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Match
Summary |
|
Officials
from Scotland |
Wales |
Type |
England |
Referee
(-) - Charles
Edward Faultless
45 (5 March 1908), Glasgow.
Linesmen - James P. Goodall,
Glasgow (red flag), and Jack Whiteside, Renfrew
(yellow flag).
No
substitutes permitted, as per UK ruling.
|
|
Goal Attempts |
|
|
Attempts on Target |
|
|
Hit Bar/Post |
|
|
Corner Kicks Won |
|
|
Offside Calls Against |
|
|
Fouls Conceded |
|
|
Possession |
|
|
Wales
Team |
|
Rank: |
No official ranking system established; ELO rating 21st to 24th |
Colours: |
Made by Umbro -
Red jerseys with white collars/cuffs, white shorts with red side stripe, red socks
with white tops. |
Capt: |
Wally Barnes |
Manager: |
Team chosen by Selection Commitee on Monday, 28 September 1953 |
Wales
Lineup |
|
Howells, Ronald G. |
26 |
12 January 1927 |
G |
Cardiff City FC |
1 |
4ᵍᵃ |
2 |
Barnes, Wallace |
33 |
16 January 1920 |
RB |
Arsenal FC, England |
19 |
1 |
3 |
Sherwood, Alfred T., injured off 35th-53rd mins. |
29 |
13 November 1923 |
LB/OL |
Cardiff City FC |
28 |
0 |
4 |
Paul, Roy |
33 |
18 April 1920 |
RHB |
Manchester City FC, England |
24 |
1 |
5 |
Daniel, W.
Raymond |
24 |
2 November 1928 |
CHB |
Sunderland
AFC, England |
13 |
0 |
6 |
Burgess, W.A.
Ronald |
36 |
9 April 1917 |
LHB |
Tottenham Hotspur FC, England |
29 |
1 |
7 |
Foulkes, William I. |
27 |
29 May 1926 |
OR |
Newcastle United FC, England |
9 |
1 |
8 |
Davies, E. Reginald |
24 |
27 May 1929 |
IR |
Newcastle United FC, England |
3 |
0 |
9 |
Charles, W.
John |
21 |
27 December 1931 |
CF |
Leeds United AFC, England |
6 |
2 |
10 |
Allchurch, Ivor J. |
23 |
16 December 1929 |
IL/LHB |
Swansea Town FC |
14 |
6 |
11 |
Clarke, Royston J. |
28 |
1 June 1925 |
OL |
Manchester City FC, England |
16 |
4 |
reserves: |
not named |
team notes: |
Trevor Ford (Sunderland AFC) was the original named centre-forward.
The night before the match, because of an ankle injury in Welsh
training, his place went to the original inside-right, Charles. Davies
was then brought in to fill the vacant inside-right position, who
travelled down from Newcastle overnight. Alf Sherwood suffered with
concussion after being kicked in the head, he returned
before/during/after* England's fourth goal.
*delete as applicable... depending on which
newspaper report is read! |
|
2-3-5 |
Howells - Barnes, Sherwood (Burgess) -
Paul, Daniel, Burgess (Allchurch) - Foulkes,
Davies, Charles, Allchurch (Clarke), Clarke
(Sherwood). notes: once
Sherwood was injured, Burgess and Allchurch dropped back. |
Averages: |
Age |
27.6 |
Appearances/Goals |
14.7 |
1.3 |
|
|
England
Team |
|
Rank: |
No official ranking system established; ELO rating 4th to 3rd |
Colours: |
The 1949 home
uniform -
White collared jerseys, blue shorts, black socks
with white tops. |
Capt: |
Billy Wright, 37th captaincy |
Manager: |
Walter Winterbottom, 40 (31 March 1913), appointed as FA national director of coaching/team manager on 8 July 1946;
55th match, W 36 - D 11 - L 8 - F 164 - A 66,
one abandoned. Team chosen by Selection Committee headed by Harold Shentall
on Sunday, 4 October 1953. |
England
Lineup |
|
Merrick, Gilbert H. |
31 |
26 January 1922 |
G |
Birmingham City FC |
14 |
16ᵍᵃ |
2 |
Garrett, Thomas H. |
26 |
28 February 1927 |
RB |
Blackpool FC |
3 |
0 |
3 |
Eckersley, William |
28 |
16 July 1925 |
LB |
Blackburn Rovers FC |
14 |
0 |
4 |
Wright, William A. |
29 |
6 February 1924 |
RHB |
Wolverhampton
Wanderers FC |
52 |
3 |
5 |
Johnston, Harry |
34 |
26 September 1919 |
CHB |
Blackpool FC |
8 |
0 |
6 |
Dickinson, James
W. |
28 |
24 April 1925 |
LHB |
Portsmouth
FC |
29 |
0 |
7 |
Finney,
Thomas |
31 |
5 April 1922 |
OR |
Preston
North End FC |
48 |
23 |
8 |
Quixall, Albert |
20 |
9 August 1933 |
IR |
Sheffield Wednesday FC |
1 |
0 |
9  |
Lofthouse, Nathaniel |
28 |
27 August 1925 |
CF |
Bolton Wanderers FC |
17 |
19 |
10  |
Wilshaw, Dennis J. |
27 |
11 March 1926 |
IL |
Wolverhampton
Wanderers FC |
1 |
2 |
11 |
Mullen, James |
30 |
6 January 1923 |
OL |
Wolverhampton
Wanderers FC |
7 |
2 |
reserve: |
Ray Barlow (West Bromwich Albion FC). |
team notes: |
Harold Hassall (Bolton Wanderers FC) was the orginal named
inside-left, he was proved unfit and Wilshaw replaced him on Thursday,
8 October. Wilshaw will then become the first player to score on his
debut in a World Cup match. Billy Wright extends his record appearance tally.
Quixall and Wilshaw becomes the 70th and 71st players used by
Winterbottom. |
|
2-3-5 |
Merrick - Garrett, Eckersely - Wright, Johnston,
DIckinson - Finney, Quixall, Lofthouse, Wilshaw, Mullen |
Averages: |
Age |
28.4 |
Appearances/Goals |
17.6 |
4.1 |
|
|
Match Report
by Mike Payne |
So
often since the war, England have received adverse criticism after a clear
win. Once again they found themselves in that situation after this visit
to Cardiff, for although the scoreline looks healthy enough, the England
performance in getting there was far from convincing.
With the Home
Championship being used to determine Great Britain's entry for the
following year's World Cup, there was extra importance on this match.
Ninian Park was bulging at the seams as 61,000 people packed into the
ground. Before the play started they set the atmosphere tingling by
singing their hearts out as only Welshmen can.
For the first half-hour it was one-way traffic
towards Gil Merrick's goal. Wales put in a storming start and at the heart
of all their good play was the mighty Charles. He was magnificent! Three
times he forced superb saves from the England goalkeeper with bullet-like
headers and he continually had the England defenders struggling. The
pressure had to tell eventually and in the 23rd minute it did.
More
good play by Charles set up the goal. Combining well with Davies he sent
the ball in for Allchurch to fire a good shot past Merrick, who for once
was well beaten. Things looked good for the Welsh but just before the end
of the first half the tide suddenly, and undeservedly, began to turn
against them. First they lost Sherwood with an injury and then, in the
last minute of the half, conceded an equalizer. A free-kick, given against
Burgess, was curled into the box by Albert Quixall and Dennis Wilshaw
popped up to head home.
The half-time score was a total travesty of
the events of the half and Wales could hardly believe it. Within seven
minutes after the restart they were stunned into defeat!
With
England having been kept in the match by Merrick's saves in the first 45
minutes, they now turned to the lively Jimmy Mullen to spark the response
at the other end.
The Wolves winger began to tease Barnes with his pace
and body swerve.
Four minutes into the second period he took a pass from Bill Eckersley and
centred for Wilshaw to score his and England's second goal. A minute later
Mullen again was involved, linking well with Wilshaw before the latter's
cross was headed in by Nat Lofthouse.
Sherwood then came back on to
a huge roar but hardly had the cheers died down when England amazingly
scored a fourth goal. Again Lofthouse was the scorer and again Mullen was
the provider. So, in the space of nine minutes either side of the
interval, England had completely sewn up the result.
The Welsh
crowd were stunned into an eerie silence now and England comfortably
controlled most of the remaining time. However, the visitors still had
some obvious problems and large question-marks still hung over the
inside-forwards, full-backs and centre-half. Quixall often looked bemused
in his first game and Wilshaw also struggled despite his two goals which
probably earned him another chance. Even Tom Finney looked well below par
and England must surely have looked for an improvement in their next
match.
|
Match Report
by Norman Giller |
Dennis Wilshaw celebrated his first England
cap with two goals, and Nat Lofthouse netted twice for the second
successive match. All of England's goals came in the ten minutes either
side of the half-time interval after Wales had taken a deserved
twenty-third minute lead through Ivor Allchurch. Wales played for much of
the game with left-back Alf Sherwood a passenger on the wing after he had
been concussed in the thirty-second minute. Giant Leeds centre-forward
John Charles might have had a hat-trick but for a succession of superb
saves by England goalkeeper Gil Merrick. Albert Quixall, literally worth
his weight in gold when sold by Sheffield Wednesday to Manchester United
for £45,000 in 1958, made his England debut at inside-right at the
age of twenty. Wales were unlucky not to have salvaged a draw from a game
they often dominated. As in 1949-50, the Home Championship was used to
determine Great Britain's qualifiers for the World Cup finals. There were
more than 60,000 fans packed into Ninian Park, and the atmosphere was just
like the Welsh stoke up for their rugby internationals. England were
hugely flattered with the size of the victory. This was the beginning of
the rise of the greatest Welsh football team in their history, with John
Charles and Ivor Allchurch laying the foundations to their memorable
careers. There has been a more gifted all-round British footballer than
Big John. He was equally effective at centre-forward or centre-half, and
once he had moved to Juventus from Leeds he developed into the perfect
player. He not only had great technique, but also the ideal temperament.
His nickname the Gentle Giant was misleading because he could be as
physical as Nat Lofthouse one minute and then as beautifully balanced as
Tom Finney the next. He was commanding in the air and could head with the
force of a Tommy Lawton. When the conversation gets around to who has been
the greatest British footballer of all time John tends to get left out of
the argument because he spent so much time in Italy, but he should be in
anybody's top six players.
|
The
Top Twelve UK Music Chart
by New Musical Express |
On Friday, 15 November 1952, The
New Musical
Express
published the first ever singles chart in the UK. However, when England
beat Wales, Guy Mitchell's Look At That Girl
was the best selling single. When the chart of Friday, 9
October 1953 was published, there were four surviving songs from the last
chart when England played:-
1. |
(=) |
Look At That Girl
- Guy Mitchell (Philips) |
7. |
(6) |
The Song From The Moulin
Rouge
- Mantovani
(Decca) |
2. |
(3) |
I Believe
-
Frankie
Laine (Philips) |
8. |
(7) |
Kiss
- Dean Martin (Capitol) |
3. |
(2) |
Where The
Winds Blow
-
Frankie Laine (Philips) |
9. |
(12) |
Mother Nature And Father Time - Nat 'King' Cole
(Capitol) |
4. |
(4) |
Let's Walk
That-A-Way
-
Doris Day & Johnnie Ray
(Philips) |
10. |
(re) |
Flirtation Waltz
- Winifred
Atwell (Decca) |
5. |
(5) |
Terry's Theme From 'Limelight' -
Frank Chacksfield (Decca) |
11. |
(8) |
Terry's Theme From 'Limelight'
-
Ron Goodwin (Parlophone) |
6. |
(10) |
Can't I?
-
Nat 'King' Cole
(Capitol) |
12. |
(11) |
Eternally
- Jimmy Young (Decca) |
♪Most weeks at number one when
England played:
Frankie Laine four, Guy Mitchell two, Al Martino and Lita Roza one
each |
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Source Notes |
TheFA.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 Wales' Complete Who's Who
since 1946 (Sutton Publishing Ltd, Stroud,
U.K., 2004) officialcharts.com singles chart
Drew Herbertson, Scottish FA historian
____________________
CG
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