"ENGLAND FORCE THREE 'LEEKS' AT NINIAN" Sports Argus

It was case of 'genius defeating talent' when these two sides met in 1947. The match was decided in the first 15 minutes as the England side put together some superb football to score three times.
 
After only 30 seconds, the Welsh goalkeeper Cyril Sidlow had parried a fierce shot from Stan Mortensen and then saved Tommy Lawton's follow-up header.
 
England were moving brilliantly. Stanley Matthews and Tom Finney were already casting their spells down the wings and after six minutes they took the lead. A fine quick-passing movement sent a ball from Phil Taylor to Matthews, to Wilf Mannion and on to Finney, who scored with his left foot. Finney had failed to score in only one of his internationals so far, a marvellous testament to his finishing skills.

After 11 minutes, Matthews left Barnes in a daze before laying on goal number-two for Mortensen. That was bad enough for Wales, but all too soon their defence was again caught flat-footed. Matthews and Mannion had Jones and Barnes in a right old tangle before Mannion's diagonal pass found Lawton travelling at speed. Sidlow probably no more than heard the centre-forward's shot as it whizzed passed him. There might have been more goals for England before half-time as they had the Welsh defence running in circles.

The second half was much more evenly contested as England, with Mortensen and Scott both suffering from pulled muscles, eased up. Lawton and Mortensen shot wide for England and as Wales fought back, Lowrie missed a good chance close in and Aubrey Powell twice forced Frank Swift into diving saves.

With Taylor having a fine debut and Billy Wright outstanding, Wales could find little change from the English defence. Ronnie Burgess had a good game but Ray Lambert and Walley Barnes had a torrid time. Right until the end, that man Matthews was leaving a trail of red shirts in his wake as England registered their first win on Welsh soil for 13 years.
     

Stanley Matthews continued where he had left off against Belgium in this first Home Championship match of the 1947-48 season. Wales brought in Arsenal's redoubtable defender Walley Barnes for his debut, and gave him the thankless task of marking Matthews. "Stanley ran me dizzy," admitted Barnes, who later became captain of Wales. England were 3-0 up inside the first fifteen minutes, with Matthews running riot on the right wing. Liverpool right-half Phil Taylor came in for his debut as the England selectors continued to fiddle with the line-up. England might have won more convincingly but for both Laurie Scott and Stan Mortensen pulling muscles. This was in the days before substitutes, and so England had two players hobbling through the second-half and had to close the game down.
    

With the exception of Ward, replaced at right-half by Taylor (Liverpool), the same team [that beat Belgium last month] defeated Wales at Cardiff on Oct, 18 in one of the most extraordinary games ever played at Ninian Park. Within the first quarter of an hour England's three goals had all been scored, almost before the crowd could realise it, and there was no further score by either side for the rest of the match. The first of the three came after six minutes, when a movement by Matthews—Mannion—Taylor—Finney allowed the last-named to make a left-footed shot into the net. After five further minutes a brilliant piece of trickery by Matthews put Mortensen in possession for a successful cross-goal shot. A few minutes afterwards Matthews and Mannion together wove a dazzling web round the Welsh halfback line and Lawton, receiving it from Mannion, sent the ball past Sidlow at lightning speed.
After the interval Wales opened a series of attacks which led to four corners in as many minutes, and for a time Swift was comparatively hard-pressed, particularly by A. Powell. A further series of corners for Wales followed later, but nothing came of them. England gave the impression throughout of being invincible; had Mortensen not pulled a muscle in the first half, it is probable that the score would have been higher.