On the 3rd of May 1958,Bolton Wanderers played Manchester United in an emotionally charged atmosphere at Wembley with a crowd of almost 100,000. Months earlier Manchester United were involved in the Munich Air disaster which meant they could field only four of their players who were involved in the accident. After the accident Jimmy Murphy took over the reigns at Old Trafford as Sir Matt Busby was recovering in the hospital. Largely with a reserve team they made it to the final at Wembley beating Fulham 5-3 in the Semi Final replay. And their run to the final saw them capture the hearts of the nation and almost everyone was rooting for them to win. There was strong public sympathy for a team which lost 8 of its players in the crash. But the final didn’t go to script as Nat Lofthouse inspired Bolton to a fourth FA Cup win,scoring both the goals. The second goal was a highly controversial one as Harry Greg was bundled over the line by Lofthouse. This resulted in a great public debate after the game and was one of the incidents which led to a stricter policy where,no contact with the opposing goalkeeper is allowed.
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