The 34th match between England and Scotland took place on Saturday at the Crystal Palace. The weather was magnificent, and the ground could not possibly have been in finer condition for a fast and clever game. The accommodation at the Palace has been very materially enlarged since last a representative match was played there, and the pavilion is now flanked by two large and commodious stands, in one of which seats are provided for over 100 Pressmen. On all hands the improvements were loudly praised, but the size of Saturday's crowd was not sufficient to put them to a real test. The Scottish International has never appealed to Londoners in any great measure, and only about 38,000 people would be present at the start, and possibly about 45,000 to 50,000 after the interval. There was a slight wind, and of this the Englishmen had the advantage in the opening half.
   Their team had been very carefully chosen, alterations and experiments being made against Ireland and Wales, in order to secure the best side possible. No fewer than seven members of the team were making their first appearance in a game against Scotland, these being Linacre, H. Smith, Ruddlesdin, Roberts, Bridgett, Sharp and Bache, whilst Bridgett and Bache were capped on Saturday for the first time. On the Scottish side, pretty much the same state of affairs existed, as Lyall, Thomson, McWilliam, Howie, Somers, Young, and Wilson had not previously played in such a match. Here also the choice of the team had been a very difficult matter, and it was only by the introduction of seven Anglo-Scots into the eleven that a side was eventually secured which seemed capable of accomplishing the work in hand. However, through this fusion, an excellent eleven was secured, and it was only through a lucky shot—though also a very fine one—by Bache that England managed to win a match wherein most of the honours clearly went to the other side.
   Winning the toss, Spencer naturally elected to take advantage of both wind and sun, but from the start Scotland assumed the aggressive, and after Wilson and Aitken had shot wide, Spencer cleared from a corner, and Linacre stopped a long shot by Young. A dash by Sharp and Bloomer was checked by Thomson, and directly afterwards Bloomer nearly got through from a bad miskick by McCombie. The Northerners generally had the best of the game, but their shooting was poor, while the Englishmen maintained an extremely steady defence. Nearing the interval England played up more strongly, and once, following some smart combination between Bridgett, Woodward, and Bache, Bloomer had a grand opening, but missed the net with a capital shot by inches. Nothing had been scored at half-time.
   On resuming, Scotland pressed so severely that England in rapid succession conceded six corners, all of which proved futile. Once Ruddlesdin, just under the bar. headed out a shot from Aitkin, which Linacre could not have reached, and, later, following some spasmodic attacks by England, Wilson found the net with a beautiful effort, but Somers had previously been pronounced off-side. At length England began to have more of the play, and after Bloomer had had a point disallowed for previous off-side against Bache, the latter scored for the Rose. The ball had been thrown in by Ruddlesdin to Bloomer, who dropped in a long centre. First Bache cleverly trapped the ball, and then, taking steady aim, with plenty of time, beat Lyall at from 25 yards' range, the ball passing high into the net high up in the corner. This happened eleven minutes from the finish, and although Scotland strove desperately to equalise, they failed, and England won rather fortunately.
   

Favoured with delightful weather the 34th annual Association match between England and Scotland took place at the Crystal Palace on Saturday in the presence of more than 30,000 people. England won by one goal to none, and in so doing reduced the balance of games against them to four, the record now standing :-- Scotland, 15 wins ; England, 11 wins ; and eight drawn games. A close and exciting struggle was witnessed, the one goal of the match not being obtained until within ten minutes of the finish, but, except in one particular, the play fell greatly below expectations. This one exception consisted in the work of the half-backs, who tackled with so much skill and judgment that on neither side were the forwards allowed to settle down to really effective combination. In fact it is very rarely that the half-backs control a game so completely from start to finish as they did on Saturday...
It was not until shortly before the close that the winning goal was scored. Receiving the ball from a throw-in, Bloomer centred to Bache, who shot hard just underneath the bar...
In gaining this victory, England carried off the international championship, as they have beaten Wales and Scotland and have drawn with Ireland.