Desperately needing to recover from the devastating defeat by the USA, England gave their all against Spain and produced a tremendous performance which lacked only one ingredient - goals. The team knew they had to beat the Spaniards to qualify for the next stage of the tournament, but sadly 'Lady Luck' refused to smile on them.

England brought Stan Matthews, flown in from FA's tour of Canada, and Jackie Milburn into a reorganised forward line and gave debuts to Eddie Baily and Bill Eckersely.

The new-look front line was a constant danger to the Spanish defence and with just a hint of good fortune they could easily have by two or three goals. A big crowd watched the game and saw a fine performance from the English. Spain seemed obsessed with underhand tactics and they continually felled the England players. Alas, the Italian referee preferred to turn a blind eye to all that went on and offered no punishment.

England could and should have had two penalties when Tom Finney was twice sent sprawling in the area. Again the referee gave nothing. Stan Mortensen, Milburn and Baily all showed up well as England put together some neat passing movements, whilst Finney and Matthews showed all their ball skills on the wings. All the time though the main stumbling block for England was Ramellets in the Spanish goal. He was outstanding and time and again he thwarted the eager England attack.

As the match entered the second half the crowd became more and more frustrated by Spain's dubious tactics and they certainly sided with the England players. But five minutes into the half Spain went ahead. Their outside-left made a fine run and centred for the number-nine Zarraonandia to beat Bert Williams and score.

England continued to give everything and were desperately unlucky not to pull the goal back. Their only consolation was the winning back of their self-respect and the ovation from the crowd as they trooped off at the end.
   

England needed to win this match to stay in the World Cup following their embarrassing defeat by the USA. Spain took the lead through centre-forward Zarra in the forty-seventh minute and then dropped back into deep defence. Even with Matthews and Finney operating, England could not make the breakthrough and their World Cup challenge was over. Jackie Milburn had a legitimate-looking equaliser ruled off-side. Alf Ramsey and Bill Eckersley started a fifteen-match full-back partnership, and Tottenham pass master Eddie Baily got a long over-due cap. Tom Finney was tripped twice in the penalty area, but each time the referee waved play on. It was one of those games, one of those tournaments. England played their best football of the finals against Spain, but their finishing left a lot to be desired. Eddie Baily had a cracking debut, and his passing cut huge holes in the Spanish defence. Stan Mortensen and Jackie Milburn might have had a couple of goals each but for some brilliant saves by Barcelona goalkeeper Ramallets. Tom Finney was the most mild mannered of men, but even he got heated when the referee ignored our claims for penalties after Tom had twice been fouled. How different it might have been had Neil Franklin not defected to the outlaw league in Colombia. Losing him robbed England's defence of the composure they had built up over the previous four years.
 

Source Notes

TheFA.com
BDFutbol.com
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
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CG