Match Summary

England Team

Scotland Team

Match Report The Illustrated Sporting and Theatrical News, Saturday, 12 March 1870, page 7.

   

This match took place at Kennington Oval on Saturday in the presence of a very numerous assemblage of spectators. The match was first fixed for Saturday, the 19th of February, but was postponed in consequence of the severe frost until Saturday last. Both sides were well represented, though the Scottish eleven were crippled by the unavoidable retirement of Lord Kilmarnock and R. N. Ferguson. Soon after a quarter past three o'clock the English captain, having lost the toss for choice of goals, and thereby placed his eleven under the disadvantage of contending against an unusually strong wind, kicked off, the ground, it may be added, being rather too greasy for dribbling purposes. During the early portion of the game the Scottish team held a slight advantage, the opposition of the wind, combined with the slippery nature of the ground, prevented the Englishmen from making any impression on the ranks of their opponents. Gradually, however, warming to their work, and becoming more accustomed to each other's game, the English eleven commenced to assail the quarters occupied by their rivals, and although, when three quarters of an hour had elapsed, and a change of ends was necessitated, no event of moment had fallen to either side, it was

apparent that the tide was steadily turning in favor of the English. At four o'clock positions were accordingly reversed and from this time the English, aided by the wind, kept their opponents closely besieged, the excellent defence of Messrs W H Gladstone and A Morten, the latter of whom proved a most efficient goal keeper, alone frustrating the ceaseless attacks of Baker, Crake and Vidal among the English forwards. This siege of the Scottish lines was never raised until a quarter of an hour before the time fixed for the cessation of the game, when owing to an excess of confidence on the part of the English captain the English goal, which had been left quite unprotected, fell to a long and rather lucky kick by R E Crawford, this evidently unexpected success of the Scotchmen creating no little excitement among their partisans. After the further change of ends the Englishmen awakened to the necessity of renewed exertions, playing up with desperate energy, and their efforts were happily rewarded just as time was called by a most brilliant run on the part of A Baker, who thus saved England from the odium of defeat and left the question of the respective merits of the two countries on the football field as open a question as before the commencement of the match.

       Source Notes

Andy Mitchell's First Elevens: The birth of international football original newspaper report Douglas Lamming's A Century of English International Football 1872-1988 Douglas Lamming's A Scottish Internationalists' Who's Who 1872-1986

Mark Shaoul & Tony Williamson's Forever England: A History of the National Side CricInfo Original newspaper reports