Long before the end of the 90 minutes of this World Cup second-leg tie against Luxembourg, the 29,000 Highbury crowd had resorted to that now growing bad habit of the slow handclap. But one had to sympathise with them after a dismal and disjointed performance by a somewhat unfamiliar-looking England team.

Without Johnny Haynes to control the 4-2-4 line-up England never really got going and Bobby Robson looked lost without his skipper and midfield partner. Jimmy Armfield took over the captaincy and it was a frustratingly long time before the breakthrough came. Steffen had an inspired night in the Luxembourg goal and despite England's other failings, he still had plenty to do.

Ironically, the first clear chance fell to centre-forward Hoffman and only a desperate dive by Ron Springett at his feet saved England from acute embarrassment. The crowd quickly sided with the underdogs, as is often the case for an English audience, and just when it seemed that the visitors were comfortable the home side broke the deadlock.

Thirty-five minutes had elapsed when Bryan Douglas broke away to centre from the right. When the cross reached the middle, Ray Pointer side-footed the first goal. England then quickly and clinically turned the screw.

A second goal soon followed when Pointer's shot was acrobatically saved by Steffen, only for Dennis Viollet to follow up and score. Before the break Bobby Charlton took a Douglas pass in his stride and hit home a screamer for goal number three. At last the fans had something to cheer.

Steffen made a series of fine saves in the second half, although it must be said that England were guilty of some awful finishing. Charlton, Pointer and John Fantham all put in wild shots from good positions and there was little shape in the general display with Robson particularly disappointing, repeatedly making mistakes. To his credit, though, he refused to hide and was never afraid to shoot.

Luxembourg packed their defence, sometimes having seven or eight players in their penalty area. But midway through the half, the whole of the visiting team jumped for joy as Dimmer's free-kick beat Springett to give them a goal. The crowd were delighted for them and made their feelings clear. Near the end, though, Charlton restored the three-goal advantage with another well-taken goal, but when the referee blew the final whistle there was a feeling of relief all round as it ended a poor match overall.

The hopes were that Johnny Haynes, Jimmy Greaves and Gerry Hitchens would all be back when England took on Portugal the following month.
     

With Greaves and Hitchens otherwise engaged in Italy and Haynes injured, Johnny Fantham, Ray Pointer and Dennis Viollet teamed up together for the first time in this World Cup qualifier. It was a combination that struggled to get into gear against the part-timers of Luxembourg, who had been swamped 9-0 in the first meeting. The Highbury crowd continually booed and slow-handclapped England, but they were finally silenced by two long-range goals from Charlton - one from his left foot and the other from his right. The following month the same Luxembourg team caused one of the greatest of all upsets in the World Cup qualifying rounds when they beat Portugal 4-2.
     

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
Drew Herbertson, Scottish FA historian
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CG