On This Day In Arsenal's History

On This Day In 1985 they were back at the Victoria Ground. This time while Arsenal again failed to score, Stoke City did and it ended 2-0 to the Potters. 

This match was a final senior appearance for Raphael Meade. 

The Islington born centre forward had joined as a trainee in 1978. All in all he played 51 times, scoring 16 goals before he left to join Sporting Club de Portugal later in the year.

On This Day In 2013 Arsenal got a 4-1 win over Reading at the Emirates.

The goals came from Gervinho, Santi Cazorla, Olivier Giroud and Mikel Arteta.

Reading must have been glad to see the back of Arsenal that season as over the two league matches and a Carling Cup match the Gunners had scored sixteen goals against them

Early Days

On this day in 1888 Royal Arsenal played it's first ever match at Manor Field. Millwall Rovers were at what was then known simply as Mr Cavey's Field for a friendly. After J.A. Morris scored twice and Brown also found the back of the goal it ended 3-0 to the Royals.

In 1889 on this date Royal Arsenal achieved their highest win thus far when they beat a team from the Royal Artillery. Tomes scored, Humphrey Barbour and William Scott got two each while John Charteris hit four in a 9-0 win against the army side.

Royal Arsenal were visited in Plumstead by a Scottish team today in 1891 when Heart of Midlothian turned up for a friendly fixture. David Howat scored but the team from north of the border won the match 1-5. Arsenal secured a 10,000 crowd for a 2nd time, and this figure was a significant factor in the discussions about the club becoming professional.

On this date in 1894 Joseph Toner was born in Castlewellan in Northern Ireland. Joe joined Arsenal in 1919 from Belfast United. The left winger notched up precisely 100 appearances and scored 6 goals in his seven year stay. He went to Scotland in 1926 and joined St Johnstone but he suffered a broken leg which ultimately ended his career prematurely.

Today in 1895, loosely speaking was the first ever meeting between Arsenal and Manchester United. Officially Newton Heath were at the Manor Ground (just re-opened after being closed due to crowd disturbances) to play Woolwich Arsenal. Peter Mortimer, Gavin Crawford and Bob Buchanan all scored to edge a 3-2 win over the team from Salford.