Wales managed to avoid defeat against England for the first time since the war when the sides met in Cardiff in this 1951 clash. What is more, if they had taken more care in front of goal, they may have celebrated a win.

The home side scored after only three minutes. A foul by Malcolm Barass gave Wales a free-kick on the right hand corner of the penalty box. Paul took the kick and his low cross was met by Foulkes with his first touch in international football. He left Lionel Smith flat-footed before going on to shoot past Bert Williams.

England quickly pulled themselves together and were soon back on level terms. Tom Finney, taking a pass from Billy Wright, moved through the inside-right channel before laying the ball square to Les Medley. He quickly lobbed the ball into the middle where Eddie Baily was on hand for an easy headed goal.

The game then gradually drifted into a scrappy affair with Wales relying on their strong midfield players creating their most dangerous moves. Daniel, Paul and Burgess always had control and their tigerish tackling was causing England to struggle. Barass at centre-half, although near in distribution, always came off second best in his battle with the powerful Ford. Some good play by Jimmy Dickinson, Medley and Baily promised something for England before half-time but they were no really clear chances created.

England never functioned on all cylinders and their weakness at inside-forward was very obvious. Tommy Thompson, on his debut, never got into the match at all and Baily only flitted in and out of the proceedings. The tough-tackling Burgess was prominent for Wales and with Ford a constant threat they came very close to forcing a win. Foulkes and Clarke sent in a stream of crosses towards the big centre-forward and from one Ford missed a sitter. Paul sent Foulkes away on attack and he left the ponderous Smith in a fine run to centre from the left. Once again, though, Ford contrived to miss a golden chance to take the match.

England were somewhat fortunate to come away from Cardiff with a draw.
     

Eddie Baily saved England from defeat against a Welsh team in which Ivor Allchurch and Trevor Ford were constantly putting England's defence under pressure. Newcastle right winger Billy Foulkes scored in the third minute with his first shot for Wales in international football. Baily, noted more for his scheming than his scoring, equalised with a rare header following a counter attack generated by a perfect pass from Billy Wright. Ford, the idol of Sunderland, missed two easy chances late in the game to give Wales their first victory over England since the war. Malcolm Barrass was the seventh centre-half tried by the selectors since the defection of Neil Franklin. Tommy Thompson, Aston Villa's diminutive ball-playing inside-right, won the first of two caps.
  

In the match against Wales on October 20th, at Cardiff, it was again England's opponents who deserved the congratulations. Most Welsh teams play with particular fervour when an invader comes to Ninian Park, and, with a combination possessing an established defence and only two forward positions which were experimental, they certainly lived up to tradition. England, on the other hand, were trying new blood and had made six changes, including two new caps: Barrass and Thompson.
Wales scored after the first three minutes when a new cap, Foulkes, receiving a pass from a free-kick, broke through a hole in England's defence. Shortly afterwards Finney cut across the field and passed to Medley, who centred for Baily to head home the equaliser.
That was the end of the scoring, although Wales continued to press hard and missed several obvious chances - indeed, many thought her unfortunate not to have won. After showing early promise. England's forwards crumpled against the Welsh half-back line and showed little evidence of cohesion.
          

TheFA.com Original newspaper reports Wales' Complete Who's Who since 1946 Drew Herbertson, Scottish FA historian

Rothman's Yearbooks Mike Payne's England: The Complete Post-War Record Norman Giller, Football Author British Pathé