The phrase, 'a game of two halves', is often used in football reporting but never has it been more apt than in this international at Windsor Park. For the first 45 minutes it was all England. Northern Ireland could do nothing against the lethal finishing of Jimmy Greaves as the visitors rattled in four goals in the first 27 minutes. It looked like a massacre was on the cards, but after the break it was all so very different.

England scored early on when Fred Pickering showed his mobility by shooting home from Terry Paine's cross. The build-up had been excellent starting with George Cohen, before moving on sweetly to Paine, Gordon Milne, Bobby Charlton, Milne again and then to Paine. Then, in a superb 12-minute spell of intense England pressure the score went from 1-0 to 4-0 with a magnificent Greaves hat-trick.

First of all he stole in, typically, to poach a goal out of nothing after he had taken a headed pass from Pickering, strode through the middle, and shot past Jennings. Then Greaves pounced on a mistake by Neill to steal another goal, and finally he was on the end of another Paine-Milne combination to score his 35th international goal and thus regain the record currently held by Charlton.

It was a superb burst by the Spurs star and the quickness of his feet sometimes deceives the eye. The Irish were stunned and as they trooped off at half-time they looked down and out.

But what a transformation in the second half! The Irish fought back splendidly aided and abetted by some slackness in England's play. Early in the half they pulled a goal back. Crossan's centre from the right was met by a flashing header from Wilson which flew past Gordon Banks and into the top corner. It was just the tonic that the home side needed and from that moment it was all Northern Ireland.

Banks suddenly found that he was the busiest player on the field as his defenders crumbled arpound him. The mercurial Best began to cast his spell on the game, Crossan and Harvey captured the midfield from the previously dominant Charlton and Milne, and McLaughlin became a bundle of energy and mischief to the England defence.

England did make things worse for themselves with some uncharacteristic defensive blunders and on the hour, Milne's mistake was fully punished by McLaughlin. Now the Irish really had their tails up and with 15 minutes to go it seemed as though the whole of Northern Ireland erupted as a third goal was pulled back.

Again it was McLaughlin, and again it was a mistake, this time by Banks, that brought about the goal. It was Banks's one error in an otherwise fine display but it gave Northern Ireland just the impetus they needed for a final assault. Somehow, though, England held on, mainly thanks to Banks, and Northern Ireland's brave fightback was finally halted by the referee's closing whistle.

The tactical change that Northern Ireland had made at half-time, that is switching Wilson into a more deep-lying role, certainly had the right effect and poor Maurice Norman had a nightmare second-half. Even the usually super-cool Bobby Moore had had his feathers ruffled as the Best-inspired Irish side came within a whisker of a most famous comeback.
  

Master poacher Jimmy Greaves scored a first-half hat-trick as England rushed to a 4-0 half-time lead, but the second-half belonged to George Best and Northern Ireland. The young Manchester United winger tied the defenders into knots, and inspired the Irish into a fight back that had England hanging on to a one goal lead at the final whistle. Alf Ramsey gave his team a rocket after the match for becoming complacent. If it had not been for a string of superb saves by Banks, Northern Ireland's second half revival movement would have been rewarded with a remarkable victory. 'If we struggle to hold on to a 4-0 lead,' Ramsey said afterwards, 'what's going to happen if we go a goal down? We must start being more disciplined.'
  

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
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CG