"Park your brains on the touchline, son — you won't be needing them in our team. And if you want to be a ball-player, laddie, go right ahead—but you can forget about playing for your country if your country happens to be England. That is the clear manifesto presented to the footballers of England by the F.A. selectors. Matthews is out of the England team to play Ireland at Wembley next Wednesday, Revie is out, Lofthouse is out and Jezzard is in his place. Johnny Haynes is in, but not at inside left. That is too easy. Oh no, make him an inside RIGHT. There are two new caps, Ronnie Clayton, of Blackburn, and Bill Perry, of Blackpool. Banish the ball-players, bring in the bashers and runners and bumpers and borers." - Bob Ferrier, The Daily Mirror, Friday, 28 October 1955
  

To help celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Irish FA, England decided, for the first time, to play them at Wembley. Alas, the game did not live up to the extra prestige of the venue and it will be quickly forgotten. The football matched the greyness of the day and the first half was dull and unimaginative. Ireland had a good deal of the play but neither side threatened much in front of goal.

The one shining light in all this gloom was the youthful Johnny Haynes. Here was a player of real class, who showed a maturity well beyond his years. His superb passing and two footed skills were the main features of this match.

Ireland looked out of place at Wembley. One of the smallest crowds ever assembled for an important international, only 62,000 had little to warm their hearts. True, there was plenty of effort but the general play fell well short of what is expected at this level. The only memorable incident of the first-half came when one of the many passes by Haynes found Bedford Jezzard who beat Uprichard with a shot, only for Graham to save the day with a goal-line clearance.

At the other end, Ron Baynham looked decidedly shaky on crosses and the wing-halves. Ronnie Clayton and Jimmy Dickinson, never imposed themselves on the play. Up front Tom Finney never made the impact that Stan Matthews might have done, despite making several runs. Finney seemed to find it difficult at times to raise his game on the big occasions as Matthews does.

Predictably, the half ended goalless, but five minutes into the second period the match suddenly burst into life. Baynham made a superb point-blank save from Tully and then play swung brilliantly to the other end via a fine triangular move involving Haynes, Dennis Wilshaw and Jezzard. Haynes finally delivered a defence-splitting reverse diagonal pass for Wilshaw to take possession, side-step Uprichard and shoot into the empty net.

If ever a pass won a match, it was Haynes' at that moment. Ireland were now down, and two minutes later they were out as England scored again. This time Jezzard sent Finney away. The winger sent over a deep centre which was lobbed back into the middle by Bill Perry. It dropped under the crossbar and Wilshaw was on the spot to head home. It was ironic in some ways as the Wolves striker had been largely anonymous, and yet here he was with two goals under his belt.

The victory was rounded off by Finney in the 88th minute. Haynes was again at the heart of the move and when Finney received Jezzard's square pass, his change of direction and acceleration took him inside Graham before a diagonal shot beat Uprichard and found the far corner. It was Finney's first goal since the World Cup match against Uruguay.

It was a disappointing performance from England who needed to improve for the forthcoming visit of Spain.
   

Fulham clubmates Johnny Haynes and Bedford Jezzard played alongside each other for the only time in an England international. Haynes, partnering Tom Finney on the right wing, played farther upfield than usual to confuse his marker, Danny Blanchflower, and it was mainly because of his probing passes that England won comfortably with two goals from Dennis Wilshaw and another from Finney. Jezzard's career was ended a year later by an ankle injury. South African-born Bill Perry came into the attack in place of his Blackpool team-mate Stanley Matthews, and Ronnie Clayton won the first of his thirty-five caps. This was Northern Ireland's first appearance at Wembley, and the only time they threatened to mark the occasion with a goal was when Charlie Tully had a point-blank shot superbly saved by goalkeeper Ron Baynham in the second half.
  

England were aiming for a third successive outright British Championship, but had already lost 2-1 to Wales at Ninian Park. Northern Ireland had beaten Scotland 2-1 at Windsor Park and were making their first appearance at Wembley. They had not beaten England since 1927 when they won 2-0 at Windsor Park.
The Irish defence held out until just after half-time. A brilliant pass from Haynes left Dennis Wilshaw with only Uprichard to beat which he did with ease. Two minutes later from Finney's cross, Perry lobbed for Wilshaw to head his second over the 'keeper. In the 89th minute, from a pass by Jezzard, Tom Finney cut inside and shot into the corner for England's third.
This was the only occasion that all four teams shared the British Championship. England had now won a record five successive titles while Northern Ireland's success was their first since 1914. They would be back two years later to secure a memorable victory.
  

This match, played at Wembley on November 2nd, turned out to be rather an undistinguished game. Apart from another immaculate defensive display by Wright, the outstanding feature was the proof that the youthful Haynes had blossomed into a really good inside-forward, whose use of the long through-pass was both astute and accurate. After an uninspiring first-half a grand midfield movement between Wilshaw, Jezzard, and Haynes resulted in the first-named scoring. Two minutes later Wilshaw headed a second to finish off another combined movement, and England remained comfortably on top, with Finney scoring the third and final goal shortly before the end.