England completed their summer tour with a spendid win in Paris, recovering from a disastrous start. On a very hot, sunnay afternoon and on a pitch like concrete, the visitors made a terrible start. Within 30 seconds France were ahead. A couple of mistakes by Bert Williams and Neil Franklin let moreel in to score. It was a real danger-thrust to the heart for England and it inspired the passionate crowd of over 61,000 people.

A lesser team would have crumbled under such pressure but as it was the England players knuckled down and fought back magnificently. Overcoming some fierce 'continental tackling' they gradually got to grips with the midfield battle.

It took only eight minutes for them to find an equalizer. Johnny Morris found Jimmy Dickinson with a neat flick. Dickinson then sent Jack Rowley clear down the left with a lovely through-ball. When the cross came over fast and low into the box, there was Morris, up with the attack, to finish off the move he had started back in his own half.

It was a memorable goal and for the next 15 minutes fast counter-attacking by both sides, a feature of the match, tested the defences as each team strove for the upper hand. Dickinson was an inspiration with a powerful display and Williams also did well, especially considering his shaky start. After 26 minutes England snatched the lead.

Morris, Jimmy Mullen, Wilf Mannion and Rowley all took part in a fine move down the left flank. At the end of it, Rowley placed a pass diagonally into space some 12 yards from goal. Suddenly, from nowhere, came Billy Wright speeding in to shoot past Vignal. Shortly afterwards the goalkeeper made a superb save from Morris as England ended the half in a much better frame of mind than they had started it.

France fought hard for a 20-minute spell at the start of the second half. They strung together some excellent moves and Moreel missed one particular good chance. But by now England were looking much more solid with Franklin in complete command. With Morris and, especially, Mannion dominating the midfield England always looked capable of scoring again and this they did with four minutes to go, when Morris put the result beyond doubt.

Tom Finney, who had been the best forward on view with his play doing as much as anyone to open up the French defence, was in great form and Rowley, too was impressive and he added life to the centre of the attack. Altogether it was a very satisfying result for England.
  

Making his debut in the England goal, Wolves custodian Bert 'The Cat' Williams was beaten after just 28 seconds by an instant goal from French debutant Georges Moreel. The match was played under a boiling sun and on a Colombes Stadium pitch as hard as concrete. Billy Wright made it a match to remember in the twenty-sixth minute by scoring his first international goal. It was the first goal scored for England by a non-forward since the war. Johnny Morris netted twice, including a late victory-clinching goal in the eighty-sixth minute that silenced the 61,500 shirt-sleeved Parisian spectators.
  

Source Notes

TheFA.com
FFF.fr
Allezlesbleus.free.fr
Original newspaper reports
Rothman's Yearbooks
Mike Payne's England: The Complete Post-War Record (Breedon Books Publishing Company, Derby, U.K., 1993)
Norman Giller, Football Author
____________________

CG