Match Summary

England Team

Scotland Team

The 32nd meeting of England and Scotland under Association rules took place on the Bramall-lane ground at Sheffield on Saturday. Only once previously had the annual match between the two countries been played there, and that was so far back as 1883, when Scotland won by three goals to two. The attendance at Saturday's match was about 32,000. The usual playing area at Bramall-lane was partially discarded, and a portion of the cricket ground was taken in in order to afford more accommodation for spectators. The result of the match was a win for Scotland by two goals to one. The game proved a very stubborn contest. There were intervals of brilliancy, but, taken as a whole, it was more an exhibition of dogged pertinacity than of skilful football. There was far too much indiscriminate kicking and rash shooting for the play to be called high class ; and, moreover, more fouls occurred than ought to be seen in international engagements. The English team, who had the advantage of winning the toss and playing with a strong wind and the sun behind them in the first half, gave the impression of being the sharper of the two sides, especially in the forward line, where the combination was excellent...

...The ball was twice cleverly centred, and at the second opportunity Woodward smartly put the ball through, Doig having no chance of saving the point...

...The attack had its reward at last. Speedie shot a beautiful goal, which Baddeley had not the slightest chance of stopping. Two minutes later Walker gave Scotland the lead. Both goals, it should be said, were got from corners, and Smith centred finely in each case. Occasionally England were dangerous after this, but Scotland were the better side and deserved their victory. - The Times - Monday 6th April, 1903

 

Football League Division One 4 April 1903
Team	P	Pts
The Wednesday	31	40
Sunderland	29	38
Sheffield United	31	35
West Bromwich Albion	30	34
Stoke	29	33
Derby County	29	32
Liverpool	29	31
Aston Villa	28	31
Nottingham Forest	31	31
Everton	31	29
Notts County	29	29
Wolverhampton Wanderers	30	29
Bury	28	28
Middlesbrough	29	27
Newcastle United	29	24
Blackburn Rovers	30	24
Grimsby Town	30	22
Bolton Wanderers	31	17

 

Division One matches played on 4 April 1903:

ASTON VILLA 3-1 WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
Johnson, Garraty, McLuckie (nk)
18,000 (Villa Park, Birmingham)

Wolves were without Tom Baddeley, who played in goal for England against Scotland at Sheffield.

BLACKBURN ROVERS 4-2 BOLTON WANDERERS
7,000 (Ewood Park, Blackburn)

Blackburn were without Bob Crompton, who captained England against Scotland at Sheffield.

BURY 3-1 MIDDLESBROUGH
nk (Davidson)
4,405 (Gigg Lane, Bury)

EVERTON 1-1 THE WEDNESDAY
Settle (Langley pen.)
14,000 (Goodison Park, Liverpool)

Everton were without Tom Booth, who was playing for England against Scotland at Sheffield, as was Wednesday's Harry Davis, who went off injured.

GRIMSBY TOWN 3-1 LIVERPOOL
Ronaldson 2, Rouse (Chadwick)
6,000 (Blundell Park, Cleethorpes)

Liverpool were without Sandy Raisbeck, who was playing for Scotland against England at Sheffield.

NOTTINGHAM FOREST 3-2 NEWCASTLE UNITED
nk (Gardner 2)
4,000 (City Ground, Nottingham)

Newcastle were without Aitken and Templeton, who were playing for Scotland against England at Sheffield.

STOKE 3-0 WEST BROMWICH ALBION
Higginson, Watkins, Whitehouse
5,540 (victoria Ground, Stoke)

Stoke were without Arthur Capes, who was making his international debut for England against Scotland at Sheffield.

SUNDERLAND 2-1 NOTTS COUNTY
11,000 (Roker Park, Sunderland)

Sunderland were without Doig (in goal), McCombie and Watson, who were playing for Scotland against England at Sheffield, whilst Notts County were without Percy Humphreys, who was making his international debut for England.

West Brom were now in freefall, after losing their fifth game in succession. This awful run would stretch to eight defeats, whilst Wednesday secured the Championship.

Football League Division Two 4 April 1903
Team	P	Pts
Manchester City	31	50
Small Heath	30	45
Woolwich Arsenal	31	43
Bristol City	31	38
Chesterfield Town	29	32
Manchester United	28	31
Preston North End	29	29
Lincoln City	30	29
Burslem Port Vale	29	29
Glossop	30	27
Barnsley	27	26
Blackpool	31	26
Burton United	29	26
Leicester Fosse	29	23
Gainsborough Trinity	28	23
Doncaster Rovers	30	22
Burnley	31	18
Stockport County	31	17

 

Division Two matches played on 4 April 1903:

BLACKPOOL 2-0 LEICESTER FOSSE
Duckworth 2
4,000 (Bloomfield Road, Blackpool)

BRISTOL CITY 3-0 BURSLEM PORT VALE
2,000 (St John's Lane, Bristol)

BURTON UNITED 1-1 BARNSLEY
2,000 (Peel Croft, Burton)

DONCASTER ROVERS 2-1 LINCOLN CITY
2,000 (Intake Ground, Doncaster)

GAINSBOROUGH TRINITY 3-2 CHESTERFIELD TOWN
nk (Milward, Newton)
2,000 (The Northolme, Gainsborough)

GLOSSOP 1-0 PRESTON NORTH END
1,000 (North Road, Glossop)

MANCHESTER UNITED 4-0 BURNLEY
Peddie 2, Griffiths, Morrison
5,000 (Bank Street, Manchester)

STOCKPORT COUNTY 0-2 MANCHESTER CITY
(Gillespie, Turnbull)
10,000 (Edgeley Park, Stockport)

WOOLWICH ARSENAL 6-1 SMALL HEATH
Coleman 2, Gooing 2, Linward 2 (McRoberts)
15,000 (Manor Ground, London)

 

 

Manchester City clinched promotion back to the First Division. Small Heath went down heavily in London, but would still grab the runners-up spot.

IN OTHER NEWS...

Stockton beat Oxford City, 1-0 at Darlington in the FA Amateur Cup final replay.

It was on 4 April 1903 that a Board of Trade inquiry into the stranding of a Swansea fishing trawler off the coast of Caldey Island, came to the conclusion that all but the captain had been drunk at the time.

Source Notes

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