England ended their 1965 summer tour on a very high note, winning here in Sweden for the first time since the war. It was not an especially memorable game but England came to do a job and they did it most effectively. Both teams had leading players out with injuries and with the game being televised live coupled with a miserably cold, wet and grey day, the crowd was kept down to a mere 18,000 brave souls.

England quickly assumed command as the match began with Nobby Stiles, George Cohen, Bobby Moore and Jack Charlton dominant. When they eventually took the lead with a fine goal on 18 minutes, it seemed only a matter of how many they would win by. England had already come very close to scoring moments earlier when a super move involving Alan Ball, Terry Paine and the tireless Stiles ended with Arvidsson turning away a cracking shot by Ball.

Seconds later the goal did come. Moore had taken a long free-kick and young centre-forward Mick Jones leapt high above the experienced Bergmark to touch it on for Ball to run in on the blind side and blast it past the goalkeeper for his first international goal.

The crowd, dotted around the stadium under black umbrellas, were silenced by the goal and as the match wore on it seemed that England would surely add to their lead. But just when it seemed that Gordon Banks would be unemployed for the whole ninety minutes a rare mistake by Moore let in Sweden for an equalizer. It was the 38th minute when a cross from the left by Persson floated in. Moore tried to collect the ball on the half-turn but it slipped away from him and there, suddenly, was Eriksson nipping in to put the ball into England's net with Banks helpless.

It was an amazing situation as England had had more than enough chances to have made the game safe by now, but here they were leaving the field at half-time all-square.

To the credit of their professionalism, England began the second half in a very determined mood and as the half progressed, they totally dominated the Swedes. Chances came and went and once Paine made a sparkling run, flying past Nordqvist and Wing only to be unceremoniously up-ended by the left-back for what appeared to be an obvious penalty.

To everyone's amazement, though, the French referee waved play on and the disgusted England players had to look elsewhere for a goal. The pressure they were exerting had to tell, though, and with just over a quarter of an hour left it did, with another well-taken effort.

Cohen, always lively in his support of his forwards, received the ball from Banks and moved it swiftly on to Paine The winger hit a first-time centre into the middle, where John Connelly came inside to apply a deft touch to send the ball past Arvidsson.

For the remainder of the match England continued to pepper the Swedish goal with good shots. Stiles, always at the heart of the action, Ball and Eastham went very close to adding to the scoreline, but in the end England had to be content with the 2-1 win. Obviously it was very disappointing to have so much of the game without emphasising their superiority with more goals, but nothing could detract from the fact that England had now completed a very successful and satisfying tour.
  

Alan Ball scored his first goal in international football and John Connelly snatched a seventy-fifth minute winner in a game in which the mudheap of a pitch got the better of most of the players. Nobby Stiles lost his contact lenses and a special lubricant had to be flown in from London on match day so that he could wear a spare pair. He and Ball dominated the midfield with their combination of high energy and fierce competitive spirit that would in today's non-contact game have generated a rash of red cards. The Swedish goal came following a rare mistake by Bobby Moore when he lost control of the ball in the treacherous conditions. England has finished their summer tour without defeat, and more people started to come round to the Ramsey conviction that England really could win the World Cup.
  

Source Notes

TheFA.com
Original newspaper reports
Rothman's Yearbooks
Mike Payne's England: The Complete Post-War Record (Breedon Books Publishing Company, Derby, U.K., 1993)
Norman Giller, Football Author
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CG