England had nearly always been assured of victory in Northern Ireland but on this occasion they came so very close to losing. Despite an inspired opening burst, they ended the match hanging on for dear life to the draw.

The visitors began with a devastating first nine minutes. With the magnificent win in Germany still fresh in their memory. England played some superb football. They pushed the ball around with arrogance and confidence and twice in the opening seconds, Ronnie Clayton and Don Revie set up Stan Matthews to provide tantalising centres to fully test the Irish rearguard.

This was followed up in the third minute with a glorious goal. Fine interpassing between Duncan Edwards, Revie and Tommy Taylor ended with the centre-forward putting a square pass inside to Revie. Revie flicked it to his right and Stan Matthews came in to shoot a lovely, low left-foot shot into the far corner. It was his first international goal for eight years and, coincidentally, his last one was also against the Irish at Windsor Park.

A rare goal from Stanley Matthews (his eleventh and last in international football) after just two minutes gave England a dream start, but they were hustled out of their stride by a Northern Ireland team motivated by a dazzling performance from skipper Danny Blanchflower.  Jimmy McIlroy equalised after ten minutes when goalkeeper Reg Matthews palmed a long throw from Peter McParland into his path.  McIlroy was faced with an open goal five minutes from the end but hit a post. If he had found the net, it would have given Northern Ireland their first home win over England since 1927.  There was a lot of good-natured ribbing of Stanley Matthews over his goal. His last goal for England had been eight years earlier, also against Northern Ireland and also at Windsor Park. Jackie Blanchflower, Danny's brother and always a quick wit, asked: "Why does he always pick on us?" Danny himself came into the dressing-room after the match and told Stanley that he had been a schoolboy spectator in short trousers when he scored his last goal. "You'll have a long beard by the time I score the next one," said Stanley, with that poker-faced humour of his. Danny had a magnificent match, and it was clear the Irish were getting a powerful team together for their World Cup challenge.
  

Football League Division One:    Arsenal 7 Manchester City 3    Birmingham City 0 Bolton Wanderers 0    Burnley 2 Blackpool 2    Cardiff City 4 Leeds United 1    Chelsea 2 Tottenham Hotspur 4    Manchester United 4 Charlton Athletic 2    Newcastle United 2 Luton Town 2    Portsmouth 5 Aston Villa 1    Preston North End 0 Everton 0    Sheffield Wednesday 3 Sunderland 2    West Bromwich Albion 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 Football League Division One Table:   Manchester United P 11 20pts   Tottenham Hotspur P 11 17pts   Leeds United P 12 16pts   Burnley P 12 15pts   Blackpool P 11 15pts   Birmingham City P 11 14pts   Bolton Wanderers P 12 13pts   Luton Town P 11 13pts   Wolverhampton Wanderers P 11 12pts   Preston North End P 12 12pts   Sheffield Wednesday P 12 12pts   Arsenal P 12 11pts   Newcastle United P 11 11pts   Aston Villa P 11 10pts   West Bromwich Albion P 11 10pts   Cardiff City P 12 10pts   Chelsea P 11 8pts   Everton P 12 8pts   Sunderland P 11 7pts   Portsmouth P 11 7pts   Manchester City P 12 6pts   Charlton Athletic P 12 5pts	The Top Twenty 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, comprising the twelve highest selling singles of the week, it increased to twenty on Friday, 1 October 1954, and thirty on Friday, 13 April 1956. When England beat West Germany, Ronnie Hilton's No Other Love was still the best selling single. This chart was published on Friday, 25 May 1956:-
	1.	(=)	No Other Love - Ronnie Hilton (HMV)
	2.	(4)	A Tear Fell - Teresa Brewer (Vogue Coral)
	3.	(2)	The Poor People Of Paris - Winifred Atwell (Decca)
	4.	(7)	I'll Be Home - Pat Boone (London)
	5.	(3)	My September Love - David Whitfield (Decca)
	6.	(5)	Rock And Roll Waltz - Kay Starr (HMV)
	7.	(10)	Lost John/Stewball - Lonnie Donegan (Pye Nixa)
	8.	(14)	Heartbreak Hotel - Elvis Presley (HMV)
	9.	(8)	The Happy Whistler - Don Robertson (Capitol)
	10.	(9)	Main Title Theme From 'Man With The Golden Arm' - Billy May (Capitol)
	11	(=)
	12.	(4)
	13.	(2)
	14.	(7)
	15.	(3)
	16.	(5)
	17.	(10)
	18.	(14)
	19.	(8)
	20.	(9)

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)
Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats
Norman Giller, Football Author
Drew Herbertson, Scottish FA historian
____________________

CG