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211 vs. Finland
 
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next match (6 days)
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400 vs. Finland
Whit Sunday, 20 May 1956
End of Season Tour of Scandinavia Match


Finland 1 England 5
[1-3]
 
England were due to play the USSR team, which could not be arranged because suitable dates were not available.
Olympiastadion, Töölö, Helsinki
Kick-off (EET): 2.00pm 1.00pm BST
Attendance: 20,250.
 
 unknown kicked-off  
[1-3] Olli Forsgren header 42
 headed past Wood following a Kai Pahlman centre
[0-0] Gordon Astall shot saved by Hurri and post 1
[0-1] Dennis Wilshaw 20
a shot flew past Hurri off the far post from a Duncan Edwards 30-yard pass
[0-2] Johnny Haynes 22
a 20-yard shot from a Duncan Edwards pass
[0-3] Gordon Astall 34
'As Hurri moved out anticipating a centre, Astall hit a deliberate shot' from a narrow angle from a Johnny Haynes pass
 
  
 
England's 900th senior goal>



"It was blinking fantastic!" - Nat
[1-4] Nat Lofthouse header 77
headed Dennis Wilshaw's pass into the goal
[1-5] Nat Lofthouse header 82
tried to head Colin Grainger's cross to Wilshaw, but he was prevented by a Finn, and the ball trickled over the line
Jeff Hall injured - ten men
87
This week's Music Charts

no Radio or TV coverage
  
"NAT, THE SUB, SINKS GOALS RECORD" Daily Mirror
Officials from Scandinavia Finland FIFA ruling on substitutes England Party
Referee
Carl Frederik Jörgensen
43 (12 September 1912), Denmark
"It is a Finnish custom to award a trophy to the best player on each side. These were presented to Haynes and ... Lehtinen."
Linesmen
from Finland
Aarne Eriksson Väinö Niemi
   
Finland Team
 
Rank No official ranking system established;
ELO rating 88th
Colours Blue collared jerseys with white collars, white shorts, blue socks
Captain Lauri Lehtinen Manager Kurt Weinreich, 47 (12 December 1908 in Saarbrücken, Germany), appointed in 1955.
Team announced on Tuesday, 15 May 1956.
first, W 0 - D 0 - L 1 - F 1 - A 5.
Finland Lineup
  Hurri, Keijo, off injured 39th min 28
167 days
5 December 1927 G Kuopion Palloseura 1 3ᵍᵃ
2 Pajunen, Väinö V. 27
201 days
1 November 1928 RB Valkeakosken Haka 2 0
3 Sommarberg, Aimo 24
283 days
11 August 1931 LB Kotkan Työväen Palloilijat 3 0
4 Lintamo, Alpo J. 23
62 days
19 March 1933 RHB Helsingin Palloseura 3 0
5 Lehtinen, Lauri H. 28
275 days
19 August 1927 CHB Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi 10 0
6 Jalava, Reijo 24
92 days
18 February 1932 LHB Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi 1 0
7 Peltonen, V.M. Juhani 19
339 days
16 June 1936 OR Valkeakosken Haka 5 0
8 Hiltunen, Matti 23
115 days
26 January 1933 IR Kronohagens Idrottsforening 12 4
9
Pahlman, Kai 20
317 days
8 July 1935 CF Helsingin Palloseura 3 0
10 Lahtinen, Olavi 28
136 days
5 January 1929 IL Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi 15 5
11
Forsgren, Olli 27
199 days
3 November 1929 OL Kronohagens Idrottsforening 5 1
Finland Substitute
scoreline: Finland 1 England 3
  Klinga, Aarre, on 39th min. for Hurri 26
53 days
28 March 1930 GK Kronohagens Idrottsforening 8 31ᵍᵃ
result: Finland 1 England 5
unused substitutes: not known
team notes: Keijo Hurri sprained his right ankle in the same 39th-minute tackle that ended Tommy Taylor's match four minutes later.
 
2-3-5 Hurri (Klinga) -
Pajunen, Sommarberg -
Lintamo, Lehtinen, Jalaya -
Peltonen, Hiltunen, Pahlman, Lahtinen, Forsgren
Averages: (start)
(finish)
Age 25 years 0 days
24 years 289 days
Appearances/Goals 5.5 0.8
 
England Team
 
Rank No official ranking system established;
ELO rating 7th to 6th
Colours The 1954 Umbro home uniform - White v-necked short-sleeved continental jerseys, blue shorts, black socks with white tops.
P 13th of 43, W 7 - D 3 - L 3 - F 35 - A 17.
Captain Billy Wright Manager Walter Winterbottom, 43 (31 March 1913), appointed as FA national director of coaching/team manager on 8 July 1946;
record 61st of 90, W 35 - D 12 - L 14 - F 153 - A 92 Trainer: Jimmy Trotter (Charlton Athletic FC) P 79th of 139, W 48 - D 16 - L 15 - F 227 - A 113, one abandoned.
  ³   Team chosen by Selection Committee, headed by Joe Mears, on Friday, 18 May.
England Lineup
  four changes to the previous match (Matthews, Dickinson, Berry & Atyeo out) FINAL league positions (all May - FL 2nd, FL2 3rd, FL3S 4th)
  Wood, Raymond E. 24
344 days
11 June 1931 G Manchester United FC (FL CHAMPIONS) 3 3ᵍᵃ
final app 1956
2 Hall, Jeffrey J., injured off 87th min. 26
256 days
7 September 1929 RB Birmingham City FC (FL 6th) 8 0
3 Byrne, Roger W. 26
255 days
8 September 1929 LB Manchester United FC (FL CHAMPIONS) 21 0
4 Clayton, Ronald 21
289 days
5 August 1934 RHB Blackburn Rovers FC (FL2 4th) 5 0
5 Wright, William A. 32
104 days
6 February 1924 CHB Wolverhampton Wanderers FC (FL 3rd) 76 3
most apps 1952-56
6
Edwards, Duncan 19
232 days
1 October 1936 LHB Manchester United FC (FL CHAMPIONS) 8 0
756 7
Astall, Gordon 28
241 days
22 September 1927 OR Birmingham City FC (FL 6th) 1 1
the eleventh City player to represent England
8
Haynes, John N. 21
216 days
17 October 1934 IR Fulham FC (FL2 9th) 7 3
9 Taylor, Thomas, injured off 44th min. 24
112 days
29 January 1932 CF Manchester United FC (FL CHAMPIONS) 9 4
10
Wilshaw, Dennis J. 30
70 days
11 March 1926 IL Wolverhampton Wanderers FC (FL 3rd) 10 10
11
Grainger, Colin 22
345 days
10 June 1933 OL Sheffield United FC (FL 22nd rel.) 3 2
England Substitute
scoreline: Finland 1 England 3

Lofthouse, Nathaniel, on 44th min. for Taylor 30
267 days
 
27 August 1925
 
CF
 
Bolton Wanderers FC (FL 8th)
 
31 30 29
the 182nd (49th post-war) brace scored 1
   second sub to score, first to score twice most goals
result: Finland 1 England 5
unused substitutes: John Atyeo (Bristol City FC (FL2 6th)), Johnny Berry (Manchester United FC (FL CHAMPIONS)), Tommy Cummings (Burnley FC (FL 7th)) and Johnny Wheeler (Bolton Wanderers FC (FL 8th)).
team notes: Jeff Hall dislocated his shoulder in the 87th minute after falling heavily after a tackle.
Gordon Astall becomes the 141st player to score on his debut.
substitute notes: Nat Lofthouse becomes the third ever England substitute, the first for a year, and the first to score twice. He is the oldest by three years.
He replaced Taylor, who "took the goalkeeper's knee in his left thigh and tore his muscles as he spun to the grass". Lofthouse thus becomes the first England player to be substituted and be a substitute.
records: Billy Wright extends his record appearance tally, in his record 41st consecutive match.
In the 77th minute, Lofthouse equalled the England goalscoring record held by Steve Bloomer (since 1907) and Vivian Woodward (since 1911) - five minutes later, he broke the record. Although some reports suggest that Dennis Wilshaw did manage to help it through???? No reports mention Woodward's record.
 
2-3-5 Wood -
Hall, Byrne -
Clayton, Wright, Edwards -
Astall, Haynes, Taylor
(Lofthouse), Wilshaw, Grainger.
Averages: (start)
(finish)
Age 25 years 159 days
26 years 7 days
Appearances/Goals 13.7
15.7
1.8
4.7
 
              Match Report by Mike Payne

Sometimes it can seem very unfair to criticise our national team when they gain a convincing win on some foreign field, but this win against mediocre opposition was one of England's worst performances for a long time. True, the standard of opponents can drag any team down to their level, but there was no excuse for this inept display. The game, in all honesty, was awful!

To be fair, England were never stretched and long before the end it became little more than a training exercise. After a scrappy opening 20 minutes, England took the lead. A long through-ball by Duncan Edwards found the speedy Dennis Wilshaw and the Wolves player continued his excellent England scoring record with a fierce cross shot which flew past Hurri in the Finland goal. Two minutes later it was Edwards again, this time setting up Johnny Haynes who scored with another good shot.

Before the half-hour was up, England scored a third goal, the bets of the match. A flowing move involving Billy Wright, Colin Grainger, Edwards, Tommy Taylor and Haynes ended with Gordon Astall cutting in to meet the pass from Haynes and shooting home from the narrowest of angles.

After this flurry of activity Taylor collided with Hurri and the goalkeeper was replaced by Klinga. Then, before the break, Finland pulled a goal back when sloppiness in England's defence allowed Forsgren a header past the previously unemployed Ray Woods.

In the second half the game slipped more and more into mediocrity. The lead which England had built up had taken the urgency from their game and only a few moments of the half were worth recording. Taylor also had to leave the field injured, he had damaged his stomach muscles, and he was replaced by Nat Lofthouse.

It was Lofthouse who scored England's other two goals, the first of which equalled Steve Bloomer's long-standing total and the second equaling Vivian Woodward's record of 29 goals for England.
[ed-Woodward has since lost credit to one of these goals]

The goal  which finally put Lofthouse into the record books was a scrappy one to say the least. It came eight minutes from time when Grainger's corner was headed on by Lofthouse. Wilshaw swung a boot at it and missed, and then two defenders on the line left the clearance to each other before watching horrified as the ball crept between them and over the line for a bizarre goal.

The goal was not really worthy of such stature but definitely summed up this particular game. Astall, Grainger, Haynes and Edwards, could be pleased with their efforts but Taylor and Jeff Hall, who dislocated a shoulder, looked doubtful for England's next match.
    

              Match Report by Norman Giller

Nat Lofthouse came on as a substitute for the injured Tommy Taylor a minute before half-time, and for the twelfth time in an England shirt he scored two goals. It lifted his haul to twenty-nine goals, one more than the previous England record set by the great Steve Bloomer before the First World War. Gordon Astall, playing in place of the unavailable Stanley Matthews, scored on his debut. England were leading 3-0 when Taylor limped off following a collision with the Finnish goalkeeper. The record-breaking goal by Lotfhouse in the eighty-second minute was a freak effort, the ball rolling gently over the goal-line between two defenders who left the clearance duties to each other.
  

              Match Report as appears in the F.A. Yearbook 1956-57 pages 31 & 32

In a game played in the Olympic Stadium at Helsinki on May 20th England won the second match of this end-of-season tour as comfortably as the score of 5-1 suggests. Before 21,000 spectators the tourists built up a 3-goal lead within half-an-hour of the kick-off, but after that the game was rather colourless. Wilshaw, Haynes, Astall and Lofthouse (2) were the scorers, the last-named coming on as substitute for the injured Taylor just before half-time.
  

        In Other News....
It was on 21 May 1956 that 37-year-old French stuntman, Léo Valentin fell 8,500 feet to his death from a plane during the International Air Pageant at Liverpool Airport. The self-proclaimed 'Bird Man' was wearing wings of balsa wood and alloy, and planned to glide before using a parachute for the last 1800 feet, but he knocked his left wing on the side of the opening as he exited the plane, and it broke up, sending him into a spin. His first parachute failed to open and the backup tangled around his body as he plummeted to the ground. The stunt was watched by two 13-year-old future Beatles, George Harrison and Sir Paul McCartney.
              Source Notes
TheFA.com
Original newspaper reports
palloliitto.fi
The Complete Book of the British Charts
  Rothman's Yearbooks
Mike Payne's England: The Complete Post-War Record
Norman Giller, Football Author
cg