It was in 1957 that England had last lost to Scotland at Hampden Park and the run continued after this latest match between these old rivals. This time, though, Scotland came so very close to ending the sequence. It is always a special occasion when these two sides meet and it cames as quite a surprise when England chose Reg Matthews in goal. The selection of a Third Division player raised a few eyebrows, but by the end of the game it was most gratifying to see how well the lad from Coventry performed.

Despite having much less of the possession, England always created the better chances. This was due mainly to the superb play of Johnny Haynes, who really looked a class above the rest. His passing was a delight, although his forward line colleagues tended to waste his best moments. Scotland, with Parker, Hewie and Young outstanding in defence, rarely created a worthwhile goalscoring attempt and they lacked someone of Haynes's ability to take advantage of their greater possession. Even with a massive 132,000 crowd behind them, they still struggled to find the target.

In the first half Scotland managed only one decent attempt. This came in the 15th minute when Matthews made a brilliant diving save low down from Johnstone. This gave the goalkeeper confidence and he went on to show the calm authority that belied his inexperience. Evans was an inspiring worker in midfield for Scotland and much of the play revolved around him. But England could and should have scored twice in the opening period. But Nat Lofthouse and Bill Perry squandered golden chances, the second one coming from a rare burst of skill from Tom Finney.

The second half began with both sides striving for the breakthrough. It finally came after 60 minutes and it was the Scots who went ahead. Johnstone began the move down the right with a pass to McMillan. He, in turn, found Leggatt advancing down the left. The winger centred and quickly moved into the middle to receive a return pass from Smith. Leggatt then lobbed the ball over a crowd of players and into the net with Matthews stranded.

The 'keeper had some excuse as Leggatt partially mishit his shot although it did not matter to the massivecrowd how the goal was scored as it was the first time in nearly 20 years that Scotland had taken the lead against the Auld Enemy at Hampden.

The goal stired England into life, though and, at last, they began to move more fluently. Wright, Dickinson, Edwards and especially Haynes began to impose themselves on to the game and in the last half-hour England stepped up a gear. They won a stream of corners and Younger excelled when making fine saves twice from Taylor. Berry and Taylor then missed when well placed and Haynes threw away a good chance when his effort struck a post.

WIth the time ticking away the excitement grew and at times only desperate clearances saved Scotland. Finally, with the home side within seconds of that elusive Hampden victory, England bravely snatched their deserved equalizer. Byrne moved forward to add weight to the attack and put in a good cross to the head of Taylor. His nod down dropped perfectly for man-of-the-match, Haynes to sweep the ball past Younger.

The crowd were stunned into almost total silence, not quite believing what had happened. The result also left a unique situation in the Home Championship as all four countries finished level on three points thus sharing the title.
    

Johnny Haynes silenced the Hampden Roar with a last-minute equaliser, shooting the ball past goalkeeper Tommy Younger  after Manchester United team-mates Roger Byrne and Tommy Taylor had created the opening. Reg Matthews, making his debut in front of a 134,000 crowd while a Third Division goalkeeper with Coventry City, pulled off a string of magnificent saves and  was only beaten on the hour by a mis-hit shot from Aberdeen's Graham Leggat. The last-gasp equaliser from man-of-the-match Haynes stopped Scotland from registering their first victory over the Auld Enemy at Hampden Park since 1937. The incredible thing about this match was that England had to call the trainer on to treat goalkeeper Reg Matthews before a ball was kicked. Reg, used to playing in front of fewer than ten thousand spectators in the Third Division, was shaking with nerves as England left the dressing-room, and when he heard the roar from the 134,000 Scottish fans he almost passed out. The trainer gave Reg a whiff of smelling salts, and he quickly pulled himself together and gave an excellent debut performance. Reg, who later played for Chelsea, was nervy at the best of times and smoked like a trooper in the dressing-room.
    

On Friday, 15 November 1952, The New Musical Express published the first ever singles chart in the UK, comprising the twelve highest selling singles of the week, it increased to twenty on Friday, 1 October 1954 . When England drew with Scotland, Winifred Atwell's The Poor People of Paris was the best selling single. This chart, the first to feature thirty, was published on Friday, 13 April 1956:-

Source Notes

TheFA.com
LondonHearts.com
Original newspaper reports
Original Matchday Programme
Rothman's Yearbooks
Mike Payne's England: The Complete Post-War Record (Breedon Books Publishing Company, Derby, U.K., 1993)
Norman Giller, Football Author
official charts.com singles chart
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CG