Football League Third Division South Cup#Finals
{{Infobox football tournament
| name = Football League Third Division South Cup
| organiser = Football Association
| founded = 1933
| abolished = {{Start date and age|df=yes|1946}}
| region = {{nowrap|{{flagicon|ENG}} Southern England}}
{{flagicon|WAL}} Wales
| number of teams = 10
| current champions = Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic
(1st title)
| most successful club =
| website =
}}
The Football League Third Division South Cup was a football knockout competition open to teams competing in Football League Third Division South.
The competition was first held in 1933–34 and ran until the 1938–39 season.{{cite web | url=http://www.statto.com/football/stats/england/division-three-south-cup/honours | title=English Division Three South Cup | publisher=Statto | access-date=12 November 2016 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204094305/http://www.statto.com/football/stats/england/division-three-south-cup/honours | archive-date=4 December 2008 }} The cup was revived for the 1945–46 season.{{cite book |last= Rollin |first= Jack |title= Soccer at War 1939–45 |year= 2005 |isbn= 0-7553-1431-X |pages=246, 259}}
Format
The competition was run using a knockout format, with games replayed if level. In the first year the tournament format resulted in 6 first round ties, with the remaining 10 sides joining in the next round to make eight ties.[http://www.statto.com/football/stats/england/division-three-south-cup/1933-1934/results/r2 1933–34 2nd Rnd results, with links to other rounds/seasons – Statto]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=Nzd |fix-attempted=yes }}. In most seasons there were minor changes to the format, resulting in differing numbers of ties in each round. The tournaments featured all 22 teams from Division Three South. In the first two seasons the final was played at a neutral venue, and for the next three seasons the final was two-legged, whilst the final edition was not completed.
The 1945–46 competition started with two cup competitions, the Third Division South (South) Cup and Third Division South (North) Cup. Each cup consisted of 11 teams played on a league basis, although only 16 games were played by each team. The first two places in each cup then contested the semi-finals of a knockout competition.
Finals
| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center" | ||||||
| Season
! Winners ! Result ! Runner-up ! Venue ! Att. ! Notes | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1933–34 | Exeter City | 1–0 | Torquay United | Home Park | 6,198 | |
| 1934–35 | Bristol Rovers | 3–2 | Watford | The Den | 5,294 | |
| rowspan=3|1935–36 | Swindon Town | 0–2 | Coventry City | County Ground | 3,610 | First Leg |
| Coventry City | 3–2 | Swindon Town | Highfield Road | 2,077 | Second Leg | |
| colspan=6|Coventry City won 5–2 on aggregate. | ||||||
| rowspan=3|1936–37 | Watford | 2–2 | Millwall | Vicarage Road | 2,714 | First Leg |
| Millwall | 1–1 | Watford | The Den | 3,368 | Second Leg | |
| colspan=6|Match drawn 3–3 on aggregate. Trophy shared. | ||||||
| rowspan=3|1937–38 | Reading | 6–1 | Bristol City | Elm Park | 1,097 | First Leg |
| Bristol City | 1–0 | Reading | Ashton Gate | 718 | Second Leg | |
| colspan=6|Reading won 6–2 on aggregate. | ||||||
| 1938–39 | colspan="6"|Semi-final replay between Queens Park Rangers and Port Vale not played. Torquay United were in the final. | |||||
| 1945–46 | Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic | 1–0 | Walsall |
=Venues=
The 1933–34 final was held at Home Park, Plymouth on 2 May 1934.{{cite web|title=Rare pre-war football medal to raise £350 at auction|url=http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/news/Rare-medal-raise-163-350-auction/article-2844623-detail/article.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120912192835/http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/news/Rare-medal-raise-163-350-auction/article-2844623-detail/article.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 September 2012|publisher=This is Cornwall|access-date=27 November 2010|date=6 November 2010}}
The 1945–46 final was held at Stamford Bridge, London.