Once again the incredible sequence of results between these countries continued with England winning at Hampden. With Scotland's record at Wembley almost as good as England's was in Glasgow, perhaps there was a case for the two sides swapping grounds!

England, still reeling from the devastating defeat at the hands of Hungary at Wembley the previous November, made eight changes for this game. Four new caps were brought in and there were other changes, too. There was an awful lot at stake at the winners of this match gained automatic entry into the 1954 World Cup finals to be held in Switzerland.

The big difference between the sides on this day was in the taking of chances. In this department England gave Scotland a lesson.

A massive crowd of over 134,000 people roared Scotland on in the early stages and the England defenders clung on desperately as chance after chance went begging for the Scots. After three minutes Gil Merrick made a superb save from a point-blank shot by Johnstone. Then Jimmy Dickinson was very relieved to see his attempted clearance slice just wide of his own goal.

Shortly afterwards, Brown missed a golden opportunity, shooting tamely at Merrick after breaking clear of the England defence. The pressure eventually told, though, and after seven minutes Scotland took the lead.

McKenzie sent over a corner which found Brown and, with the aid of a deflection off Ron Staniforth, his shot found the net. The crowd went wild and were baying for the heads of the Auld Enemy. But amongst the new faces in the England side there was also the experience of Billy Wright and Dickinson. Between them they cooly went about steadying the ship.

They were given a boost in the 15th minute when England equalized, and a real gem it was too. Staniforth found Wright with a good pass. The captain moved the ball on to Tom Finney, who was beginning to get the better of Cox. The Preston player sent an inch-perfect pass forward right into the stride of Ivor Broadis. The inside-forward drew Farm from goal before firing a good shot wide of the goalkeeper.

For the remainder of the half Scotland had the better of things but continued to miss chances. They were missing the lively Reilly up front and failed to exploit Harry Clarke's obvious weaknesses to the full. The fact that the scores were still level at the break flattered England somewhat but after half-time the visitors made Scotland pay for their lack of finishing.

Five minutes after the restart England gained the lead they were not to lose. Again Finney was the star of the move. Wright again found the winger with his pass from defence and Finney set off on a mazy dribble that left Cox chasing shadows. When the cross came over Johnny Nicholls dived full length to head home.

Cox was now being given the runaround and the link up that Finney had with Broadis was beginning to dominate. Ronnie Allen too, looked very good with his deep-lying role and sharp pace. Nicholls though was not as promising despite his goal. His missed two good chances before England increased their lead in the 70th minute. This time a deep free-kick by Jimmy Mullen was fiercely headed in by Allen. Near the end England wrapped up  the result with a goal which typified the way the game had gone.

Scotland, once again, were pressing hard. A corner from the right was cleared by Nicholls to Finney, who set off on another superb run. Poor Cox was sent in many different directions before Finney crossed for Mullen to head number four. Scotland, bewildered but battling to the end, did score again in the dying seconds. A swirling cross by Ormond completely deceived both Merrick and Roger Byrne on the goal-line to drop into the net.

So, a win for England and although the game was never a classic, it had many memorable moments.
   

The England selectors made eight changes to the team taken apart by Hungary. Johnny Nicholls had good reason to remember his debut. It was his 23rd birthday and he celebrated with England's second goal, a flying header from a Tom Finney cross. Playing alongside his West Bromwich Albion team-mate Ronnie Allen, he was one of four debutants, along with Ron Staniforth, Harry Clarke and Manchester United left-back Roger Byrne, who was to prove himself one of the finest players ever to wear the No 3 shirt. Clarke, 31-year-old centre-half, followed Ditchburn, Ramsey, Willis, Nicholson and Medley as members of the Spurs 'push-and-run' team who were capped after the age of thirty-plus. Roared on by a vast crowd of 134,554, Scotland took the lead in the seventh minute through Blackpool's Allan Brown. Ivor Broadis equalised eight minutes later after penetrating approach work by Wright and Finney. It was the same combination of Wright and Finney that set up England's second goal by birthday boy Nicholls five minutes into the second half. Headed goals by Allen and Jimmy Mullen wrapped the game up for England and guaranteed them going to the World Cup finals as Home Champions. Scotland scored a strange second goal in the last minute when a cross from Willie Ormond suddenly swirled into the net.
  

On Friday, 15 November 1952, The New Musical Express published the first ever singles chart in the UK. However, 18 months later, when England beat Scotland, Stargazers' I See The Moon was the best selling single. When the chart of Friday, 2 April 1954 was published, there were no surviving songs from the last chart when England played:-

Source Notes

"Negotiations between the Scottish Football Association and the British Broadcasting Corporation have taken place, as the result of which the association are unable to grant permission to the B.B.C. for the live broadcasting in their Television Service of any part of the Scotland v. England International, to be played at Hampden Park on April 3, because other matches are being played in Scotland on that day. The association were prepared to grant facilities for a telerecording of the International for transmission on Monday, April 5, but this alternative was not acceptable to the B.B.C. The 'highlights' of the match will. however, be covered in Television 'Newsreel' on Monday evening, April 5." - Tuesday, 23 March 1954, Glasgow Herald.

TheFA.com
LondonHearts.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
officialcharts.com singles chart
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CG