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"FORGET
ENGLAND'S BIG WIN: ATTACK STILL WILL NOT DO"
The People |
Officials |
Wales |
UK ruling on substitutes |
England |
Referee
John
Alexander
Mowat 42/43
(1906), Rutherglen |
|
Linesmen |
T.L. Davies
Ynyshir |
N.C. Taylor
Westbury |
|
|
Wales
Team |
|
Rank |
No official ranking system established; ELO rating 19th to 21st |
Colours |
Made by Umbro -
Red jerseys with white collars,
white shorts with red side strip,
red socks with white tops. |
Captain |
Wally Barnes |
Manager |
Charles Leyfield, 37 (30 October 1911), appointed 4 October
1949. Team chosen on Monday, 3 October 1949. |
Trainer: Walter Robbins (Cardiff City FC) |
Wales
Lineup |
|
Sidlow, Cyril |
31 323 days |
26 November 1915 |
G |
Liverpool FC, England |
7 |
15ᵍᵃ |
final app
1946-49 |
2 |
Barnes, Wallace |
29 272 days |
16 January 1920 |
RB |
Arsenal FC, England |
7 |
0 |
3 |
Sherwood, Alfred T. |
25 336 days |
13 November 1923 |
LB |
Cardiff City FC |
10 |
0 |
4 |
Paul, Roy |
29 180days |
18 April 1920 |
RHB |
Swansea Town FC |
6 |
0 |
5 |
Jones, Thomas G. |
32 3 days |
12 October 1917 |
CHB |
Everton FC, England |
15 |
0 |
6 |
Burgess, W.A.
Ronald |
32 189 days |
9 April 1917 |
LHB |
Tottenham Hotspur FC, England |
12 |
0 |
7
|
Griffiths, W.
Malwyn |
30 221 days |
8 March 1919 |
OR |
Leicester City FC, England |
4 |
1 |
8 |
Lucas, William H. |
31 273 days |
15 January 1918 |
IR |
Swansea Town FC |
6 |
0 |
9 |
Ford, Trevor |
26 14 days |
1 October 1923 |
CF |
Aston Villa FC, England |
11 |
8 |
10 |
Scrine, Francis H. |
24 279 days |
9 January 1925 |
IL |
Swansea Town FC |
1 |
0 |
11 |
Edwards, George |
28 317 days |
2 December 1920 |
OL |
Cardiff City FC, England |
11 |
2 |
reserve: |
Billy Baker (Cardiff City FC). |
|
2-3-5 |
Sidlow - Barnes, Sherwood - Paul, Jones, Burgess -
Griffiths, Lucas, Ford, Scrine, Edwards. |
Averages: |
Age |
29 years 221 days |
Appearances/Goals |
8.2 |
0.9 |
oldest opposing postwar team so far |
|
|
England
Team |
|
Rank |
No official ranking system established; ELO rating 5th to 4th |
Colours |
The 1949 home
uniform -
White collared jerseys, blue shorts, black socks with white
tops.
|
P 6th of 43, W 3 - D 0 - L 3 - F
13 - A 11. |
Captain |
Billy Wright |
Manager |
Walter Winterbottom, 36 (31 March 1913), appointed as FA national director of coaching/team manager on 8 July 1946; |
9th of 90, W 6 - D 0 - L
3 - F 26 - A
13. |
P 24th of 139, W 17 - D 3 - L 4 - F 79 - A 25. |
¹ |
Team chosen by Selection Committee headed by Arthur Drewry on
Saturday, 8 October. |
England
Lineup |
|
four
changes to the previous match (Harris,
Morris, Pye & Mannion out) |
league position
(8 October) |
|
|
Williams, Bert F. |
29 257 days |
31 January 1920 |
G |
Wolverhampton Wanderers FC
(FL TOP) |
3 |
4ᵍᵃ |
2 |
Mozley, Bert |
26 24 days |
21 September 1923 |
RB |
Derby County FC
(FL 14th) |
2 |
0 |
3 |
Aston, John |
28 42 days |
3 September 1921 |
LB |
Manchester United FC
(FL 3rd) |
9 |
0 |
4 |
Wright, William A., injured
off 37th min. Returned 46th min. |
25 251 days |
6 February 1924 |
RHB /OL |
Wolverhampton Wanderers FC
(FL TOP) |
24 |
1 |
5 |
Franklin,
Cornelius, also injured |
27 264 days |
24 January 1922 |
CHB |
Stoke
City FC (FL 19th) |
24 |
0 |
6 |
Dickinson, James W. |
24 174 days |
24 April 1925 |
LHB |
Portsmouth FC (FL 6th) |
4 |
0 |
7
|
Finney,
Thomas |
27 193 days |
5 April 1922 |
OR/IL |
Preston
North End FC (FL2
2nd) |
20 |
14 |
the 21st player to reach the 20-app milestone |
8
|
Mortensen, Stanley H. |
28 142 days |
26 May 1921 |
IR/ RHB |
Blackpool FC
(FL 7th) |
13 |
15 |
9
|
Milburn, John E.T. |
25 157 days |
11 May 1924 |
CF |
Newcastle United FC
(FL 9th) |
5 |
6 |
the
148th (15th post-war)
brace,
the 44th (7th post-war)
hattrick scored |
10
|
Shackleton, Leonard F. |
27 165 days |
3 May 1922 |
IL/IR |
Sunderland AFC
(FL 13th) |
3 |
0 |
11 |
Hancocks, John |
30 167 days |
30 April 1919 |
OL/OR |
Wolverhampton Wanderers FC
(FL TOP) |
2 |
2 |
reserve: |
Phil Taylor (Liverpool FC (FL 2nd)) |
team notes: |
Shortly before half-time, Billy Wright had been injured, he tore a
thigh muscle. Milburn's hat-trick is England's first in World Cup
qualifying, and the 25th in the British Championships. |
|
2-3-5 |
Williams - Mozley, Aston - Wright (Mortensen), Franklin, Dickinson -
Finney (Hancocks), Mortensen (Shackleton), Milburn, Shackleton
(Finney), Hancocks (Wright).
notes:
"The withdrawal of Wright from right-half necessitated a series of
changes, with Hancocks in his normal position on the right-wing
partnered by Shackleton, and Finney, at inside-left, while Mortensen
dropped back to right-half." - Monday, 17 October 1949,
Western Daily Press. |
Averages: |
Age |
27 years 69 days |
Appearances/Goals |
9.9 |
3.1 |
|
|
Match Report by
Mike Payne |
Anxious
to get back to winning ways after their humiliating defeat by the Republic
of Ireland the previous month, England went to Cardiff to face Wales in
front of 61,000 passionate home supporters packed into Ninian Park.
A rousing version of Men of Harlech
greeted the two teams and for the first 20 minutes Wales put the England
defence under extreme pressure. Bert Mozley and John Aston both made
slight errors but quickly recovered before any damage was done.
Neil Franklin and Bert Williams
both had treatment after severe buffetings from the powerful Ford, and
when Griffiths cut inside Aston to shoot just over, Wales scented victory.
However, within the space of 12 hectic minutes, a breathtaking burst by
England saw them take a 3-0 lead.
After 22 minutes Jackie Milburn,
taking a pass from Billy Wright, brought Sidlow to a full-length save.
From the resultant corner, taken by Tom Finney, the ball was brilliantly
headed back by Milburn for Stan Mortensen to head into the net.
Seconds later, England were celebrating another goal. This time a clever
move between Mortensen and Johnny Hancocks ended with Sidlow clawing away
the winger's centre untidily. Finney quickly lobbed the ball back into the
middle, where Milburn glided it into the net.
Almost at once it was
3-0. Milburn, who was looking better than any England number-nine since
Tommy Lawton, strode through the hesitant Welsh defence to score after a
well-timed pass from Len Shackleton. The crowd were well and truly
silenced, and although territorially the scoreline was unrepresentative of
the play, there was no disputing England's finishing power.
An
early second-half injury to Wright upset England's rhythm and the skipper
spent much of this half hobbling out on the left wing. This meant several
positional changes for the visitors and, as a result, Wales had most of
the play. They attacked for long spells. Burgess almost scored with a
30-yard blockbuster and Mozley cleared off the line from Ford.
Yet,
amazingly, and ironically it was England who scored again.
Good
work by Shackleton and Finney, (who cut out the over-elaboration to
produce one of his best games), set up Milburn to once again beat Sidlow
with a header. With Williams also now hobbling and only able to throw the
ball, it seemed odds-on that Wales would score. But it was not until ten
minutes from the end that they did. This time it was Griffiths who finally
beat Williams after the goalkeeper had saved brilliantly from Ford.
It was unfortunate that Wright's injury has disrupted the England
forward line as their first-half performance had shown considerable
promise.
|
Match Report by
Norman Giller |
The four home countries had
agreed to take part in the World Cup for the first time, and FIFA dictated
that the Home Championship should be the qualifying stage for the finals
in Brazil in the summer of 1950. The first two teams were to qualify, but
Scotland announced that they would only go if they won the Home
Championship.
This was the first ever
World Cup qualifying match in which England or Wales had taken part. Jackie
Milburn scored a spectacular hat-trick, and England won comfortably despite
having Billy Wright struggling on the wing for most of the second-half with a
torn thigh muscle. The game was virtually settled during an England blitz
midway through the first-half when they scored three goals in twelve minutes.
Milburn made it 4-0 when he completed his hat-trick to puncture an attempted
revival by Wales, who had to be content with a late goal by Mal Griffiths
after goalkeeper Bert Williams had saved brilliantly from Trevor Ford. Even though he was a virtual passenger for much of the second
half, Wright continued to have an influence on the match with his quiet words
of encouragement.
|
Match Report
as appears in the F.A. Yearbook 1950-51, page 23 |
For the match against Wales at Ninian Park, Cardiff, on October 15th, only
Finney was retained in the forward-line. The newcomers were Mortensen (Blackpool),
Milburn (Newcastle), Shackleton (Sunderland) and Hancocks (Wolverhampton
Wanderers). The new forward-line worked together well, Mortensen scored
from a centre by Milburn in the 20th minute; five minutes later Milburn
scored again. England's third goal, perhaps the best of the match, began
with a swift exchange of passes between Wright and Dickinson, followed by
a fifty-yard dribble by Shackleton, and ended with a low drive by Milburn
into the net. In the second-half the forward-line did not function as
well as in the first half, and the defence was under great pressure.
Williams made one of his best saves of the day when he turned a
thirty-yard drive from Burgess over the bar. Soon afterwards Milburn
completed his hat-trick by heading England's fourth goal. Griffiths
replied for Wales two minutes later.
|
In
Other News....
It was on 16 October 1949 that the Greek Civil War came to an end
after three years of fighting when the communist rebels
surrendered, with many fleeing the country into Albania. |
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Source Notes |
TheFA.com
Original newspaper reports
Official
Matchday Programme
Wales' Complete Who's Who since 1946 |
|
Rothman's Yearbooks
Mike Payne's England: The Complete Post-War Record
Norman Giller, Football Author
Clive Leatherdale's England's Quest For The World Cup
British Pathé |
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