This qualified it for an end-of-season "test match" against Preston North End to decide which team would participate in the First Division the following season.

In the FA Cup, Notts County beat three First Division teams in the first four rounds to reach the final for the second time in the club's history.

The team faced a fourth First Division club, Bolton Wanderers, in the final, played at Everton's Goodison Park.

The salaries of the players were raised in the wake of this success;[2] one writer in the Nottingham Evening News later suggested that only Everton and Sunderland had spent more on wages than Notts.

"[8] The Derby Mercury suggested that Notts County might favour local football ahead of the Second Division:If it is decided that Notts are to be out in the cold it is pretty certain that they will run a purely local team next season, for they will be totally unable to pay the present high weekly wage bill with the class of matches they will be likely to obtain under those circumstances.

[12] At the same meeting, Notts declined to join the Second Division,[13] with officials saying that the club's committee first needed to approve the team's participation.

[15] At the same meeting, club officials confirmed they had secured the signings of eleven players for the new season, of whom George Toone, Alf Shelton, David Calderhead and Harry Walkerdine were named.

[15][a] These players (with the exception of Walkerdine) featured in a practice match played at the Castle Ground on 15 August, alongside Charlie Bramley, Sam Donnelly, Jack Hendry, George Kerr and Arthur Watson.

Dan Bruce, Harry Dixon and Archie Osborne had also signed for Notts by this point, though they were unavailable to play in the practice match.

[20] Two away wins followed, at Northwich Victoria and Rotherham Town,[16] before Notts played their first home match at their usual venue of Trent Bridge, a 1–1 draw with Liverpool.

[30] Notts returned to the north east of England the following week, and the resulting 0–0 draw with Ironopolis left the team in fourth place.

[33] Notts then defeated Walsall Town Swifts 2–0 at home in driving wind and rain, leaving the team in third place with 29 points from 21 matches.

[34] In their first match of February, Notts played second place Small Health at Trent Bridge, and they were able to reduce the gap on their opponent to one point with a 3–1 win.

[35] The team's next league match was also at Trent Bridge, a 9–1 win over Crewe played "with sleet and rain falling almost perpendicularly down" and the players "ploughing through inches deep of slush".

The conditions meant "even the most ardent enthusiasts shirked the game",[36] and the reported gate of c. 300 is the lowest in Notts County's history.

[37] The team lost its next match 2–1 at Walsall,[16] but then defeated Ardwick 5–0 at the Castle Ground in its final home game of the season, with all five goals being scored in the first half.

The Nottingham Evening Post opined that, while the FA Cup final had been played only with "honour" at stake, "many pounds, shillings, and pence" depended on the outcome of this game.

[46] The two clubs obtained permission to postpone their respective league matches scheduled for 3 March, allowing the replay to be played at Trent Bridge that afternoon.

[49] Blackburn's goalkeeper Adam Ogilvie saved a shot from Logan in about the tenth minute, but Daft scored to give Notts a 1–0 lead shortly afterwards.

Rovers had eleven corners during the second half, but Notts held firm to win the match 1–0 and progress to their second FA Cup final.

Goodison Park, Liverpool, was selected as the venue over the objection of Notts; they would have further to travel than their opponents, and the press thought it likely that the crowd would be more favourable towards Bolton.

Notts had the better of the early play, with Bruce striking the crossbar and Donnelly hitting the post before Watson gave the Second Division side a 1–0 lead.

Bolton scored a late goal to make it 4–1, but the final whistle went soon afterwards, and Notts County became the first Second Division team to win the FA Cup.

Nine players made only one appearance, five of whom featured in the same match; the United Counties League home tie with Derby played five days before the FA Cup final.

Logan remains one of three men to score a hat-trick in an FA Cup final, the others being William Townley of Blackburn Rovers in 1890 and Stan Mortensen of Blackpool in 1953.