16 September 1950 Sunderland 0 Blackpool 2
55,000 see football as it should be played
DEBT TO DEFENCE
Sunderland 0, Blackpool 2
By “Clifford Greenwood”
STANLEY MORTENSEN LED THE BLACKPOOL FORWARDS AGAIN AT SUNDERLAND THIS AFTERNOON.
This decision was reached today at the team’s quarters at Whitley Bay. The Scot, Jackie Mudie, was on his right, and amateur international W. J. Slater on his left. The shuffle left out “Hat-Trick” McKnight.
Tom Garrett had his first game of the season at right- back in place of Eddie Shimwell, injured in the Fulham game on Wednesday.
Sunderland played the men who won at Bolton last weekend, with those two artists at inside forward, Ivor Broadis and Len Shackleton, in an attack which last season was one of the highest-scoring lines in the country.
After a morning of sunshine the clouds were thick over Roker Park and its packed terraces early in the afternoon.
BIG CROWD
Nearly 40,000 people were on the ground when the teams appeared.
Teams:
SUNDERLAND: Mapson; Stelling Hudgell; Watson, Walsh, Wright (A.); Wright (T.), Broadis. Davis, Shackleton, Reynolds.
BLACKPOOL: Farm; Garrett, Wright (J.); Johnston, Hayward, Kelly; Matthews, Mudie, Mortensen W. J. Slater. Perry.
Referee: Mr. A. W. Luty (Leeds).
First half
Orders were being given to close a number of the gates, with 55,000 inside them, when Willie Watson, the Yorkshire cricketer, lost the toss for Sunderland.
Blackpool had a freshening wind at the forwards’ back.
Tommy Garrett soon had his First Division baptism of fire this season, taking a long pass away from Shackleton in the first 10 seconds and, as Davis darted in on him, clearing it almost as if at practice.
As cool as they make them is this full-back from the northeast.
There was some grand football in the opening minutes. Every pass went to its man. but no particular progress was made by either forward line, with all four full-backs alertly marking their wing forwards.
NEARLY A GOAL
Blackpool were the first near a goal. It happened in the fourth minute. Mortensen shot fast across the Sunderland goal from an unexpected position.
Mapson, unprepared for it, seemed late in his fall to the ball, reached it only with his finger tips, glided it out to his left, and was still sprawling as Matthews punted it back.
Out of a swarm of men surging in front of the nearly open goal Watson hurled himself to head over the line for a corner.
That was escape No. 1. No. 2 came within the next minute, and this was in front of the Blackpool goal.
Tommy Wright leaped up to a high, falling centre. Up to it too leaped Farm, seemed to lift the ball on to the bar and as it came down punch it over as Davis tore in on him.
SPEED AND DRAMA
Football of highest quality
That was two corners in the first five minutes, and the football was still magnificent in its conception, remarkable in its speed.
There was a patch of drama every minute. Sunderland’s right wing raced on to the Blackpool goal in one of a succession of raids.
Broadis made this one with a perfect pass inside the full-back to his partner.
Jackie Wright raced into the gap. reached the ball, passed it back a shade too slowly and left his goalkeeper racing desperately from goal to toboggan at the feet of the wing forward.
Another minute, and with Stelling flagrantly. obstructing Perry, the South African took the free-kick half a dozen yards outside the penalty area, crossed a ball which was submerged in a pack of men, rolled out and was crossed again by Matthews from the other flank.
STRONG DEFENCE
The Sunderland defence is supposed often to split open under pressure. There were few signs of it opening in the first 15 minutes of this match, with every man positioning himself perfectly, packing compactly and intercepting every one of Matthews’ passes and centres.
And for a time, with Blackpool raiding constantly, there were plenty of those. Yet the Sunderland forwards, with fast, direct wing-to-wing raids, were always a menacing force in action.
Twice in a minute Farm made great clearances, the second as Shackleton, a specialist in the unexpected, shot when nobody was expecting him to shoot, and shot so fast that the goalkeeper had to fall full length to his right to reach and finger-tip out the skidding ball.
AT LONG RANGE
Within a minute Mapson had actually to field a clearance by Eric Hayward which sailed over the halfway line and fell into the goalkeeper’s hands from the skies.
Afterwards, the Sunderland defence was under a lot of pressure, and now and again betrayed an inclination to go into a panic.
MAPSON SAVES
Full-length dive to Perry shot
It was in no end of confusion dnee when Johnston’s long throw- in sailed over the heads of half a dozen men and fell into the surprised Mapson’s hands.
Repeatedly afterwards, with Blackpool raiding, there appeared to be no sort of plan operating between the Sunderland goalkeeper and his full-backs.
Three times a loose ball was lost and cleared anywhere, with the goalkeeper yards out of position, and once Mapson had to reveal the quality in him as he fell full length and punched out near a post a fast, cross shot by Perrv
Yet Sunderland, in spite of all these front-of-goal incidents, were seldom completely outplayed, still packed a punch inside shooting distance.
Tom Garrett made one magnificent clearance after Sunderland’s right wing had outpaced his partner on the other flank.
And within a couple of minutes, in a raid on the other flank, Johnston had to make a desperate sliding clearance almost under the bar as Davis tore in to a square pass which would have left him in a scoring position.
ANOTHER CORNER
Again too. in another fast raid by the Sunderland front line I saw Hayward head backwards over his own line for another corner to complete a clearance.
With nearly 40 minutes gone it was still 0-0, and yet in the 41st minute it might have been 1-0 for Blackpool as Walsh leaped, not for the first time, into the path of his own goalkeeper, hurled himself at a flying ball, and headed it over the bar of his own goal.
Nor had the corner been cleared before Johnston cutting in to a loose ball, was near to his fourth goal of the season with a shot which rose over a packed goal area and was punched over the bar by Mapson for another corner.
LONG RUN
Within another minute in this tempestuous see - saw half, Sunderland were as near a goal as Tommy Wright, from another of those crossfield passes which were riddling Blackpool’s left flank of defence, raced nearly half the field’s length before shooting a ball which Farm beat outside a post as he fell to his left.
This was football as it should be played - passes moving fast from man to man and both forward lines raiding at a remarkable pace almost as if to a blueprint plan.
The pressure on Blackpool’s goal in the closing minutes of the half was intense. Repeatedly, Sunderland’s right flank of attack - the brilliant Broadis-Wright partnership - exchanged passes at a speed which now and again left standing the men facing them.
OVER THE BAR
Yet in the last half-minute of the half Blackpool nearly snatched the lead.
A long clearance sailed over the Sunderland half-backs and left Mortensen, the full-backs closing in on him. to race 50 yards before shooting a ball which barely missed the bar as Mapson hurled himself late at it.
A great half it had been.
Half-time: Sunderland 0, Blackpool 0.
Second half
In the first minute of the half a goal was near.
Perry and Mortensen were in the raid which ended in the centre, from a narrow angle, thundering in a shot which hit a Sunderland full-back.
Off this man the ball cannoned, bounced in front of an open goal, and hit Mudie’s knee, with the little Scot almost under the bar. There was still nothing in it.
This raid was followed by one by Sunderland, and Kelly and Hayward had to be called into desperate action to halt Reynolds after the wing forward, for almost the first time in the game, had passed Garrett.
OPEN SPACES
Inside another minute Broadis was given a pass so unexpectedly that with half the field in front of him and George Farm almost at his mercy he passed back inexplicably into an open space where no man was standing.
Ivor Broadis seldom makes that sort of mistake.
With the wind at their heels the Sunderland forwards were in the game a lot afterwards, and both Blackpool’s inside forwards. Slater and Mudie, retreated to the aid of the defence, tackling like terriers.
It was from Slater’s pass, in fact, that Blackpool’s next raid was built, the amateur serving his partner with a ball into such an open space that the South African had all the time he required to flight over a centre which Mapson was content to push over the bar.
THE LEAD
Perry makes a Mudie goal
That was in the eighth minute of the half. In the l0th Blackpool went in front.
It was a goal Bill Perry made. Out on Blackpool’s left wing the young South African took the ball away from his wing half-back, swerved his full-back, and crossed a perfect centre.
On to it Slater raced, settled on the ball, and lost it. Out to his right it spun, and there waiting for it, MUDIE darted half a dozen yards before shooting it wide of Mapson’s left hand at a rocketing pace.
Within the next two minutes Farm raced out to the edge of the penalty area to make a clearance which no full-back would have disowned.
And within another half-minute Davis, falling on his knees, glided away a ball which missed a post by inches.
DARING DIVE
The Blackpool defence repulsed raid and raid afterwards before a great gap unexpectedly opened in the Sunderland defence. Into it Mortensen raced after a ball which Mapson reached in a daring dive at the forward’s feet.
With 20 minutes of the half gone, Blackpool were still leading, yet in the 21st the lead was nearly lost.
Tommy Wright cut in on the Sunderland right wing and crossed a ball which escaped Farm’s clutching hands and was cleared anywhere in front of an open goal by Hayward.
Sunderland hurled everything, including wing half-backs, into violent, explosive raids afterwards.
SUPERB SAVE
Farm made one superb clearance as he fell forward on to a ball headed down to him by Broadis and held it as Davis catapulted over him into the net.
Except for a questionable offside decision which halted three Blackpool forwards as they broke through, Blackpool were under raging pressure for minutes, and two corners in less than a minute were conceded.
The second corner was actually cleared by Bill Slater hurling himself into the path of the scoring shot in a position where full-backs generally play.
CLOSE CALL
Shots rain on Blackpool’s goal
In the next minute the Blackpool goal had an amazing escape.
Shots rained on it. One by Shackleton escaped Farm, hit Hayward, cannoned off him, and was crossing the line as Wright cleared it anywhere as he stood under the bar.
Rain began to fall, and against it and a rampant Sunderland front line Blackpool for the next five minutes retreated almost everywhere.
Yet the Blackpool front line w7as still not out of the game, broke away three times in the next five minutes against a Sunderland defence which had so few men left in it that there were open spaces everywhere.
From one of them Perry shot a ball which must nearly have torn a hole in the side net, and from another Mortensen crossed a centre which Mapson snatched away brilliantly as it was swirling inside the near post.
SHACKLETON SHOOTS
Eleven minutes were left and Len Shackleton nearly won a point for Sunderland.
He went fast into one of the few gaps which had appeared in the Blackpool defence all the afternoon, ran 20 yards, and, as Farm came out, lobbed high over the goalkeeper’s head from 30 yards out a ball which rose inches over the bar and fell on the net’s roof.
FREAK GOAL
Within a minute 31ackpool had made it 2-0 and settled the game with a freak goal.
There was a breakaway on the right wing. STANLEY MATTHEWS eluded his full-back, raced to the line, stood waiting for his forwards to reach position and crossed a head high centre.
Into its path Watson, the Sunderland wing half raced, stood disconsolate as the ball hit him in the back and glanced away out of the unprepared Mapson’s reach.
Matthews almost waved the congratulations aside.
Afterwards, nearly all the fire went of Sunderland, and nearly all the closing minutes were played in the rain in the Sunderland penalty area.
Result:
SUNDERLAND 0,
BLACKPOOL 2 (Mudie 55, Matthews 80)
COMMENTS ON THE GAME
IT was nearly a classic at Roker Park. Blackpool won because the fence was stronger than the full-back and half-back lines of Sunderland.
That decided the match. Garrett was superb in his first First Division match of the season, and not for months have I seen the Blackpool half-back line so compact and so fast into the tackle.
Blackpool’s big strength in front line which ultimately threatened to riddle Sunderland’s defence was on the wings.
Perry’s promise is maturing in every match. This, after the ’Spurs defeat, was Blackpool’s best game of the season.
TOO often when the Villa have come to Blackpool during recent years - as the team in claret and blue come next weekend - it has been less a football match than a subject for arbitration by the United Nations.
One can only hope that ft will be peace, perfect peace, next Saturday. It is about time, writes Clifford Greenwood.
It is not common knowledge, but the Villa, captained these days by that grand sportsman and Blackpool wartime guest, Ivor Powell, have not won a Blackpool match home or away since the war.
At Villa Park, Blackpool have won twice - once, on New Year’s Day, 1949, by such a headline score as 5-2 - and drawn twice.
And in four games at Blackpool since peace broke out the Villa have lost every time, have not scored a goal, and, in fact, by a singular coincidence which must be nearly without parallel in football, the score has been 1-0.
In every case, to complete the remarkable sequence, it has been Stanley Mortensen who has scored the deciding goal in three of the four games.
So often has this Villa been blown down in a Blackpool blizzard that one expects it to be razed to the ground again next weekend. It probably will be, but if Blackpool think they will have an undisputed passage to victory they ought to know the Villa better than that.
As, I am convinced, Blackpool do know them by now.
FROM BREAD LINE TO A GOLDEN AGE
And the Sam Butterworths started it all
By Clifford Greenwood
ON THE SPOT SPORTS NEWS
BY "CLIFFORD GREENWOOD" 16 SEPTEMBER 1950
ROKER VISIT RECALLS ARCTIC CUPTIE
BLACKPOOL’S match at Roker Park this afternoon recalls one of the most amazing Cupties I ever saw. Blackpool played in it one February afternoon in 1933. The pitch was ankle-deep in mud.
The rain and sleet and snow which lashed the ground made the match an ordeal, writes Clifford Greenwood.
Mr. J. T. Howcroft, the famous referee of other days, who was my companion in the Press box, admitted frankly that if he had possessed the authority which once was his, he would have abandoned the game before the kick-off.
Yet they played - played the entire 90 minutes until all 22 men were nearly out on their feet - and a Bob Gurney goal seven minutes from time put Blackpool out.
The men who played for Blackpool in this north-eastern Arctic epic were:
McDonough; Grant, Everest; Watson (A.), Watson (P.), Crawford; Reid, McClelland, Hampson, Douglas, Smailes.
There were 46,000 people at the match. They should have given them a bonus, too.
***
MAESTRO Joe Loss, of dance- band fame, has been a little embarrassed while he has been in Blackpool by the confusion of his identity with another maestro of entirely different fame.
"Half a dozen people in the last day or two have walked up to me in the street and said ‘Hello, Stan,’” he told me when I met him at the Wolverhampton match last weekend.
"Now that I’ve seen him realise that I have a resemblance to Stanley Matthews.
"But,” added Mr. Loss, “ only in the street. The difference will be immediately detectable on football field!”
Yes, when you know both men, there is a resemblance - and big one, too.
***
Scoring point
SOMEBODY once said, “Show me a scoring halfback and I’ll show you a bad halfback.”
It was one of those little generalisations which sound impressive at the time but are constantly being refuted.
The case of Harry Johnston, who is still as a halfback ,one of the best in the game today, tears the theory to tatters. He scored his third goal of the season against the Wolves last weekend which is exactly as many goals as he scored in the whole of the last three seasons.
Yet, as I say, he is none the worse halfback for that reason. He can continue to score goals, as far as I am concerned, without impairing his reputation.
***
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