ENGLAND made their first strides towards the 1958 World Cup Finals with this hard-fought win against the gallant amateurs of Denmark. But the home side certainly made hard work of it even though they got off to the perfect start.

Only two minutes had gone when Tom Finney made a superb daring run inside before a slide rule pass gave Tommy Taylor a simple goal. The expected pattern of England domination continued for awhile and after 20 minutes they increased their lead. Again Finney was the goalmaker. His clever body swerves and electric pace left Larsen groping and Taylor was again on the end of the final pass.

Not unnaturally England tended to relax after this opening but they were almost made to pay by a spirited fightback by Denmark. Their tricky wingers J.Hansen and P.Hansen gave Roger Byrne and Jeff Hall a difficult time and Billy Wright saw his defenders pinned back on their heels by a brave effort from the Danes.

One splendid move involving all their forwards ended with O.Nielsen hitting a shot against Ted Ditchburn's crossbar. On the half-hour the visitors gained their due reward by scoring a fine goal. P.Hansen sent J.Hansen away on the right and this time O.Nielsen  ended the move  by striking a good shot just inside a post.

So, at half-time, it was 2-1, but eight minutes after the turnaround Taylor completed a fine hat-trick when he latched on to a mistake by O.Hansen after a long clearance by Byrne. That put England back in command but, to their credit, Denmark stubbornly refused to give in and after 73 minutes they again pulled a goal back. Pedersen seized on a mistake in midfield by Duncan Edwards and put a lovely pass through for O.Nielsen to once more shoot past Ditchburn.

That put the game back in the melting pot but by this time the extra power and fitness of England began to show and Denmark's challenge was finally killed off by a wonderful goal by Edwards. Stan Matthews, largely anonymous up to now, suddenly produced one of his typical runs before hitting a crossfield pass into the path of Edwards. The powerful midfield player met it brilliantly t0 unleash a ferocious shot which almost burst through the net.

That goal came in the 75th minute and almost immediately Edwards again showed his powerhouse shooting when he nearly uprooted a post with another blockbuster from a free-kick.

Towards the end of the game Edwards completed the scoring with yet another fierce shot after a flick by Matthews. The crowd gave the Danes some generous applause at the end, though, as they realised what a lot of effort they had put into their play. It seemed a shame that they would not be competing in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, withdrawing because they felt they might be outclassed.

Finney, in the first half especially, Taylor and Edwards were the pick of the England side, with Ronnie Clayton and Matthews coming on strong at the end.
  

England's World Cup campaign got under way with this convincing victory over Denmark on Billy Wright's home ground of Molineux. The match was distinguished by a hat-trick from Tommy Taylor and two spectacular goals from his Manchester United team-mate Duncan Edwards, who played at inside-left in place of the injured Johnny Haynes. Edwards scored with two booming long-range shots, had another shot wondrously saved and nearly uprooted a post with another thunderbolt from a free-kick. England had been drawn in a three team group with Denmark and the Republic of Ireland, and this convincing performance underlined why they were rated among the favourites for the World Cup. It was as if Manchester United had taken over Molineux! Roger Byrne was the outstanding player in England's defence, and up front Tommy Taylor and Duncan Edwards showed the power that had taken United to the top of the First Division in defence of their title. It was like a home match for Duncan, who had many of his family from Dudley watching from the stand.
    

England began their series of preliminary matches for the 1958 World Cup with a victory over Denmark at Wolverhampton by 5 goals to 2. But with only half an hour to go the gallant Danish amateurs were only one goal down at 3-2 and it was clear that their great fight had the sympathy of many of the 54,000 spectators. Two powerful goals from terrific drives by Edwards finally subdued the Danes, who refused to be dismayed at Taylor's hat-trick which began with a lovely goal in the second minute.