Match Summary

Scotland Team

England Team

Never in the history of Association football in Scotland has a match aroused such interest as the 27th encounter between Scotland and England on Saturday. Celtic-park, Glasgow, had undergone radical alterations with a view to accommodating an exceptionally large crowd, and events proved that the executive were fairly accurate in their estimate. It was stated that the holding capacity of the ground was 60,000, and in that case the attendance must have been close upon that number, as to all appearances all available space was occupied. The ground was opened at 11 o'clock, and at that early hour the crowd began to assemble. When a start was made at half-past 3 the lofty and capacious terraces at each end and the various stands and enclosures were crowded. The scene was a remarkable one, and it says a good deal for the foresight of the management that, despite the presence of so great a throng, the match passed off without the least disturbance. With regard to the contest it may at once be said that the Englishmen for the first time for two years defeated their opponents over the border by three goals to one, and, as they had previously disposed of Ireland and Wales, became the winners of the international championship. The result was, of course, a great disappointment to the great majority of those present, and the closing stages of the match, when England's victory was assured, passed off very quietly. At the finish there was very little cheering, the thousands of spectators dispersing rapidly.

...within three minutes of the start Wheldon kicked a goal for England, and 20 minutes later Bloomer added another...

...the Scotch forwards opened the second half in a very spirited manner, Miller heading a goal within five minutes of the restart...

...During that period the result hung in the balance, but gradually the English team pulled themselves together, and when Bloomer kicked the third goal 20 minutes from the finish England had the game safe...

On all hands it was freely admitted that the Englishmen were the better side and thoroughly deserved their success. The record between the two countries now stands ;--Scotland, 13 wins ; England, eight wins ; and seven drawn games. - The Times - Monday 4th April, 1898

 

Football League Division One 2 April 1898
Team	P	Pts
Sheffield United	28	38
Sunderland	27	35
West Bromwich Albion	27	32
The Wednesday	27	31
Aston Villa	27	31
Everton	27	31
Wolverhampton Wanderers	26	28
Nottingham Forest	24	27
Bolton Wanderers	27	26
Derby County	26	24
Liverpool	27	24
Blackburn Rovers	26	21
Stoke	28	21
Notts County	27	20
Preston North End	28	20
Bury	26	19

 

Division One matches played on 2 April 1898:

ASTON VILLA 1-1 STOKE
Harvey (Molyneux)
8,000 (Villa Park, Birmingham)

Villa were without Athersmith, and Wheldon (who scored the opening goal), who were playing for England in Glasgow (whilst Crabtree was a reserve), and James Cowan, who was playing for Scotland. Stoke were without William Maxwell, who was also playing for Scotland.

BOLTON WANDERERS 2-0 WEST BROMWICH ALBION
Fitchett, Nicoll
3,650 (Burnden Park, Bolton)

West Brom were without Billy Williams, who was playing for England in Glasgow.

EVERTON 2-0 NOTTINGHAM FOREST
Bell, Divers
10,000 (Goodison Park, Liverpool)

Forest were without Frank Forman, who was playing for England in Glasgow, whilst Everton were without Jack Bell and Robertson, who were playing for Scotland.

NOTTS COUNTY 3-2 LIVERPOOL
Boucher 2, Leonard (McCowie, Becton)
8,000 (Trent Bridge, Nottingham)

SHEFFIELD UNITED 1-0 SUNDERLAND
Johnson
20,000 (Bramall Lane, Sheffield)

Sheffield United were without Ernest Needham, who was playing for England in Glasgow.

WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 3-2 BLACKBURN ROVERS
Beats, Wood 2,1 pen. (Booth, Proudfoot)
4,000 (Molineux, Wolverhampton)

 

Sunderland travelled to Sheffield in the hope that they could dislodge the leaders, and even prevented two of their team (goalkeeper, Doig, and Wilson) from playing for Scotland on the same day, whilst their hosts allowed Needham to play for England. It was not enough, however, and United increased their lead to three points, with two games remaining (Sunderland had three to play). Six days later, on Good Friday, Sheffield United clinched their one and only Championship title with a victory at Bolton, as Sunderland lost at Bury.

Football League Division Two 2 April 1898
Team	P	Pts
Burnley	28	46
Newcastle United	27	42
Manchester City	27	35
Woolwich Arsenal	27	33
Newton Heath	26	31
Small Heath	25	29
Luton Town	28	28
Gainsborough Trinity	25	28
Leicester Fosse	26	26
Walsall	28	25
Grimsby Town	27	23
Blackpool	27	20
Burton Swifts	25	17
Lincoln City	27	16
Darwen	26	14
Loughborough	25	11

 

Division Two matches played on 2 April 1898:

BLACKPOOL 1-1 WALSALL
Martin (Griffin)
 1,200 (Athletic Grounds, Blackpool)

GRIMSBY TOWN 1-3 NEWTON HEATH
Blythe (Cassidy 2, Boyd)
 3,000 (Abbey Park, Grimsby)

LEICESTER FOSSE 0-0 MANCHESTER CITY
6,000 (Filbert Street, Leicester)

LUTON TOWN 1-2 SMALL HEATH
Coupar (Dunlop, Inglis)
 3,000 (Dunstable Road, Luton)

NEWCASTLE UNITED 5-2 GAINSBOROUGH TRINITY
Peddie 3, Smith 2 (Morris, Scott pen.)
 12,000 (St. James' Park, Newcastle)

WOOLWICH ARSENAL 1-1 BURNLEY
Hunt (McInnes)
 12,000 (Manor Ground, London)

 

Newcastle secured their place in the end-of-season test matches. As events transpired, they had actually done enough already to secure promotion, but they would not know that until the Football League agreed to extend the First Division to 18 clubs, the following month, and Newcastle were voted into it, even though they had failed to win promotion via the test matches.

 

 

IN OTHER NEWS...

Middlesbrough beat Thornaby, 2-1 in the FA Amateur Cup semi-final at Brotton, in a game played behind closed doors due to the smallpox epidemic in Middlesbrough.

It was on 2 April 1898 that an inquest delivered its verdict of the suicide of Eleanor Marx, youngest daughter of the great German philosopher, Karl Marx. She had drunk hydrogen cyanide on discovering that her terminally-ill partner of 15 years, the playwright, Edward Aveling had secretly married a young actress, the previous year, under his pen name. Aveling died, just four months later, from kidney disease.

Source Notes

England Football Factbook: Cris Freddi
Scottish Football Association
Scotland - The Complete International Record: Richard Keir
London Hearts
original newspaper reports
FA Yearbooks 1950-60
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CG