England had nearly always been assured of victory in Northern Ireland but on this occasion they came so very close to losing. Despite an inspired opening burst, they ended the match hanging on for dear life to the draw.

The visitors began with a devastating first nine minutes. With the magnificent win in Germany still fresh in their memory. England played some superb football. They pushed the ball around with arrogance and confidence and twice in the opening seconds, Ronnie Clayton and Don Revie set up Stan Matthews to provide tantalising centres to fully test the Irish rearguard.

This was followed up in the third minute with a glorious goal. Fine interpassing between Duncan Edwards, Revie and Tommy Taylor ended with the centre-forward putting a square pass inside to Revie. Revie flicked it to his right and Stan Matthews came in to shoot a lovely, low left-foot shot into the far corner. It was his first international goal for eight years and, coincidentally, his last one was also against the Irish at Windsor Park.

A rare goal from Stanley Matthews (his eleventh and last in international football) after just two minutes gave England a dream start, but they were hustled out of their stride by a Northern Ireland team motivated by a dazzling performance from skipper Danny Blanchflower. Jimmy McIlroy equalised after ten minutes when goalkeeper Reg Matthews palmed a long throw from Peter McParland into his path.  McIlroy was faced with an open goal five minutes from the end but hit a post. If he had found the net, it would have given Northern Ireland their first home win over England since 1927.  There was a lot of good-natured ribbing of Stanley Matthews over his goal. His last goal for England had been eight years earlier, also against Northern Ireland and also at Windsor Park. Jackie Blanchflower, Danny's brother and always a quick wit, asked: "Why does he always pick on us?" Danny himself came into the dressing-room after the match and told Stanley that he had been a schoolboy spectator in short trousers when he scored his last goal. "You'll have a long beard by the time I score the next one," said Stanley, with that poker-faced humour of his. Danny had a magnificent match, and it was clear the Irish were getting a powerful team together for their World Cup challenge.
  

Before a crowd of 58,000 excited enthusiasts, Ireland came very close to beating England for the first time in many years in a hard-fought game at Belfast. In the early stages England played some delightful football, with halves and forwards making quick first-time precision passes. The result was an early goal in which Edwards, Taylor, and Revie all played a part, but this setback merely encouraged the Irishmen to play harder. Close marking and strong tackling gradually upset the English forwards and a typical long throw into the goalmouth by McParland resulted in McIlroy volleying the equaliser. For the remainder of the game Ireland attacked strongly and were rather unlucky not to win.