This was undoubtedly the best Welsh performance against England since the war and the fact that England, at times, had to be at their most brilliant best says it all. On a treacherous surface and on a bitterly cold day, the football served up warmed the crowd to fever pitch as the excitement grew.

Excellent precision passing by Wilf Mannion, Eddie Baily, Jackie Milburn, Les Medley and Tom Finney had given England a bright opening. However, the Welsh terriers were continually snapping at their heels with Daniel, Paul and Lucas working tirelessly in the midfield battle. Gradually though the extra class began to show and three of the four England goals were pure genius.

Wales had the ball in the net on the half-hour but Clarke's shot was ruled out for offside. A few seconds later, England took the lead as a long controlled clearance by Lionel Smith, who had a good game, reached Baily on the edge of the penalty area. The Spurs player flicked the ball up with his right foot and crashed it into the net with his left for a wonderful goal.

The England attack, well prompted by Willie Watson and Jimmy Dickinson, then began to flow superbly. The ball was moving forward quickly and smoothly.

Five minutes before half-time England scored their second. Again it was a shot by Baily that did the trick when he finished off a splendid round of passing by Finney, Mannion, Watson and Mannion again. It seemed that the 2-0 interval lead had put England clear but with Allchurch and Ford showing some tremendous play it was far from over.

Indeed, with only three minutes of the second half gone Wales pulled a goal back. Griffiths put over a fine centre which landed between Leslie Compton and Bert Williams, and before either could react, Ford nipped in smartly to flick the ball in with his head.

It was end to end stuff now as both sides searched for another goal. Ford forced two brilliant saves out of Williams and then Baily saw his 20-yard shot strike the Welsh crossbar. A scramble on the England goal-line almost produced an equaliser before, on 66 minutes, the home side engineered the next crucial goal. Again it was a super strike. Mannion was the man on target this time, cleverly flicking the ball past Hughes after Watson and Milburn had created the opening.

Still Wales refused to lie down and five minutes later it was 3-2. Once more the combination of Griffiths and Ford gave the centre-forward the chance to touch the ball past Williams with the other England defenders off balance. So the excitement continued until the dying seconds, after another flowing move between Finney, Mannion, Baily and Milburn, the England number-nine shot home from an acute angle. That put the final stamp on England's extra quality and authority and was the last action of a magnificent afternoon's football.
  

Injured Billy Wright missed his first after 33 successive matches. Alf Ramsey took over as skipper. Eddie Baily, nicknamed the 'Cheeky Chappie' because of his impersonation of comedian Max Miller, repeated his two-goal act. Arsenal centre-half Leslie Compton made his England debut at the age of thirty-eight alongside County cricketing colleague Willie Watson. Leslie remains the oldest player ever to have made an England debut. Les Medley partnered his Tottenham team-mate Baily on the left wing. Lionel Smith, converted from centre-half by Arsenal, came in at left-back. Goalkeeper Bert Williams kept his place in goal to maintain the Wolves record of having at least one player in the England team in every international match since the war. Trevor Ford, playing for Wales in front of his Sunderland fans, scored twice in the second half to give the Welsh the hope of a championship point. It was not until Jackie Milburn scored in the final seconds that England could feel confident that they had the match won.
 

For England's next match, against Wales at Roker Park, Sunderland, there were several changes from the team that beat Ireland; Finney, Milburn, and Medley replacing Matthews, Lee and Langton in the forward line, and Smith, Watson and Compton (L) replacing Aston, Wright and Chilton in defence.
This was one of the best International matches seen since the war, with both sides playing superb football. England's first goal came in the 30th minute, after a claim for a Welsh goal had been disallowed: it was Baily who scored with a classic left-foot shot after a pass from Smith. Five minutes before the interval, Baily scored again after Finney, Mannion and Watson had taken part in a complicated round of passing.
Though Wales were two-down at half-time, they kept up the fight to the end, Ford, their centre-forward particularly distinguishing himself. Three minutes after the interval, Griffiths pitched a perfect centre between Compton and Williams, and Ford flicked the ball into the net. Wales then went into the attack and there were some awkward moments for England. But after 21 minutes England went further ahead with a fine goal by Mannion after Watson and Milburn had made an opening. Wales still refused to accept defeat, and five minutes later the score was 2-3, Ford again scoring with a fast low shot from a pass by Griffiths. In the last seconds, Milburn was successful with an acute angle shot after a clever movement by Finney, Mannion and Baily, and set the seal on England's victory.