SANDY YOUNG is the toast of Goodison Park after his goal against Newcastle ensured the FA Cup has come to Merseyside for the first time.

It was a case of third time lucky for Everton who had lost their previous two finals – 1-0 to Wolverhampton Wanderers at Fallowfield, Manchester. in 1893 and 3-2 here at the Crystal Palace to Aston Villa four years later.

The victory also completed a ‘double’ for the city with Liverpool – whom Everton defeated in their semi-final at Villa Park – being crowned League Champions for the second time.

Indeed, Liverpool chairman John McKenna and the rest of the Anfield directors were present at the platform of Central Station to greet their neighbours on their triumphant return from the capital such is the feeling of civic pride this achievement has produced.

Everton made their way back to Merseyside in a leisurely fashion after their success, travelling via Sheffield where their understandably jaded players went down 3-1 to The Wednesday in their last away fixture of the campaign 48 hours after their game in London.

After the final, the players had dined at the Charterhouse Square Hotel and when the meal and various congratulatory speeches had been made they left for the Alhambra.

The following day they visited King Henry VIII’s country retreat Hampton Court and later dined with the Newcastle United team.

The jubilant party eventually made it back to Liverpool on Wednesday night with their train pulling into Central Station at 8.20pm.

The officials and players then went a tour of the city, taking in Church Street, Whitechapel, Scotland Road and Walton Road before arriving at Goodison Park.

Newcastle – who had also been beaten in last season’s FA Cup final 2-0 to Aston Villa in front of more than 100,000 at Crystal Palace to deny them a League and Cup double – were hot favourites to go one better this time.

The Magpies had finished in fourth position in the First Division table – seven places above Everton who, having been runners-up to their opponents at the summit 12 months earlier had dropped into the bottom half of the table, lying 11th.

Although the crowd for the final did not match the six-figures of the previous year, many supporters still made the long journey south from both Merseyside and Tyneside in the hope of seeing their club lift football’s oldest trophy for the first time.

So keen were the respective protagonists to have their star turns available for the big day that both Everton and Newcastle were fined by the FA for naming ‘weakened teams’ in their First Division fixtures the previous weekend.

The first half was a cautious affair, with both sides failing to convert chances as the forwards seemed to be suffering from stage fright. The contest was failing to live up to expectations as the two rivals battled for supremacy in the centre of the park.

In the days running up to the match, Newcastle’s much vaunted half-back line had promised to make mincemeat out of the Goodison forwards, but while clear-cut chances were few, Evertonians knew that with canny marksmen such as Sandy Young and Jimmy Settle in their side they would remain in with a shout.

It was Settle who saw a fierce header saved by Lawrence a quarter of an hour in but generally the clinical finishing which had been Everton’s key to their success in previous rounds, seemed to have deserted them on the big day.

Newcastle were also restricted to two half-chances, neither of which tested Everton’s Ulsterman custodian Billy Scott.

Eight minutes into the second half, by which time Everton were in total command, the deadlock appeared to have been broken when Newcastle’s Scottish keeper, Jimmy Lawrence, failed to hold a Jack Sharp cross. Settle passed the ball across to Young and he turned the ball home – only to be ruled offside.

Frustrated at the prospect of successive Cup final defeats Newcastle started to become overly physical and referee Fred Kirkham was forced to stop the game in order to warn the Magpies about their ungentlemanly conduct. Everton were again in the ascendancy and it was not long before the telling goal came.

With only 13 minutes left, skipper Jack Taylor, the sole survivor of Everton’s previous Cup final appearance, found Sharp who evaded two lunging tackles by United defenders before sending in a low centre to Young.

This time there was no linesman’s flag as Young fired beyond Lawrence and the great glass house was shook almost to its foundations with a mighty tremor reminiscent of the great earthquake that had destroyed the Californian city of San Francisco just three days earlier. Thankfully on this occasion, the only casualty was Newcastle’s pride.