# 1902–03 Stoke F.C. season

The 1902–03 season was Stoke's 14th season in the Football League.
After two seasons of narrow escapes the 1902–03 season provided Stoke fans a welcome relief as they finished in sixth place and could have won the league but failed to win their last four fixtures.

## Season review
### League

After a couple of desolate campaigns it did seem that the 1902–03 season would, bring some progress as the club attempted to build on a somewhat poor defence. A fine half-back was now taking shape with Tom Holford flanked by local players George Baddeley and James Bradley. This trio played together 74 times for Stoke at senior level and became a formidable midfield three. But perhaps the most significant signing at this time was that of 27-year-old inside-left Arthur Capes signed from Nottingham Forest. He became captain of the side and provided a useful number of goals for Stoke in his two seasons with the club. The directors also visited Scotland, again to sign Jack Forrest from Motherwell but after scoring twice on his debut against Wolverhampton Wanderers he was unable to settle in the Potteries and left for Bradford.
An ultimate sixth-place finish in the table does not exaggerate the work put in by both Cowlishaw and Austerberry for this was Stoke's best season so far in League football. In fact after a hard fought 0–0 away at Sunderland on Good Friday, Stoke were lying fourth and had a mathematical chance of taking the title. But they only won one of their remaining four games allowing Sheffield Wednesday to win the league.

### FA Cup

In the FA Cup Stoke accounted for Glossop and Nottingham Forest before bowing out 3–0 to Derby County.

## Final league table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts |
| 4 | Sheffield United | 34 | 17 | 5 | 12 | 58 | 44 | 1.318 | 39 |
| 5 | Liverpool | 34 | 17 | 4 | 13 | 68 | 49 | 1.388 | 38 |
| 6 | Stoke | 34 | 15 | 7 | 12 | 46 | 38 | 1.211 | 37 |
| 7 | West Bromwich Albion | 34 | 16 | 4 | 14 | 54 | 53 | 1.019 | 36 |
| 8 | Bury | 34 | 16 | 3 | 15 | 54 | 43 | 1.256 | 35 |

## Results

Stoke's score comes first

### Legend

| Win | Draw | Loss |

### Football League First Division

| Match | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 1 | 6 September 1902 | Newcastle United | A | 0–5 | 15,000 | |
| 2 | 13 September 1902 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | H | 3–0 | 10,000 | Forrest (2), Higginson |
| 3 | 15 September 1902 | Notts County | H | 0–2 | 8,000 | |
| 4 | 20 September 1902 | Liverpool | A | 1–1 | 10,000 | Forrest |
| 5 | 27 September 1902 | Sheffield United | H | 0–1 | 10,000 | |
| 6 | 4 October 1902 | Grimsby Town | A | 2–2 | 5,000 | Watkins, Capes |
| 7 | 11 October 1902 | Aston Villa | H | 1–0 | 10,000 | Watkins |
| 8 | 18 October 1902 | Nottingham Forest | A | 3–1 | 8,000 | Watkins, Capes, Whitehouse |
| 9 | 25 October 1902 | Bury | H | 1–0 | 12,000 | Watkins |
| 10 | 1 November 1902 | Blackburn Rovers | A | 1–1 | 3,000 | Holford |
| 11 | 8 November 1902 | Sunderland | H | 1–1 | 7,000 | Baddeley |
| 12 | 15 November 1902 | Derby County | H | 2–0 | 7,000 | Watkins (2) |
| 13 | 22 November 1902 | Everton | A | 1–0 | 18,000 | Whitehouse |
| 14 | 29 November 1902 | The Wednesday | H | 4–0 | 15,000 | Whitehouse, Bradley, Watkins, Johnson |
| 15 | 6 December 1902 | West Bromwich Albion | A | 1–2 | 11,235 | Bradley |
| 16 | 20 December 1902 | Bolton Wanderers | A | 3–2 | 5,000 | Whitehouse (3) |
| 17 | 25 December 1902 | Bury | A | 1–2 | 4,000 | Watkins |
| 18 | 26 December 1902 | Blackburn Rovers | H | 0–2 | 10,000 | |
| 19 | 27 December 1902 | Middlesbrough | H | 0–2 | 6,000 | |
| 20 | 3 January 1903 | Newcastle United | H | 5–0 | 8,000 | Watkins, Capes, Lockett (2), Baddeley |
| 21 | 10 January 1903 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | A | 0–1 | 6,000 | |
| 22 | 17 January 1903 | Liverpool | H | 1–0 | 7,000 | Johnson |
| 23 | 24 January 1903 | Sheffield United | A | 3–1 | 12,000 | Watkins, Capes, Whitehouse |
| 24 | 31 January 1903 | Grimsby Town | H | 1–1 | 10,000 | Capes |
| 25 | 14 February 1903 | Nottingham Forest | H | 3–2 | 8,000 | Capes, Watkins, Higginson |
| 26 | 14 March 1903 | Derby County | A | 0–2 | 6,000 | |
| 27 | 21 March 1903 | Everton | H | 2–0 | 6,000 | Higginson, Holford |
| 28 | 28 March 1903 | The Wednesday | A | 0–1 | 7,000 | |
| 29 | 4 April 1903 | West Bromwich Albion | H | 3–0 | 5,500 | Higginson, Watkins, Whitehouse |
| 30 | 10 April 1903 | Sunderland | A | 0–0 | 20,000 | |
| 31 | 11 April 1903 | Notts County | A | 0–3 | 7,000 | |
| 32 | 13 April 1903 | Aston Villa | A | 0–2 | 10,000 | |
| 33 | 18 April 1903 | Bolton Wanderers | H | 2–0 | 5,000 | Capes, Harris |
| 34 | 25 April 1903 | Middlesbrough | A | 1–1 | 10,000 | Harris |

### FA Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| R1 | 7 February 1903 | Glossop | A | 3–2 | 2,000 | Watkins, Whitehouse, Capes |
| R2 | 21 February 1903 | Nottingham Forest | H | 0–0 | 25,000 | |
| R2 Replay | 26 February 1903 | Nottingham Forest | A | 2–0 | 24,850 | Capes, Baddeley |
| R3 | 7 March 1903 | Derby County | A | 0–3 | 16,00 | |

## Squad statistics

| Pos. | Name | League | League | FA Cup | FA Cup | Total | Total |
| Pos. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| GK | Leigh Richmond Roose | 25 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 28 | 0 |
| GK | Herbert Salt | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| GK | Tom Wilkes | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| FB | Harry Benson | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| FB | Charlie Burgess | 31 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 35 | 0 |
| FB | Bill Capewell | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| FB | Andy Clark | 18 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 22 | 0 |
| FB | Arthur Hartshorne | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| FB | Sam Meredith | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| FB | Herbert Smith | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| HB | Samuel Ashworth | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| HB | George Baddeley | 30 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 33 | 3 |
| HB | James Bradley | 29 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 33 | 2 |
| HB | Ted Holdcroft | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| HB | Tom Holford | 33 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 37 | 2 |
| HB | Albert Sturgess | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| HB | Sam Whittingham | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | Arthur Bridgett | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| FW | Arthur Capes | 32 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 36 | 9 |
| FW | Jack Forrest | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 |
| FW | George Harris | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 |
| FW | Sam Higginson | 12 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 4 |
| FW | Freddie Johnson | 23 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 24 | 2 |
| FW | Arthur Lockett | 22 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 26 | 2 |
| FW | Ben Prosser | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| FW | Mart Watkins | 29 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 33 | 13 |
| FW | Frank Whitehouse | 29 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 33 | 9 |