Match Summary

Poland Team

Sir Alf Ramsey decided on a 4-4-2 formation for this vital World Cup clash and he made it perfectly clear from the start that England had come to Poland for a point, Alas, all his pre-match plans came woefully unstuck after only seven minutes.
Roy McFarland was somewhat harshly adjudged to have stopped Lubański unfairly down the left flank by the Austrian referee. The free-kick was taken by Gadocha, who hit it low and hard to the near post. It hit Bobby Moore and then Peter Shilton's hands as the goalkeeper tried unsuccessfully to keep it out. It was a bitter blow to England and altough one expected a change in their tactics there was little alteration to the first half.
England did get a fine chance to equalize only three minutes after the goal, but Martin Peters headed straight at Tomaszewski from very close range. Peters really should have scored and England were to regret his miss. Their only other good chance of the first half came on the half-hour. A fine move involving Allan Clarke and Colin Bell split the Polish defence and Martin Chivers was left with the final shot which he rocketed over the bar from some 12 yards out.
For the most part of the half, England had persisted with the negative, containing tactics they had employed from the start. It often left Chivers and Clarke ploughing lonely furrows up front. Territorially, England probably had the better of the half but, for all they saw of the ball, the fact was that they could not score.
Just as England had made a disastrous start to the first half, then so they did at the start of the second. Only one minute had elapsed after the change round when skipper Moore tried to dribble around Lubański. Disastrously, he lost possession to the Polish striker and with England's defence now wide open, Lubański roared on towards Shilton and hit a fierce low shot past the 'keeper and in off the near post. The massive crowd screamed their delight and the 2-0 scoreline seemingly put the game out of England's reach.
As the game wore on, there was no sign of an improvement and the result drifted further and further away from England. They never managed to create another worthwhile chance and it was surprising that the manager did not attempt to use any of his substitutes in trying to rescue the cause. Instead, he persisted with his 4-4-2 formation and ended with nothing.
The final nail in the coffin came near the end of a bad tempered second half. Ćmikiewicz had already upset Peters and when he then clashed with Ball the fiery England midfielder was sent off for violent conduct.
Peter Storey was the star of a very disappointing performance as he covered every blade of grass in his efforts. Clarke, too, showed some silky skills and Madeley also showed his class, but other than that there was little to remember about this showing.
  

This was a disastrous match for England and hopes of clinching a place in the 1974 World Cup  Finals were devastatingly dispelled by the Poles. England will be very hard pressed to qualify, in the return game at Wembley on October 17.
The Poles went ahead after seven minutes through a goal which in most other similar circumstances would have been prevented. A low swerving free kick was taken by Lubański near the left corner flag. The ball flew off Moore's foot onto the arm of goalkeeper Shilton into the near top corner of the net.
England settled down and had more of the play than their opponents during the remainder of the first half. Chivers, Clarke and Peters had chances to score, but their attempts to do so were well off target or easily saved by the Polish goalkeeper.
The second half began tragically for Moore, who allowed Lubański to dispossess him some 30 yards from the goal-line. With only Shilton to beat Lubański made no mistake.
Ball was sent off with some 12 minutes to play.
  

This was a disastrous defeat for England in a vital World Cup qualifying match.  Poland went ahead in the ninth minute when a Lubański shot found its way into the net off the foot of Bobby Moore and the arm of Peter Shilton. Early in the second-half Moore made an uncharacteristic hash of a tackle against Lubański, who raced clear to make it 2-0. To compound England's misery Alan Ball was sent off following an angry clash twelve minutes from the final whistle.  Once again,  Sir Alf's poor understanding of the substitute system let down England. It screamed out for attacking players to be sent on when the Poles went two goals clear, but Ramsey stuck with his rigid 4-4-2 formation that meant the game became bogged down in midfield as Poland chose to close up shop and hang on to their lead.
   

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
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CG