England Team

A windswept Hampden Park produced the first goalless draw between these sides since their first meeting way back in 1872. It was a game dominated by Scotland, but despite having 90 per-cent of the possession, they created very few, clear chances.

With Stein and Johnstone in sharp form, Scotland pushed forward from the start. Always, though, they reached a 'brick wall' in the form of an efficient England defence. It was testament to their skill that Gordon Banks was not tested until late-on. Yet England were very lucky just before the interval, when Stein burst into the penalty-area, only to go spawling over Brian Labone's outstretched leg. It seemed a certain penalty but to the dismay of the packed 'house', the referee waved play on.

After an uneventful first half, apart from that incident, the crowd looked to an improvement in the second half. England continued to 'soak up' lots of Scottish pressure but refused to concede anything. There was nobody on the end of a dangerous Johnstone cross and then O'Hare missed a fine chance, hooking wide from a good position. Johnstone, Greig, Hay and Carr set up attack after attack, but all too often it petered out before entering the danger zone.

Emlyn Hughes made a saving lunge from Hay and then Stiles intercepted a dangerous O'Hare centre. But it was not until the last moments that Scotland finally forced Banks into a save, a double-one at that. Fierce shots by Stein and Johnstone were saved at full-length as Scotland pushed desperately for the goal they wanted. But they could not break through and the game ended goalless. However, it was not before two other controversial incidents.

Scotland again screamed for a penalty after Stein was tripped a second time, by Stiles, but again the referee would have none of it. Then, as England awoke from their defensive slumbers and put together a late attack, a goal by Geoff Hurst's header from Martin Peters's cross in the dying seconds was ruled out by a mysterious, offside decision. Had that goal stood then the referee would probably have never been able to leave the ground!

Perhaps it was 'poetic justice', but at the end of it all the Home Championship ended in a three-way tie with England, Scotland and Wales all ending-up with four points.
  

This was England's final game before flying off for the World Cup warm-up games in South America, and the Scots were 'hell-bent' on giving them a morale-sapping defeat as a farewell-present. England were equally determined not to be beaten and the game became bogged down in a midfield stalemate. A buffeting wind whipped around Hampden and made ball-control difficult, robbing the 137,438 spectators of what had been an anticipated classic. The game produced the first goalless draw between Scotland and England since the first-ever international football match between them back in 1872.
  

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