Spireites retro: How Chesterfield's 1950 FA Cup adventure was ended by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge

The Londonders were forced to return 3,000 of their 7,000 allocation for the FA Cup fifth round clash at Saltergate.

Back on 11th February 1950, a crowd of 28,864 packed into Saltergate to see an eagerly-awaited contest which ended in a 1-1 stalemate.

A colour clash of blue shirts meant Chelsea had to adopt white shirts following the toss of a coin with the opposition.

The kit toss, to decide which side had the right to wear red, was won by Chesterfield boss Bob Marshall after he attended the Chelsea v Stoke City match the weekend before.

Chesterfield had worn their red shirts in four previous away games that season.

Spireites followed their usual training pattern in the build up to the big game, including a round of golf in Matlock.

Chesterfield, who had beaten Middlesbrough in the previous round, were able to field the full strength team of Middleton, Milburn, Capet, Southall, Booker, Halton, Cestelio, Thompson, Marron, McJarron and Dale.

The white shirts were also worn in this replay and were borrowed from Fulham, complete with Fulham's club crest.

Sadly it didn’t go the way of the Derbyshire side, with Chelsea winning 3-0 three days later in front of 59,660 fans. A second half brace from Roy Bentley and a Hugh Billington goal doing the damage.

Chesterfield will always have their place in Chelsea history, however, after becoming the first team ever to beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, on 21 October 1905 in Division Two.

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