It was in the 15 or so years immediately after the Second World War that the Cottagers enjoyed their best spell in the Cup. Between 1946 and 1962, they reached the semi finals twice and twice more made it to the last eight. In addition, they also played what is generally regarded as the finest game ever seen at the Cottage – the Newcastle Cup tie in 1956. Although ultimately disappointing, the Cup was a rich source of high drama and epic matches.
In 1947-8, for the sixth time in their history, Fulham battled through to the quarter finals. A comfortable 2-0 home win in Round Three over Doncaster was followed by a convincing 5-2 success over Bristol Rovers, again at the Cottage.
Arthur Stevens, Fulham's highest-ever Cup scorer, got off the mark with a hat-trick in this tie, but the promised overcoat from director Tommy Trinder apparently never materialised.
The real story of this Cup run, however, was the Fifth Round clash with mighty Everton, the second of the trilogy of great ties with the Toffees. When the game at the Cottage ended 1-1, it was assumed that Fulham had missed their best chance, but at Goodison, they pulled off a remarkable win. The 71,587 crowd (still the largest to see Fulham play at a club ground) saw the Cottagers' defence, brilliantly marshalled by Jim Taylor, hold the home attack before Bob Thomas scored a late winner for the visitors.
They could even afford to miss a penalty and not worry. Although Fulham had home advantage in the Sixth Round against Blackpool, they were hampered by an injury to full back Harry Freeman, which left them with virtually ten men for all but the first 15 minutes. The Seasiders, with Mortensen and Matthews in their line-up, won 2-0.
Just three years later, and another quarter final appearance, again against Blackpool and again a defeat. This time, however, the tie was played at Bloomfield Road and the score was only 1-0, a penalty awarded when Joe Bacuzzi handled a shot most people thought was going wide. On the way, the Cottagers had beaten fellow First Division club Sheffield Wednesday and London neighbours Millwall.
The big tie was the Fifth Round meeting with Chelsea, the third in the Cup in 10 seasons. Almost 70,000 packed into the Bridge to see a 1-1 draw, but Fulham made no mistake in the replay, beating a poor Chelsea side 3-0.
By 1958, Fulham were back in Division Two, but mounting a real promotion challenge when the Cup trail began. After a gentle opening against non-League Yeovil, which was comfortably won 4-0, the Cottagers next faced two of their London promotion rivals in Rounds Four and Five.
It took a replay to dispose of Charlton at the Valley and West Ham were accounted for in a five-goal thriller at Upton Park. Haynes' late winner settled a tie that both sides led at some stage. In the quarter finals, Fulham continued to avoid top-flight opposition, and Bristol Rovers were swept aside in front of another 40,000+ crowd at the Cottage.
Few semi finals in the history of the FA Cup have been as emotionally charged as Fulham's meeting with Manchester United at Villa Park in March 1958. Coming less than two months after the Munich Disaster, most of the 70,000 crowd were sympathetic to United.
The match was a classic. United took an early lead but Stevens and Hill put Fulham ahead before Charlton equalised on the stroke of half time when the Cottagers were down to ten men. There were no more goals after the break, and so it was to Highbury on a Wednesday afternoon for the replay.
This was another thriller, with eight goals (five for United), a ninth (for Fulham) disallowed and the result in doubt until the last minute. Perhaps United shaded the replay, but over 180 minutes Fulham did not deserve to suffer their third semi final Cup defeat. To rub salt into the wounds, the consequent League fixture pile-up cost them a promotion place.
It was a similar story four years later, when First Division Fulham again fell at the penultimate hurdle. They had the luck of the draw in the early rounds, being paired with three lower level clubs at home, Hartlepools, Walsall and Port Vale. Fulham were struggling in the League at the time and they made hard work of all three ties before welcoming First Division Blackburn to the Cottage in Round Six.
When Rovers went two goals ahead, it looked all over, but the home side came back to level the scores and a Maurice Cook goal won the replay at Ewood Park. Burnley, League championship challengers, were the semi final opponents at Villa Park. From the start, Fulham took the game to the Clarets and were worth the lead they were given by Graham Leggat.
They could have had the match settled by half time but then allowed Burnley to equalise after the interval. A poor refereeing decision denied Fulham an obvious penalty 15 minutes from time and so it went to replay, on a Monday evening at Filbert Street. The Cottagers could not raise their game a second time, and they lost their fourth semi final, a new record, by 1-2.
Between the Blackpool quarter final of 1951 and the Manchester United semi final of 1958 was the Cup-tie which is still regarded as the most memorable game ever seen at the Cottage. Even in 1998, over 40 years later, it was the subject of a one-hour radio programme.
First Division Newcastle travelled to west London for the Fourth Round match as Cup holders and when they took a 3-0 lead early in the first half, it looked as though they would stroll through.
Then Tosh Chamberlain, making his Cup debut, intervened. His hat-trick levelled the scores and three minutes later, Hill put Fulham ahead. Chamberlain had what appeared to be a good fourth goal mysteriously disallowed by a young Jack Taylor on the line. With 10 minutes left, United stormed back, inspired by left winger Bobby Mitchell whose teasing crosses tormented goalkeeper Ian Black and set up two goals for Vic Keeble. At the final whistle, it was 5-4 to Newcastle but for the 39,200 crowd, there were no losers.