoke ahead after 62 minutes after Bill Asprey's 30 yard shot was parried by the Leicester 'keeper Gordon Banks, but Bebbington was fastest to the loose ball.^[1] In front of a crowd of 22,309 Stoke went out for a second goal but Leicester's defence held firm and against the run of play they got an equaliser.^[1] A poor clearance from Eric Skeels rebounded off Terry Heath into the path of Dave Gibson who lobbed the ball over Lawrie Leslie and into the unguarded net to set up a winner takes all 2nd leg.^[1]

Second leg

For the Second leg at Filbert Street Stoke manager Tony Waddington had to change his goalkeeper with Leslie out with an ankle injury Bobby Irvine taking his place.^[1] He was unable to prevent Mike Stringfellow from scoring after six minutes following a defensive error.^[1] Stoke hit back and a perfect pass from Jimmy McIlroy cut through the Foxes’ defence and Dennis Viollet levelled the scores.^[1] This put Stoke into the ascendency but then a nasty leg injury to Calvin Palmer saw him stretchered off and thus put Stoke down to 10 men.^[1] Leicester capitalised on the situation and before Palmer was able to get back on the pitch Gibson headed in a Howard Riley corner.^[1] With not long left Stoke pushed forward and left a too big a gap in defence and Dave Gibson made it 3–1.^[1] Stoke to their credit fought on and pulled one back through George Kinnell but it was too late as Leicester won the tie 3–2 giving them a 4–3 aggregate win and with it the League Cup.^[1]

Players and officials

First leg

15 April 1964

Stoke City	1–1	Leicester City
Bebbington 62'	Report	Gibson 79'

Victoria Ground, Stoke-on-Trent

Attendance: 22,309

Referee: W.Clements

1 Lawrie Leslie 2 Bill Asprey 3 Tony Allen 4 Calvin Palmer 5 George Kinnell 6 Eric Skeels (c) 7 Peter Dobing 8 Dennis Viollet 9 John Ritchie 10 Jimmy McIlroy 11 Keith Bebbington Manager: Tony Waddington

1 Gordon Banks 2 John Sjoberg 3 Colin Appleton 4 Max Dougan 5 Ian King 6 Graham Cross 7 Howard Riley 8 Terry Heath 9 Ken Keyworth 10 Dave Gibson 11 Mike Stringfellow (c) Manager: Matt Gillies

Second leg

22 April 1964^[2]

Leicester City	3–2	Stoke City
Stringfellow 6' Gibson 70' Riley 83'	Report	Viollet 46' Kinnell 90'

Filbert Street, Leicester

Attendance: 25,372

Referee: A. Jobling

1 Gordon Banks 2 John Sjoberg 3 Colin Appleton 4 Max Dougan 5 Ian King 6 Graham Cross 7 Howard Riley 8 Richie Norman 9 Ken Keyworth 10 Dave Gibson 11 Mike Stringfellow (c) Manager: Matt Gillies

1 Bobby Irvine 2 Bill Asprey 3 Tony Allen 4 Calvin Palmer 5 George Kinnell 6 Eric Skeels (c) 7 Peter Dobing 8 Dennis Viollet 9 John Ritchie 10 Jimmy McIlroy 11 Keith Bebbington Manager Tony Waddington

Road to the Final

Home teams listed first.

Stoke City Round 2: Scunthorpe United 2–2 Stoke City Replay Stoke City 3–3 Scunthorpe United Second Replay Scunthorpe United 0–1 Stoke City Round 3: Stoke City 3–0 Bolton Wanderers Round 4: Stoke City 2–1 Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic Quarter final: Stoke City 3–2 Rotherham United Semifinal, 1st leg: Stoke City 2–0 Manchester City Semifinal, 2nd leg: Manchester City 1–0 Stoke City Stoke City won 2–1 on aggregate

Leicester City Round 2: Leicester City 2–0 Aldershot Round 3: Tranmere Rovers 1–2 Leicester City Round 4: Leicester City 3–1 Gillingham Quarter final: Norwich City 1–1 Leicester City Replay Leicester City 2–1 (a.e.t) Norwich City Semifinal, 1st leg: Leicester City 4–3 West Ham United Semifinal, 2nd leg: West Ham United 0–2 Leicester City Leicester City won 6–3 on aggregate

References

1. Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.
2. "Former Player Remembers: Howard Riley". www.lcfc.com.

External links

• League Cup 1964 at RSSSF