11 November 1950 Stoke City 1 Blackpool 0
Big Blackpool challenge comes too late
GOOD PLAY, BUT-
Stoke City 1, Blackpool 0
By “Clifford Greenwood”
TO THE TOWN WHERE ONCE HE WAS PUBLIC IDOL No. 1 STANLEY MATTHEWS RETURNED TODAY TO WEAR THE TANGERINE OF BLACKPOOL INSTEAD OF THE RED AND WHITE OF STOKE CITY.
The Blackpool mascots made a day of it, not only the “Atomic Boys” and their famous duck but the “Old Faithfuls,” 10 men and women who never miss a match would probably follow them ever had a game there. which Blackpool play and to one of the Poles if they
It was the first time that I can recall Blackpool playing on this ground without facing Neil Franklin in a City defence which, even without him, had lost only seven home goals this season.
Blackpool had a star missing, too - Stanley Mortensen. in whose position the versatile Willie McIntosh deputised as leader of the attack Roy Brown, a coloured centre-half, who still, I hear,' prefers that position, was the City’s centre-forward.
It was cold but fine in the Potteries, and the attendance, slow in assembling for an early kick-off, approached 30,000 at the kick-off
CALL FOR LINESMAN
Five minutes before the teams appeared there was a broadcast for referee and linesmen volunteers and a report reached the Press box that one linesman engaged for the game had not reported.
Teams:
STOKE CITY: Herod; Mould, McCue; Sellars, Mountford (F), Kirton; Ormston, Bowyer, Brown, Johnston, Oscroft.
BLACKPOOL: Farm; Shimwell, Garrett; Johnston, Hayward, Kelly; Matthews, Mudie, McIntosh, W. J. Slater, Perry. Referee; Mr. J. H. Clough (Bolton).
First half
To avoid a possible colour clash with the City’s red and white, Blackpool appeared unexpectedly in the new white jerseys with tangerine collars and cuffs.
Harry Johnston lost the toss, but, with no wind blowing, the winning of it conferred no benefit.
Except when Herod raced out in the first half-minute to snatch a loose ball away from the Blackpool right wing neither goalkeeper was in action until in the fourth minute Farm fell full length to hold a ball which came fast as a bullet off Roy Brown’s head.
It was a raid which prefaced pressure of Cuptie intensity on the Blackpool goal.
Young Perry once showed his heels to the old campaigner, Bill Mould, in one Blackpool breakaway, but for the rest it was Blackpool’s defence versus the City’s tearaway forward line.
MISS - AND A GOAL
Leslie Johnston lost one great chance after Kelly had hesitated with the ball and given the City’s inside-left an open position to chase a forward pass.
That nearly cost a goal in the fourth minute. Hesitation definitely cost one in the fifth.
There was a raid on the City’s left wing. Roy Brown went at a hare’s speed after the ball. Shim- well was first to it, settled on it. ran back towards his own goal with it, and seemed unable to decide exactly what to do about it.
In the end, the centre-forward passed him took the bouncing ball away from him, and was cutting into the middle with it when the fullback took a grab at it.
Mr. Clough gave a penalty, and with a fast rising shot which appeared to brush Farm’s fingers as he leaped to his right F. MOUNTFORD put the City in front.
NEARLY 2-0
Bouncing ball beats Ormston
It was nearly all Blackpool afterwards, almost as if the City were content to have taken the lead so cheaply.
Yet after Mudie had almost brushed a post from 25 yards out, the City, who should have made it 2-0 with only 10 minutes gone as Ormston raced on to a long pass on an open wing, failed to master a bouncing ball, and in the end sliced it far away from the near post.
Johnston went cruising through on his own nearly 30 yards before falling full length in the area and releasing a penalty demand which the referee refused.
According to the stop watch’ the ball had been twice within measurable distance of Stanley Matthews in the first 12 minutes, and the second time, to a cheer which must have been heard at Hanley the fast-tackling McCue took it off him.
BLACKPOOL RAIDS
Blackpool were no longer outplayed, but there seemed to be a greater decision in the City’s football everywhere. Johnston was on overtime, with a quarter of an hour gone, seeking to redeem Blackpool’s indifferent opening.
Once he worked a perfect position which was lost as Kelly’s pass found the wrong man, with four Blackpool forwards waiting for it.
Constantly before and afterwards Blackpool raided, but no raid had anything except a negative conclusion - scarcely a shot and the last pass nearly always going wrong.
Even when Matthews went wandering into the centre in search of a pass Frank Mountford was too fast to the ball for him.
JUST IN TIME
Desperate tackle by Shimwell
Blackpool could not build a concerted attack - not an attack to compare with one by the City in which Brown soared into the centre a pass which Shimwell with a desperate tackle, took away from Johnston as the inside-left was racing in to meet it
A minute later, too, Bowyer shot one of his thunderbolts which appeared to hit Hayward’s boot, was deflected, but was still reached by Farm in a great dive to the foot of a post.
Two minutes later, with 22 minutes gone, there was the threat of an ugly scene as Kelly, moving to Harry Johnston’s pass, fell under Leslie Johnston’s tackle, and after attention by trainer Lynas limped out to the left wing, with Perry among the halfbacks.
Within a minute the South African had made a great headed clearance to repel the City’s right wing, and within another minute Kelly, even if reduced to half-speed, was back in the halfback line.
MATTHEWS WAITS
And still Matthews waited for passes.
Herod fielded a free - kick punted high into his arms by Shimwell, but there was still no decision in the Blackpool line such as the Stoke forwards, in' fewer raids, revealed.
Harry Johnston was magnificent - here, there and everywhere, gliding passes forward and sideways to an unresponsive front line, opening one of half a dozen raids with a pass which Perry took away before raking the City’s goal with a high centre which W. J. Slater missed by inches in a great leap at it.
Blackpool were as near a goal as all this pressure had produced 13 minutes before half-time.
Then Kelly took a free-kick, lifted it forward perfectly. McIntosh darted on to it, and hooked inside a fast, low ball which Herod reached, clutched at, and cleared as he fell on his hands and knees.
SWIFT CHALLENGE
Shimwell atones for earlier error
Two minutes later it was nearly 2-0 for the City, and would have been if Eddie Shimwell, redeeming his earlier error, had not come fast behind Brown and taken the ball away from the coloured leader as the centre-forward waited in a certain scoring position.
Five minutes of the half were left and the City had a goal disallowed.
It must have been a hairbreadth decision, for, as I saw It, a forward pass hit Kelly before rolling on to Bowyer, who in an open position was able to race in unchallenged before shooting fast past the unprotected Farm.
There was no great protest against the refusal of this goal, and, in fact, it was at the other end that twice afterwards a goal which would have counted was near.
McINTOSH HALTED
In the first raid, weight of numbers alone halted McIntosh as the leader went full-tilt after a forward pass, and in the next advance it was again only a massed defence which cut out Perry’s high-falling centre which had escaped Herod as he leaped at it under the bar.
During the last 10 minutes of the half the Blackpool forwards had been moving at last to some semblance of direct action, and were being repelled only by a City defence as fast into the tackle as if they were playing in a Cuptie.
Blackpool were not a beaten team at the interval.
Half-time: Stoke 1, Blackpool 0
Second half
One had not to wait long for a Blackpool shot in this half.
In the first raid, as if dressing- room instructions were being obeyed. Perry, roaming into the centre, took Slater’s squared pass and shot a ball so fast that Herod half lost it and snatched it up again a second before McIntosh could challenge him.
Yet it was the Blackpool defence which was chiefly under assault in the early minutes of the half, Farm holding brilliantly at the far post a free-kick crossed by Ormston.
A minute later Bowyer’s shot hit Ormston, who settled on it in the next split second and hooked it wide.
Perry, by his speed alone, created one raid and then another in breakaways. But it was almost exclusively the City for the first 10 minutes of the half.
FINE SAVE
A corner - one of the few in this game - was won in this pressure, and from it Bowyer headed in fast a ball which Farm took superbly under the bar.
Twice Stoke chances were lost as first Hayward and then Garrett took the ball away from a forward preparing to shoot it over the line.
Yet with 12 minutes of the half gone Blackpool were unlucky not to level the scores.
Bill Perry crossed a perfect low centre. McIntosh dived at it, and headed wide of the falling Herod a ball which hit the inside of the far post and cannoned back into the goalkeeper’s clutching fingers.
Twice there were glimpses of the Matthews magic with which these Victoria Grounds were so long familiar.
He had to go hunting for the ball, but the second time he steered into an open space a perfect pass which for once Perry threw away with a sliced centre.
RISING SHOT
Under-the-bar clearance by Hayward
Blackpool continued to attack on one wing and then on the other, and yet in spite of all this pressure the City were closer to a goal in a breakaway as Oscroft took a pass, outpaced Shimwell and shot a rising ball which Hayward headed out almost under the bar.
That was illustrative of the entire game - the City packing into one raid as much punch as Blackpool could manufacture in half a dozen.
That was probably because the City always preferred the long pass to the short one, and Blackpool's game was packed with short passes.
When Shimwell took a clearance a shade too deliberately, the ball hit Oscroft and left the wing forward to run on and hit the outside of a post before the full-back could regain position.
GIFT DISDAINED
Afterwards the City were in the game again almost everywhere as they had been earlier in the afternoon. With 20 minutes left, in fact, the match should have been settled with a second gift goal.
Hayward moved to a ball, skidded, lost it in the mud, and left Brown to race in all on his own with all the goal to shoot at.
The centre-forward shot wide ot Farm, but the goalkeeper reached the ball in a dive to his left and with his finger tips brushed it away for a comer
That was one escape, and another came after the corner had been crossed, Shimwell moving into an open space, and with confusion all about him, clearing a bouncing ball that was crawling inside the far post.
WHISTLE GONE
Slater shot does not count
Two minutes later, after a raid which the Matthews-Johnston partnership had created and with the City’s defence in complete confusion, Slater hooked the ball over an empty line, with Herod out for the count, a couple of seconds after the whistle had blown for an infringement.
Ten minutes were left. Blackpool were raiding again, but the prospects of snatching a point from the game still appeared remote.
In a showy finish with nine of their men up, Blackpool won four corners in a couple of minutes, with the City massing desperately in defence.
BRILLIANT RAID
Two minutes were left and there was stark drama as Matthews, roaming out on the left wing, beat three men in a brilliant raid before crossing a ball which bounced for seconds almost under the bar of the Stoke goal, with no one able to shoot it over the gaping line.
It was a grand, desperate, but vain bid to take a point, which nearly came in the last minute of all as Perry shot a ball so fast that as Herod fell to it it hit the goalkeeper’s chest and bounced out and away to a fullback.
Result:
STOKE CITY 1 (Mountford 5 pen)
BLACKPOOL 0
COMMENTS ON THE GAME
A PENALTY goal in the fifth minute should never have been sufficient to win the City the game.
The City’s front line, admittedly, had an armament which the Blackpool forwards never revealed until those last dramatic 10 minutes.
Yet Blackpool had such a lot of this game that even a defence as strong and resolute as the City’s was today should have been compelled to surrender at least one goal.
It was a story too familiar. Blackpool played the football - a lot of it too close, but still football, which often outplayed the City - but could not score the goals.
There was no punch whatever at close quarters until that, amazing finish when guns which had been silent nearly all the afternoon began to fire all along the line until in the end the City were content desperately to play out time.
The forwards as a potential scoring force came into the game too late.
CAPTAIN’S MATCH
Other men were in it and brilliantly in it all the time, among them Harry Johnston, who played a captain’s match from first minute to last, and Hayward and Garrett in a defence guilty of one or two inexplicable errors.
Farm, too, had a match of distinction.
If for 90 minutes Blackpool had played the game they unexpectedly revealed in the last 10 there must have been a different result.
Stoke bans the Atoms
THERE was a demonstration against the police at the Victoria Grounds Stoke, this afternoon, shortly before the kick-off in the Blackpool game.
The “Atomic Boys,” who had gone to the Potteries for a full-scale parade with the famous duck and even a pantomime horse were banned from the cinder track as soon as they appeared.
The chief of the Atoms, Mr. Syd Bevers, had climbed the barriers to put the duck in the centre circle a few minutes earlier. As soon as the rest of the gang appeared the police took action and expelled them even from the cinder track.
For minutes afterwards hoots and jeers made a great commotion.
HUDDERSFIELD TOWN, who come to Blackpool next weekend, seem to be this season like the little girl in the tale who was either very, very good or horrid, writes Clifford Greenwood.
There is no halfway house about the Town this season. They are either up on the heights or down so low in the basement that they are nearly invisible.
What they will be at Blackpool can be merely a subject of speculation.
On past records, which in the Town’s case mean a little less than nothing, there is no particular evidence that teams from this Yorkshire do like to be beside the seaside.
In the four games played at Blackpool since the war the Town have been in a goalless draw - the last game Peter Doherty played in the First Division on the ground of his old club - and lost the other three by such scores as 2-1, 4-0, and, last season, 4-1.
So, on these figures, Blackpool ought to win, and by a goal or two.
And Blackpool could win by another big score against a team whose defence has lost no fewer than 28 goals in nine away games this season, although in those nine games the Town have actually won twice and drawn twice.
It is, obviously, one of those anything-can-happen games, but Blackpool will not be inclined, I think, to take for granted a match in which there will be playing such Huddersfield wing forwards as Vic Metcalfe and Johnny McKenna and the young scoring leader, Geoff Taylor.
All football teams are a little unpredictable in their behaviour - otherwise nobody would ever win a fortune on the pools. It is because Huddersfield Town are a little more unpredictable than the majority that one hesitates to forecast the result of next week’s match.
But Blackpool, who have lost only one home game this season - and that Burnley game should never have been lost - should not lose this one, and, I think, ought to win it.
HONOURED BY LEAGUE, FORGOTTEN BY ENGLAND
Strange case of Harry Johnston
By Clifford Greenwood
I SUPPOSE that because Blackpool did not sign Harry Potts there will always be people in these parts who will never see any good in him, writes Clifford Greenwood.
I heard them in full cry during the Everton match.
Whatever he did was wrong.
The verdict appeared to be that Blackpool would have been guilty of profligate extravagance if a £20.000 cheque had been signed for him.
But, viewing the Everton Blackpool match in perspective one is compelled , to the conclusion that of all the Everton forwards the ex-Burnley inside-left was by a distance the best.
There was not a goal for him, and, frankly, in front of George Farm he ' revealed no particular dynamite. But out in the open he was
hunting for the ball all the time, and. in possession of it, there was always an intelligent design in his football.
He will never play for Blackpool now. But is that any particular reason why he should be dismissed as second-rate?
For Harry Potts I still think, is anything but that, even if he is not the type of forward Blackpool require today.
***
NOBODY can say that Everton-Blackpool games are dull as ditchwater.
The Goodison Park club have sent five teams to Blackpool since the war.
Two of them have won 3-0 and 1-0. The other three have lost 0-5, 0-4, and 0-3.
They would call this nonstop variety in the music-hall.
***
Net profit
LEVEL as leading marksmen for Blackpool before this afternoon’s match at Stoke were Stanley Mortensen and Jackie Mudie with six goals each.
W. J. Slater was in third place with four.
And not one of these men in the first three cost Blackpool a penny. There’s a moral in this somewhere.
***
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