AS Wanderers have been drawn to meet West Ham in the fifth round of the FA Cup on the weekend of February 18, Bill Allen recalls a famous meeting decades ago which has entered competition folklore . . .

FA Cup Final day, April 28, 1923, began in bright spring sunshine with top-hatted VIPs lining up alongside King George V to celebrate the opening of Wembley Stadium - and ended in triumph and celebration for winners Bolton Wanderers.

But it was the events in-between which gave this game its most memorable images.

Scratchy newsreel film and grainy black and white photos captured the moment when upwards of 70,000 fans invaded the pitch, surrounding the players and officials -threatening to force the abandonment of the game.

The ground had been built with a capacity of 126,000, but no-one had anticipated just how popular this historic game would be and officials were taken completely by surprise as more and more supporters arrived outside the ground. Some estimated that 500,000 fans were present.

At 2pm the gates were closed to all but ticket-holders, but in the next hour numbers continued to grow outside, and when a large exit gate was forced open, thousands rushed inside.

By this time all the seats in the stadium were filled and the two captains - Joe Smith of Bolton and West Ham's George Kay - were poised to start the game. A few supporters clambered on to walls and squeezed into seats already paid for, but as surrounding fences collapsed there was nowhere to safely assemble but out on the pitch.

The players appealed to fans to let them get the match underway. A handful of police officers fought a losing battle to get the crowd back on to the surrounding cinder track before, eventually, mounted reinforcements were called in.

Among them was Billy, a giant white police horse whose presence at the centre of the milling crowds dominated the black and white news pictures of a dramatic day and who has become a legendary figure in FA Cup history. Because of that iconic image, 1923 would always be known as 'The White Horse Final'. A footbridge at the new Wembley is to be named after him.