.
And guess what – we drew 1-1 in front of a crowd of 20,000. Wholly unexpected, but a point is a point, (especially in the days of only two points for a win) and it kept us out of the relegation zone.
As I mentioned before, Woolwich Arsenal had to play on Good Friday (25 March), the saturday and Easter Monday that year – but this was not so for every club, and indeed the notion that all the matches should be played together was non-existent.
This season, for example, Arsenal ended up with no game on the last day of the season.
The most common reason for this were postponements earlier in the season due to the FA Cup matches or bad weather. Fog was far more prevalent in cities than in the 21st century, and with no floodlights to pierce the gloom, matches could easily end simply because no one could see the ball.
Woolwich Arsenal had one game abandoned in the 1909/1910 season – due to fog – a match at home to Aston Villa originally down for 6 September. That game was now scheduled for April 11.
So after the win against Bradford, there was some hope – and the last nine games could now be viewed as mid-table form – 3 wins, 3 draws, 3 defeats.
The total lack of goals however was a worry. We had not scored more than one goal since January, when we beat bottom club Bolton 2-0 and next to bottom club Middlesbrough 3-0. Leaving those two games aside (on the grounds that they were fairly awful teams) the last time we got more than one goal was in that crazy game at the start of December away to Preston NE when Woolwich Arsenal got four.
So seven games to go – with the next one up tomorrow against The Wednesday. at home.
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You can read about the whole year of 1910 in “Making the Arsenal” which tells the tale of Arsenal’s demise, the administration, the takeover by Fulham, and the rise again to form a new club – all through the eyes of a Fleet Street journalist.
For more news on Arsenal day by day please visit Untold Arsenal
