DUNCAN EDWARDS, the young Manchester United heavyweight left-half, is so stale and weary from an overdose of Soccer this season that he is almost sick of the game.
   But he made one last effort for England here today.
And what an effort! His contribution to our wonderful win was nothing short of immense — ninety minutes of non-stop effort and BOTH goals.
   They were glorious goals—masterpieces of precision and power.
He hit the first in the eighth minute from fully twenty-five yards out with his right foot after outside right Bryan Douglas head teed it up for him. It didn't rise more than three inches above the green turf of the Slovan Stadium here . . . all the ay from boot to the back of the net.
   THE SECOND AFTER FIFTY-FOUR MINUTES WAS EVEN BETTER.
This time big Duncan was at least thirty-five yards out when a Douglas shot rebounded from a defender. This time he hit it with his left-foot—and again it left goalkeeper Rufus completely helpless.
   Unhappily the rest of this story is about Iron Curtain skullduggery.
In spite of a solemn assurance by Czech officials before the game that substitutes would be allowed only for injuries we had to suffer the usual farce. One minute before half time a player wearing the number 14 on his red jersey strolled on to the field. And for thirty crazy seconds Czechoslovakia were playing twelve men.
  Then someone pointed out to inside left Obert that his services were no longer required, and he trotted happily off.
I asked why at half-time, and was told blandly: "Obert was called off because he was rather weak. Svec has taken his place." Then six minutes after Rufus had been beaten for a second time another goalkeeper, Hason, took his place.
   AGAIN THERE HAD BEEN NO COLLISION AND NO INJURY.
Generally Seipelt of Austria was fair and just. But he had two moments of total black-out. In the sixty-third minute inside right Dennis Stevens was viciously sliced down by centre half Cadek when he was clean through.
   A flagrant foul however you read the rules—but no penalty was awarded. Three minutes later, Stevens ran on to another of the stream of Johnny Haynes passes which flowed through this second half, shot past Hason and gestured angrily as Cadek hooked the ball out.
   It looked a foot over the line from my seatbut again no whistle from the referee.
Outstanding in our defence, apart fro Edwards, was skipper and right half Ronnie Clayton. is covering along with the rest of the defence, was so superb that the Czechs had only one clear-cut chance, and that was squandered by centre-forward Cimra. But the English player who had really won the hearts of the appreciative Czech fans was little outside right, Bryan Douglas, of Blackburn, with his trickery and fantastic speed off the mark. They reserved a special cheer for him as the English players left the field—flushed with the triumph of a successful tour.
Two wins against Rumania and Czechoslovakia and a narrow 21 defeat by Bulgaria when we were weakened by the absence of several full internationals have raised our prestige sky high again.
  

Young England brought a long and grueling season to an end with a fine win at Bratislava by 2-0. As the sporting Czech crowd were the first to admit, it was a well-deserved victory, with Duncan Edwards the outstanding player on the field. He scored both goals, one in each half, with powerful drives from long range. All three half-backs were in dominant mood with Douglas, for the third successive match, gave a sparkling display on the right wing. Altogether this was a most encouraging note on which to end the 1956-57 season.