Match Summary

England Team

Scotland Team

The Association match of the year maintained its high traditions of excellence, and it was only after a great demonstration of the finer arts of football that England beat Scotland, at Birmingham, on Saturday, by two goals to one. To the average spectator perhaps the game was lacking in some of the picturesqueness which is expected in fixtures of this international kind, but to those of practical experience in the game Saturday's  match was full of excellence. And the thing that must have been most appreciated by those keener judges of the play was the work of the English half-backs, with whom lay really the secret of England's success. For some years now the development of the duties of half-back in Association football has made this line in the game as vital as it is in Rugby Union ; and that this is so was well illustrated on Saturday...

England scored their two goals in the first half of the game at periods of 25 minutes and 40 minutes from the start. The first was by G. O. Smith, to whom fortune was kind ; he lofted the ball at a 20 yards range over the heads of the halves and full backs, and the shot took effect in the top angle of the left post, the ball rebounding into the net off the post. But the second goal was a masterpiece. Athersmith got down on the right, and, with his opponents closing in on him, he middled to Settle, who had the goal at his mercy.

The Scotsmen played a tremendous game at the beginning of the second half, and in seven or eight minutes the ball was bullied through after the goalkeeper had fallen...

Their large ground at Aston was thronged by a company 40,000 strong, and the methods for dealing with such a company were perfectly carried out. - The Times - Monday 10th April, 1899

 

Football League Division One 8 April 1899
Team	P	Pts
Liverpool	31	39
Aston Villa	29	37
Burnley	31	37
Blackburn Rovers	32	35
Notts County	32	35
Everton	31	34
Wolverhampton Wanderers	32	33
Bury	31	32
Sunderland	32	32
Derby County	32	31
Nottingham Forest	32	31
Stoke	31	31
West Bromwich Albion	32	30
Sheffield United	32	29
Newcastle United	32	28
Preston North End	31	27
The Wednesday	32	23
Bolton Wanderers	31	22

 

Division One matches played on 8 April 1899:

BURNLEY 1-0 SUNDERLAND
Ferguson
6,000 (Turf Moor, Burnley)

Sunderland were without Ted Doig, who was playing in goal for Scotland against England at Birmingham.

BURY 2-0 NOTTS COUNTY
Brimblecombe, Wood
3,021 (Gigg Lane, Bury)

Bury were without Settle, who scored, what turned out to be, the winner for England against Scotland at Birmingham, and Sagar, who was a reserve for England.

LIVERPOOL 4-0 DERBY COUNTY
Walker 3, Raisbeck
15,000 (Anfield, Liverpool)

Liverpool were without Howell, who was playing for England against Scotland at Birmingham, and Morgan, who was playing for Scotland, whilst Derby were without Steve Bloomer, who was playing for England.

NEWCASTLE UNITED 1-0 BLACKBURN ROVERS
MacFarlane
12,000 (St. James' Park, Newcastle)

NOTTINGHAM FOREST 1-2 BOLTON WANDERERS
Spencer pen. (Morgan 2)
3,000 (City Ground, Nottingham)

Forest were without Frank and Fred Forman, who were playing for England against Scotland at Birmingham.

PRESTON NORTH END 4-0 WEST BROMWICH ALBION
Pratt 3, Gara
2,976 (Deepdale, Preston)

STOKE 2-1 EVERTON
Tooth, Johnson (Boyle)
3,000 (Victoria Ground, Stoke)

 

Although Liverpool hit the front with only three games left, Aston Villa still had two games in hand. Yet they didn't return to the top until their penultimate game, and then only on goal average. The two teams met in their last game, level on points, in the ultimate Championship decider at Villa Park. Villa won 5-0 and picked up their fourth title in six years.

Football League Division Two 8 April 1899
Team	P	Pts
Manchester City	32	48
Glossop	32	43
New Brighton Tower	31	41
Leicester Fosse	31	41
Small Heath	31	39
Woolwich Arsenal	32	39
Burslem Port Vale	33	39
Newton Heath	31	39
Walsall	32	38
Grimsby Town	30	31
Barnsley	32	29
Lincoln City	31	29
Burton Swifts	32	26
Gainsborough Trinity	32	23
Luton Town	30	21
Blackpool	32	18
Loughborough	31	16
Darwen	31	6

 

Division Two matches played on 8 April 1899:

DARWEN 0-2 BLACKPOOL
(Leadbetter, Morris)
 1,500 (Barley Bank, Darwen)

GLOSSOP 0-0 BURSLEM PORT VALE
 3,500 (North Road, Glossop)

LINCOLN CITY 1-6 GRIMSBY TOWN
Swan (Ratcliffe 2, Cockshutt, Richards, Mountain, Greenwood)
5,000 (Sincil Bank, Lincoln)

LUTON TOWN 0-1 NEWTON HEATH
(Lee)
 2,000 (Dunstable Road, Luton)

MANCHESTER CITY 2-0 SMALL HEATH
F.Williams 2,1 pen.
 20,000 (Hyde Road, Manchester)

WOOLWICH ARSENAL 4-0 NEW BRIGHTON TOWER
Cottrell 2, Haywood, Hunt
 3,000 (Manor Ground, London)

 

 

 

Manchester City became the first ever Football League club to win automatic promotion by virtue of their league position, when a large crowd saw them clinch the Second Division Championship as well. The test matches had been abolished after the manipulative collusion between Stoke and Burnley in the previous season.

 

 

IN OTHER NEWS...

It was on 7 April 1899 that an eleven-year-old boy, Edward Bates, was killed in a horrific accident whilst taking part in a stage play at Oadby in Leicestershire. He was shot in the face and his jaw was shattered when an old muzzleloader gun unexpectedly produced a violent discharge during a fight scene. The gun had been tested beforehand and fired twice without any danger, but it was thought that the testing had dried the pellets inside and they were to injure another seven people with one boy being blinded.

Source Notes

England Football Factbook: Cris Freddi
Scottish Football Association
Scotland - The Complete International Record: Richard Keir
London Hearts
original newspaper reports
FA Yearbooks 1950-60
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CG