THE Union Jack fluttered proudly over the huge concrete bowl of the August 23 Stadium here tonight, signalling the first-ever Engish victory in an international behind the Iron Curtain.
And the man who won this Under-23 [ed: B] game was the Cockney youngster who is steadily developing into one of the world's greatest inside forwards — Johnny Haynes, of Fulham. On this showing it won't be long before he can hold his high in the company of great names like Carter, Mannion and Docherty.
For eighty-eight stamina-sapping minutes, he patrolled from penalty area to penalty area, foraging, probing, shooting . . . and finding only the frustration of near misses. With just 120 seconds left, and the going getting rougher every moment, Haynes got his reward.
   It was a dramatic goal—and the best I have seen this season.
Dennis Stevens, the slim Bolton inside-right, was crashed down by the Rumanian right-back, Szakacs, a barrel-chested muscle-man, six-yards outside the penalty area. As left half Duncan Edwards came up to take the kick. Rumanian defenders lined up, braced to meet the shock of a first-time drive. IT NEVER CAME. Instead big Duncan flicked the ball to Haynes. Harassed from behind and faced by a defence packed like a pine forest, Haynes picked a spot high into the far corner of the net and hammered the ball there with his right foot. There was a stony silence from the biased Rumanian fans. But a win for England was the only just verdict. When the Rumanians did break through, they were seldom allowed into shooting distance by a defence in which Maurice Norman, of Spurs, was superb, and in which only Duncan Edwards was below form.
   The strain of his tremendously busy season is written plainly on him.
In the seventy-fifth minute, Edwards collapsed with cramp. In the second half he never managed to raise enough steam for one of his dramatic dashes upfield. At the start of the second half the Rumanians appeared with a new inside-left, Bukossy in place of Lazar—quite illegally. I must admit to a feeling of slightly malicious satisfaction when Bukossy shot high over an open goal. Towards the end, disappointment and over-eagerness combined to fray tempers on both sides. Haynes, Kevan and Stevens were all badly fouled—and Kevan was spoken to by Yugoslavian referee Damjan for retaliating. Still it ended happily with exchanges of handshakes at the final whistle to warm applause from the crowd.
  

This game was played on May 26th before 100,000 excited spectators at Bucharest. It was a great day for Haynes, who was easily the finest player on the field, and it was fitting that he should score the only goal two minutes from the end with a lightning drive from a free-kick cleverly taken by Edwards. England's defence had a good afternoon, with Norman outstanding at left-back, but the forwards failed to get together as a line, although some fine goalkeeping was partly responsible for their inability to score more than once.