Matchday Memories: On This Day 1940 – Storer’s CCFC Remove Wolves From War Cup!

Harry Storer

On this day (May 11th) in 1940 Football was on a wartime footing. The 1939-40 season had been ended prematurely in September with CCFC having played only three Division Two games (a win and two draws). ‘Gaffer’ Harry Storer remained in charge at CCFC as the football clubs, having resisted being mothballed during hostilities, found themselves playing regionalised football with unpredictable teams and many guest players.

Coventry was fortunate in having many factories geared up for the war effort with a number of pre-war professional footballers from around the country as well as local players using their civilian skills locally.

The Bantams were playing in the Midland Division of the Regional League against wartime reprentatives of such clubs as Birmingham, Leicester City, Luton Town, Northampton Town, Walsall, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers, each played twice home and away. The competition went on into early June and City were doing reasonably well winning as many as they were losing. Crowds were modest being made up mostly of workers and soldiers on leave.

George Lowrie

The clubs were also entered into a League War Cup which had started in April. So far City had knocked out Luton Town 4-2 over two legs (3-0 at Highfield Road and 1-2 at Kenilworth Road) in Round One. Today was the second of two Round Two fixtures against local rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers. A week previously Storer had taken his team the short journey across the West Midlands to Molineux. A crowd of 6,446 was there to watch the match. Wolves had not been beaten at Molineux since October 1939 but nineteen years old centre forward George Lowrie scored both the goals that beat Wolves in the second half (53 & 57 minutes) to give the Bantams (as CCFC were then nicknamed) a 2-0 win to take back to Coventry. George had been signed from Preston North End in June 1939 for the new season and had remained in Coventry after the outbreak of war.

Bobby Davidson

Today’s return game at Highfield Road was watched by a modest crowd of 8,713 and they saw George deliver another brace in a 5-2 victory this time. The other Bantams’ scorers were two Tommys, Davison (also with two) and Crawley. Horace Wright got both of the Wolves’ goals. The extent of the aggregate 7-2 victory over the Wolves was explained in part by the Black Country outfit playing with only ten men in the second half of this game with defender Ray Goddard off the pitch injured (no subs then)!!

Tom Crawley

City were three goals to the good by half-time. George scored first after 28 minutes, followed by one from Bobby Davidson after forty minutes and two minutes from the break Tommy Crawley got his goal.

It only took two minutes into the second period for Wolves’ Horace Wright to reduce the arrears but the Bantams leaders was quickly extended through Davison‘s second (50 minutes) and then George’s second five minutes later. The final goal of the game was from Wolves, Wright completing his brace after 63 minutes.

Storer’s CCFC team that day was exactly the same as for the first Wolves game and lined up:-

Bill Morgan; Vic Astley & Walter Metcalf; Billy Frith, George Mason (c) & Harry Boileau; Les ‘Plum’ Warner, Bobby Davidson, Tommy Crawley, George Lowrie & George Taylor

Billy went on to manage CCFC twice!

CCFC Players reflect on WWII future (09-09-1939)

Major Frank Buckley‘s Wolves lined up with five changes from that beaten at home by the Bantams:-

Alex Scott; John Dowen & Terry Springthorpe; Ray Goddard, Tom Galley & Dennis Thornhill; Fred King, Thomas Burden, Frank Taylor, Horace Wright & Jimmy Mullen         Referee: J.A.Tucker (Nottingham)

Their full back Terry Springthorpe later played for CCFC in 1950-51. Wolves’ full back John Dowen was a wartime guest player from Hull City.

CCFC 1939-40

George Lowrie quickly became a feared goalscorer and eventually a Wales International whilst with CCFC. By the time he left for Newcastle United in March 1948 he had scored 59 goals for us in League and F.A.Cup in 85 appearances post war (not including these Wartime seasons) ! The Bantams went out in the next stage of the War Cup losing 1-0 at home to West Bromwich Albion after extra time (even though they had been reduced to nine men through injury for most of the second half). City also finished third in the Wartime Regional League Midland Division.

Thanks to CCFPA’s Mike Young for sourcing these images.