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Match No. Match No. Match Results


England National Football Team Match No. 227

Saturday, 28 September 1946

Northern Ireland 2 England 7 [0-3]

Match Summary and Report

Match Summary and Report Team Records Northern Ireland Pre-Match England Pre-Match

The lineup that faced Northern Ireland in the first official international England played after the Second World War.  Back row:   Laurie Scott, Neil Franklin, Frank Swift, Billy Wright, Henry Cockburn.  Front row:  Tom Finney, Raich Carter, George Hardwick, Wilf Mannion, Tommy Lawton, Bobby Langton.  All but Carter and Lawton were making their full international debuts, although several had appeared in unofficial wartime and victory internationals.  The same lineup featured  in England's first three post-war matches.

Match Summary
Status: British Championship 1946-47 match.
Venue: Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland, capacity 58,000.
Attendance: 58,000.
Goals: England  - Raich Carter, 1 min.
England - Wilf Mannion, 7 mins.
England - Wilf Mannion, __ mins.
England - Tom Finney, 60 mins.
England - Wilf Mannion, 61 mins.
Northern Ireland - N. Lockhart, __ mins.
England - Tommy Lawton, __ mins.
England - Bobby Langton, __ mins.
Northern Ireland - N. Lockhart, __ mins.
Cautions: Not known.
Expulsions: None.
Officials: Referee - Willie Webb, Scotland.
Conditions: Afternoon kickoff; pitch and weather conditions unknown.
Statistics: Not known.-

Northern Ireland
Ranking:

No official ranking system established; placed 34th in the Elo system world ranking both before and after this match; did not enter World Cup 1938; placed fourth and last in British Championship 1938-39.

Colours: -
Lineup: Player Age Pos Club App G Career
1-Russell, A. - G

Linfield FC

 1 7 GA 1946 - 1/7GA
2-Gorman, William C. - RB Brentford FC 1 0 1946-1948 - 4/0
3-Aherne, Thomas - LB Belfast Celtic FC 1 0 1946-1950 - 4/0
4-Carey, John J. - RHB Manchester United FC 1 0 1946-1949 - 7/0
5-Vernon, Jack - CHB Belfast Celtic FC 1 0 1946-1951  -17/0
6-Douglas, J. P. - LHB Belfast Celtic FC 1 0 1946 - 1/0
7-Cochrane, David - OR Leeds United AFC 3 0 1938-1949 - 12/0
8-McAlinden, Jimmy - IR Portsmouth FC 3 0 1937-1948 - 4/0
9-McMorran, Eddie J. - CF Belfast  Celtic FC 1 0 1946-1957 - 15/4
10-Doherty, Peter D. - IL Derby County FC 11 1 1935-50 - 16/3
11-Lockhart, Norman H. - OL Linfield FC 1 2 1946-56 - 8/3
Substitutes: None permitted.
Reserves: Not known.
Captain: Not known.
Coach: Not known; there may not have been a manager or head coach.
Formation:  

England
Ranking:

No official ranking system established; placed 4th in the Elo system world ranking both before and after this match;did not enter World Cup 1938; won British Championship 1938-39.
Colours: White shirts, navy blue shorts, navy blue stockings.
Lineup: Player Age Pos Club App G Career
1-Swift, Frank  V. - G

Manchester City  FC

 1 2GA  19/18GA
2-Scott, Lawrence - RFB Arsenal FC 1 0 17/0
3-Hardwick, George F. M. - LFB Middlesbrough FC 1 0 13/0
4-Wright, William A. - RHB Wolverhampton Wanderers FC 1 0 1946-1959 105/3
5-Franklin, Cornelius - CHB Stoke City FC 1 0 27/0
6-Cockburn, Henry - LHB Manchester United FC 1 0 13/0
7-Finney, Thomas - OR Preston North End  FC 1 1 76/30
8-Carter, Horation S. - IR Derby County FC 7 3 13/7
9-Lawton, Thomas - CF Chelsea FC 9 7 1938-1948 - 23/22
10-Mannion, Wilfred J. - IL Middlesbrough FC 1 3 1946-1951  - 26/11
11-Langton, Robert - OL Blackburn Rovers FC 1 1 1946-50 - 11/1
Substitutes: None permitted.
Reserves: Don Welsh, Charlton Athletic FC; Eddie Shimwell, Sheffield United FC; Johnny Hancocks, Wolverhampton Wanderers.  Stanley Matthews was selected for the starting eleven, but had to withdraw through injury and  was replaced by Tom Finney from the reserves.
Captain: George Hardwick, 1st  of 13 career captaincies.
Coach: Walter Winterbottom, 33, appointed national director of coaching with responsibility for the national team in 1946, 1st match, W 1 - D 0 - L  0 - F 7 - A 2.   Career 1946-1962:  P 139 - W 78 - D 33 - L 29=8 - F 383 - A 196.
Formation: 3-4-3 in the WM alignment with the center halfback of the old 2-3-5 formation becoming a centerback between the fullbacks and with the inside forwards withdrawn [3-2-2-3]:
Frank Swift  -
Laurie Scott,  Neil Franklin, George Hardwick -
Billy Wright,  Henry Cockburn -
Raich Carter, Wilf Mannion -
Tom Finney, Tommy  Lawton, Bobby Langton.

Match Report

 

Preliminary notes:  First official international after Second War.  Ground swamped; order had to be restored; kickoff delayed.  One-sided  match; Ireland performance poor.  

[Full repor to come.]

 

Source Notes

 

Agnew, Paul, Finney: A Football Legend (Carnegie Press, Preston, Lancs. 1989)

Giller, Norman, Billy Wright:  A Hero for All Seasons (Robson Books, London, 2002)

Horsnell, Bryan & Douglas Lamming, Forgotten Caps: England Football Internationals of Two World Wars (Yore Publications, Harefield, Middlesex, 1995)

Hugman, Barry J., The PFA Premier & Football League Players’ Records 1946-1998, passim  (Queen Anne Press, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, England, 1998)

Hurley, Jeff, United Kingdom & Eire International Database (Association of Football Statisticians 1998)

Lamming, Douglas, An English Football Internationlists’ Who’s Who (Hutton Press Limited, Beverly, North Humberside, U.K., 1990)

Lawton, Tommy, My Twenty Years of Soccer (Jarrold & Sons, Norwich, U.K., 1955).

Miller, David, Stanley Matthews: The Authorized Biography (Pavilion Books, London, 1989)

Payne, Mike, England: The Complete Post-War Record (Breedon Books Publishing Company, Derby, U.K., 1993)

Robinson, Michael & Mike Ross, Soccer: The International Line-ups & Statistics Series—England 1872-1960 (Soccer Book Publishing Ltd., Cleethorpes, South Humberside, England, 1995)

Rollin, Jack, Rothmans Book of Football Records (Headline Book Publishing, London, 1998)

Varley, Nick, Golden Boy: A Biography of Wilf Mannion (Aurum Press Limited, London, 1997)

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