"WRONG TACTICS FOR A SMALL GROUND" Daily Herald

OVER 30,000 people watched this Sunday afternoon international in what was the first of two games in a European tour. The superior teamwork of the Swiss eventually won the game against a strangely subdued England side.

England never reproduced any of the exciting play of their previous post-war encounters and on this day even the defence looked well below its best against the speedy Swiss forwards.

What proved to be the deciding goal came in the 27th minute. A pass by Amado found Fatton completely unmarked to score from close range. The crowd went wild with delight as England struggled to get their game together. In one incident Tommy Lawton did get the ball into the Swiss net but the referee ruled it out for offside.

The second half was much the same pattern with the Swiss showing a lot of confidence and England desperately trying to improve. Fatton and Fink were particularly dangerous for Switzerland and Laurie Scott had his hands full with the lively winger.

It was not until the final 15 minutes that England came into the game. Lawton, easily England's most dangerous attacker, twice forced Ballabio into excellent saves but try as they might they could not force an equaliser.
    

England's famed and feared attack ran into a Swiss wall defence known as "The Redoubt". Switzerland introduced the deep-lying centre-forward tactic that completely baffled England's defenders. Left winger Jacques Fatton scored the only goal in the 27th minute. Tommy Lawton celebrated what he thought was a second-half equaliser, but the referee ruled it off-side. Once the Swiss were in front, they stifled England with a mass defence that was both disciplined and rock-solid. It was 33-year-old Raich Carter's final match for England after an international career that stretched back to 1934. The small ground was so packed that they put seats alongside the touchline to cater for an overflow of spectators. This meant it was so cramped on the wings that England could not play to the strength of Stanley Matthews and Bobby Langton. What really threw the England defenders was the Swiss ploy of dropping their number nine back into the midfield, and it took them much of the first-half working out just which players each of us should be marking. It was a sad way for Raich Carter to end his wonderful run as an England player. He was one of the finest positional players of any era, and always knew exactly where to be to get the best out of any situation. He could pass with great precision and had an accurate shot. In short, Raich was the perfect inside-forward.