Although Arsenal won silverware in the 1935/36 season, defeating Sheffield United 1-0 in the FA Cup final, there’s no question that the most famous match of the campaign came at Aston Villa on December 14 in front of 58,469 disbelieving supporters.
George Allison’s team ran out 7-1 winners, with bullish striker Ted Drake scoring all seven of our goals. He'd notched a hat-trick by half-time, and fortunately, Movietone cameras were present and correct in Birmingham to capture several of the goals, reflecting the striker’s raw power, speed, accuracy and poacher’s instinct.
As the match approached, such a remarkable haul appeared unlikely. Drake had an ongoing knee injury which saw him ruled out of 16 league matches that season. Before kick-off, he had tripped up on the perimeter track whilst warming up, cutting his arm and needing assistance from the Arsenal medic.
Added to that, Drake’s form had, in his own words, been ‘patchy’ that season, and Alex James, the Scottish playmaker who set up many of Drake’s goals, was also missing from our line-up. It’s also worth noting that struggling Villa had invested heavily in the weeks leading up to the match, signing six players from across Great Britain, earning them the nickname ‘The Bank of England Club.’
But none of that mattered once the game started. Drake completely dominated the match from start to finish, with his goals coming in the 15th, 28th, 34th, 46th, 50th, 58th and 89th minutes.
The former gas fitter notched his first two goals in the 15th and 28th minutes, courtesy of long passes from Pat Beasley and Cliff Bastin. A third arrived on 34 minutes following a rebound in the Villa penalty area, while a defensive error by Tommy Griffiths enabled Drake to snaffle a fourth straight after half-time.
Bastin set up two more of his goals in the 50th and 58th minutes, and another Villa defensive error saw Drake complete his remarkable haul with a minute remaining. Manager George Allison wasn't at the match due to illness. When trainer Tom Whittaker phoned Allison to tell him the result, Allison asked who scored. 'Drake,' Whittaker replied.
Ironically, when I spoke to Drake in the early 1990s, his main memory was of an eighth goal that never was. “I smacked the ball really hard and it hit the bar and bounced down. I think it was over the line but the referee disagreed.” The official George Reeder, who’d played alongside Drake at Southampton, is alleged to have said: ‘Cor blimey Ted, you’ve got seven already.’
The striker remained remarkably modest about the match. “Honestly, I was very lucky that day,” he told me. “It’s the kind of day that any striker dreams of, where your teammates put chance after chance on a plate for you. And although what happened was – I suppose – noteworthy, I look back with only casual interest because we didn’t win the league that season.”
The Gunners would end up in sixth place but could take some solace with their cup success. Ironically, Drake’s seven-goal haul – a Football League record – remained intact for just 12 days, when Tranmere Rovers’ Bunny Bell plundered nine goals against Oldham Athletic in the Third Division North. Drake’s record remains a top-flight record, however.
Unfortunately for Villa, Drake hadn’t finished wreaking havoc upon them. Restored to partial fitness towards the end of the season, he scored the winner at Highbury in a 1-0 Arsenal victory, which virtually consigned Villa to relegation from the top-flight.
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