This was just the boost the England team wanted before their World Cup challenge and it was all inspired by the irrepressible Jimmy Greaves. The Spurs striker gave a superb performance, netting four of the six goals and running the poor Norwegians ragged.

Ironically, it all began so disastrously for England. After only four minutes an appalling back-pass by Ron Flowers left Ron Springett stranded and gave Sunde the simplest of scoring chances. For the next quarter of an hour England struggled to sort themselves out but on the 19th minute, Greaves began his night of glory. Roger Hunt broke down the right and his sharp cross was headed home by the England number-eight.

Now the floodgates opened and within three more minutes it was 3-1 to England. The second goal came after a Greaves run took him half the length of the field. Under pressure from defenders all the way, Greaves remained cool as he drew the goalkeeper and gently placed the ball wide of him. Within seconds, Greaves was on target again, this time with a typical piece of poaching after John Connelly and the 'keeper had collided. The ball ran loose and whilst others watched and waited, Greaves pounced like a hungry tiger.

It was all vintage stuff and England's all-round performance was now carving the Norwegians apart. It was football worthy of any pitch, on any occasion and soon Greaves was adding a fourth goal, shooting home from a tight angle after good work by Terry Paine and Connelly had set him up. Before half-time, England made it 5-1 when the skipper Bobby Moore moved forward positively and drilled a spectacular 25-yard shot past Andersen.

England went through the second half content with the lead they had, but continuing with a brand of football that gave Norway no chance of a recovery. Bobby Charlton showed some lovely touches it what was a flawless display.

They did manage one goal in this half, when Bobby Charlton twisted magnificently and tapped a pass through a defender's legs for Connelly to shoot home the sixth goal.

The England players had been threatening a big score for a while and Norway could count themselves unlucky to have been on the receiving end, for on the day everything came together for England and Greaves made it 43 goals in 49 internationals with one of his sharpest performances.
  

Jimmy Greaves scored four goals for the second time in his international career against a Norwegian team that was out of its depth. A misplaced back pass by Ron Flowers gifted the Norwegians a fourth minute lead, but from then on England totally dominated play. Greaves scored all his goals in the first-half and was now top England goalscorer with 43 goals from 49 international matches. Bobby Moore got on the scoresheet with a twenty-five yard drive that could have come from the boot of Bobby Charlton, who created the sixth goal for John Connelly in a second-half played at exhibition pace. FA and Chelsea chairman Joe Mears, a long-time friend and supporter of Greaves, died of a heart attack in Oslo the day after the match, which threw a blanket of despair over the entire squad. Mears, 'Mr Chelsea', had been a driving force in the preparations for England's hosting of the World Cup finals.
  

Making nine changes from the team which was on duty at Helsinki, England won easily in Oslo. Manager Ramsey was obviously using the tour as a warming-up finale to his World Cup games ahead. Norway took the lead after four minutes through Sunde, following a defensive slip-up. The equalizer did not come until the 20th minute, but then England scored three times in the space of three minutes, through Greaves (two) and Connelly. A fourth goal was scored by Moore after 40 minutes, while Greaves completed his hat-trick and the goalscoring for the first half just on half-time. Taking things very easily, England added only one more goal in the second half. Once again the goalscorer was Greaves, thereby surpassing Bobby Charlton as England's leading goalscorer.
  

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