25 November 1950 Middlesbrough 4 Blackpool 3
Seven goals – and sheer drama
FORWARDS REVEL
Middlesbrough 4, Blackpool 3
By “Clifford Greenwood”
BLACKPOOL WERE WARNED AS SOON AS THE TEAM REACHED THE NORTH-EAST COAST LAST NIGHT THAT THEY WOULD BE PLAYING ON A QUAGMIRE INSTEAD OF A FOOTBALL FIELD AT AYRESOME PARK TODAY.
After a week of rain that was, I suppose, to be expected, but with the sun shining early this afternoon in spite of a bitterly cold wind, the pitch had no resemblance to a gluepot.
That it would hold the ball, with the soaked grass thick everywhere, was certain, but the general impression appeared to be that it might have been a lot worse.
Blackpool, who had not scored a goal on this ground since the spring of 1947, played the men who defeated Huddersfield Town a week ago.
Middlesbrough, who with Geoffrey Walker still unfit at outside-left, had Tom Woodward, the ex-Bolton Wanderer, under-studying for him again in the team that won at Bolton last week.
Capacity of the ground is 52,000, but there were no prospects that it would be reached for a match with a 2-15 kick-off.
Still, ‘Standing room only’ notices were being posted outside the stands with half an hour still to go, and shortly after two o’clock the attendance was climbing towards 40,000.
“FAITHFULS” THERE
The 10 “Old Faithfuls” were as faithful as ever – were here again in the front row of one of the paddocks, with three of them acting as Blackpool’s unofficial ambassadors in the distribution of the town’s literature.
Teams:
MIDDLESBROUGH: Ugolini; Robinson, Dicks; Bell, Whitaker, Gordon; Delapenha, Mannion, Spuhler, McCrae, Woodward.
BLACKPOOL: Farm; Shimwell, Garrett; Johnston, Hayward, Kelly; Matthews, Mudie, Mortensen, Withers, Perry.
Referee: Mr. L. Richardson (Doncaster).
First half
Another colour clash compelled Blackpool to play again in the white jerseys with tangerine collars and cuffs.
Jimmy Gordon won the toss for Middlesbrough, and Blackpool attacked a goal almost lost in the glare of a sun shining diagonally across the field.
That was a figure of speech – that Blackpool attacked the goal. It was the other goal that was under fire in the opening skirmishes, and which, in fact, might have fallen before 30 seconds had gone, as Spuhler ran on to a bouncing ball in the outside-right position, cut inside, and from an unmarked position shook the side-netting.
FAST AND BRISK
Stanley Matthews opened Blackpool’s first raid from a wing-half position, taking a pass away from Bell before crossing out far away to the left wing a ball which was lost.
It was fast, brisk football.
THE LEAD
Mudie chases Mortensen pass, scores
The next time Middlesbrough raided, Spuhler was far away out of position again, out on the left wing, where after eluding Hayward he raced inside and was dispossessed by Shimwell close to the post with both men sprawling in the mud and Farm snatching up the ball from the two of them.
Within a minute Blackpool were in front, had scored in three minutes on a ground where no Blackpool forward had been able to score in three years.
It was a goal which seemed so simple, but was actually an object lesson in the stark utility of the fast, direct pass.
Bill Whitaker went up to a high ball and headed it down. On to it the alert Mortensen darted, and in the next second steered forward a pass into an open space.
JACKIE MUDIE chased it with the Middlesbrough defence wide open, and from a dozen yards out shot fast and low past Ugolini’s right hand inches inside the post for his seventh goal of the season.
That was a thunderbolt for a team challenging for a championship. Retaliation was immediate.
Twice afterwards Hayward made great clearances, the first from the zig-zagging Mannion, the second almost out of his own goalkeeper’s hands.
WITHERS CHALLENGE
Yet the next time Blackpool advanced it was nearly a goal again as Matthews glided past two men and crossed a high falling centre which Ugolini was content to punch away at the angle of post and bar, with young Alan Withers leaping up to challenge him for the flying ball.
Farm fell forward to punch out McCrae’s low centre at which the aggressive Spuhler was hurling himself, but a minute later, in the 12th minute of the half, Middlesbrough made it 1–1 with a goal as simple as Blackpool’s had been.
This time there was a gap in the Blackpool defence. Spuhler, dazed after a collision a few seconds earlier, was in position for a high lobbed pass, and headed it down to his right before he stood rocking on his feet, apparently unaware of all that happened afterwards.
What happened was that McCRAE found himself all alone in possession of the pass and had a couple of seconds to position himself before shooting fast and low into the net past the deserted Farm.
ROCKET SHOT
It was nearly all Middlesbrough afterwards. In one Blackpool raid Mortensen found himself in another of those open spaces gaping everywhere in the Middlesbrough defence, and blazed a ball which almost rocked Ugolini off his feet as the offside whistle blew a little belatedly against the leader.
Middlesbrough won two corners in a minute afterwards, and before the second had been cleared Gordon, shooting as his own forwards seemed unable to shoot, missed a post by inches from 20 yards out.
Within two minutes, the 22nd minute of the half, Blackpool were in front again. Again it was a goal which had the same principals in it as the first.
SAME AGAIN
Mortensen pass – and Mudie goal
This time Mortensen, yards too fast for his centre-half, raced away from Whitaker out on to the right wing, eluded a late tackle, waited until a man was in position, and squared a perfect pass.
The man in position was MUDIE and again the little Scot took his chance with great coolness, rocketing the ball into the roof of the net with Ugolini utterly at his mercy.
It might have been 3-1 four minutes later.
Again there was an open avenue on to the Middlesbrough goal.
Mortensen was into it, as fast as ever, too fast for his guardian centre-half, and lashed the ball inches over the bar as he skidded and lost balance in the last split second.
It was a game surging backwards and forwards. Neither team was ever long in possession of it. Twice in five minutes the Blackpool goal had escapes.
McCRAE’S PACE
The first time, McCrae revealed such unexpected pace that he beat not only his full-back but George Farm, as the goalkeeper advanced to meet him, and in the end squared across an open goal a ball which three Blackpool men, fast to cover, were there to clear.
The next time, the escape, after all, was less by design than accident.
This time the wandering Mannion, always in the open space, darted on to a loose ball, shot it fast, and registered polite yet intense frustration as the ball, flying fast, hit Mr. Richardson and cannoned off his back away to a waiting Blackpool man.
UNCHALLENGED
Alec McCrae races away and scores
It was, however, merely a goal delayed. In 33 minutes it came to level the scores again. This time half a dozen in the Blackpool defence appeared to dispute its legality.
What had gone on was not visible from the Press box.
All I saw was a forward pass which should have been cleared, but never was, and which Middlesbrough’s inside-left, ALEC McCRAE, was able to pursue.
With it he raced away almost unchallenged into a position where a shot past a deserted goalkeeper became almost a formality.
Afterwards Johnston made a great flying tackle on Spuhler, with the Middlesbrough centre-forward almost in the jaws of the goal in one Middlesbrough raid.
Yet Blackpool still were not outplayed.
In one raid Withers, in one of those open spaces in which he seems almost instinctively to position himself, took a long lobbed pass by Kelly and shot wide.
GRAZED THE BAR
In another, Perry almost grazed the bar from the inside-right position, accepting another of those astute passes which Mortensen this afternoon was releasing everywhere from a variety of positions.
Then, in the last minute of the half – and a great, dramatic half it had been – Middlesbrough almost went in front for the first time, and would have gone in front if Shimwell had not closed a gap leaping into it to repel a shot which Woodward made a shade too late with the goal almost open in front of him.
Half-time: Middlesbrough 2, Blackpool 2.
Second half
Middlesbrough went off for the second half like a greyhound from a trap and won a corner in the first minute by the sheer speed of Johnnie Spuhler, who is remarkably fast for a man who has been in the game so long.
The next minute Ugolini had to race yards out of his goal to snatch Kelly’s long pass away from the pursuing Mortensen.
The next minute, and before two minutes of the half had gone, Mannion shot low into the net a couple of seconds after the offside whistle had gone on a linesman’s signal.
Nobody could complain that there was no incident in this game.
Within another minute and with Farm and Hayward at cross-purposes for once, Spuhler raced on to a loose ball and hit the goalkeeper in a collision which ended with Farm reeling out of the fray with one hand clutched to his head.
NON-STOP DRAMA
What a game this was! There was still drama in any five minutes of it equal to all the drama that 90 minutes sometimes contain.
One raid by Blackpool went on and on with Matthews everywhere in it until his last pass was accepted by Perry in an offside position.
Afterwards, for almost the first time in the match, the forwards were on the leash until at last Spuhler raced away in another of those wing positions and was halted only by Kelly’s magnificent tackle.
In the next minute Delapenha, who, I think, had been given a lot too much living space and had never exploited it as he should have done, shot high over the bar.
“HAT-TRICK”
McCrae scores with great header
Then, with 14 minutes of the half gone, Middlesbrough went in front for the first time with a great goal.
At last Johnny Spuhler’s roaming-on-the-wing act came off. This time he raced away from his centre-half, reached the line, and crossed the sort of centre he used to cross when he was a wing forward.
Fast to it went the long-legged McCRAE, leaped at it as it was passing the near post and headed it wide of Farm’s outstretched right arm into the far wall of the net to complete a magnificent “hat-trick.”
The Blackpool defence repulsed raid after raid afterwards, but a goal was near five minutes after Middlesbrough’s third as Mudie went a split second too late after Matthews’ precise pass and was dispossessed by Whitaker darting fast across his path.
ONE FOR MORTENSEN
It was, however, merely a goal deferred. With 20 minutes of the half gone it was 3–3.
Matthews went down under a tackle which the referee properly punished, and took the free-kick himself.
Into a pack of men he lobbed it. MORTENSEN was first up to it, and headed it so fast away from Ugolini that the Middlesbrough goalkeeper, leaping at it, could only punch it away into the wall of the net with his right fist.
Another five minutes in this classic of a game and Blackpool were nearly in front again as Matthews took a pass, cut in with it instead of crossing it back, and shot a low ball which Ugolini punched out as he fell full length to his right.
GARRETT CLEARS
Another three minutes, and Garrett, tearing fast into open space, cleared the ball anywhere away for a corner, with Mannion racing on with it into a scoring position.
Fifteen minutes left, and the teams were still level. The pace, too, was as tempestuous as ever, with Hayward this time sliding into a tackle at Spuhler’s feet with the centre-forward hesitating in front of an open goal.
That cost a corner, and the corner indirectly cost a goal with only 14 minutes left.
SPUHLER’S TURN
Centre-forward puts Middlesbrough in front again
The ball ran loose after a free-kick rolled out to the left.
The unmarked Woodward settled on it and shot it back into a pack of men, leaving SPUHLER, almost under the bar, to hurl himself at it and watch it cannon off his toe over the line.
The Middlesbrough goal had one amazing escape afterwards with the ball bouncing backwards and forwards for seconds in front of a goal empty of its goalkeeper.
A minute later, too, in an amazing last act, Mortensen leaped at and headed in a flying ball which Bell headed out in a flying dive to his left with his goalkeeper beaten.
I never want to see a greater match than this.
DESPERATE BID
It was nearly all Blackpool in a desperate final bid for a point. And it was still nearly all drama.
Six minutes only were left and Whitaker, passing back to a goalkeeper who was not there, stood in despair watching the ball crawl towards an empty line as Ugolini raced after it, fell on it, and retrieved it.
It was a battle royal to the last kick.
In the last half-minute, with 40,000 people whistling at the referee to finish the game, Mortensen raced on to a forward pass, veered to the right, cut in again, and shot a ball which Ugolini beat out to a storm of cheers for a corner.
Matthews had scarcely time to take the kick before the last whistle ended this masterpiece of a match.
Result:
MIDDLESBROUGH 4 (McCrae 12, 33 and 59, Spuhler 76)
BLACKPOOL 3 (Mudie 3 and 22, Mortensen 65)
COMMENTS ON THE GAME
THIS was a game which could be lost without dishonour. They will talk about it for years in the north-east.
The sequence of goals made it drama. The football in it by the two forward lines and four attacking wing half-backs made it as near a classic as I have seen for years.
The Blackpool attack was always stronger on the right than on the left, where obviously the pace was too great for Withers, with the result that his South African partner was never on anything except a bare ration of passes.
On the right wing there was football perfection, with Matthews playing as an England forward should play, and his partner, Mudie, constantly releasing passes which he could take away.
MORTENSEN’S PART
And Stanley Mortensen this afternoon was faster and more elusive than he has been for a long time, made two of the goals and scored the other.
A defence which loses four goals in a match apparently invites criticism.
This defence disarmed it by its resolution against a great forward line.
UNGUARDED WING
There was an inclination early in the afternoon to leave the right wing unguarded, but, for the rest, one had to admire this force.
In particular one admired the decision revealing itself in Shimwell’s game, the tireless defiance of Hayward and, above all else, the superb constructive football of Johnston and Kelly.
Blackpool lost but will not often play such a game as this and lose again.
So Sheffield Wednesday come back at last to play a League match at Blackpool, writes Clifford Greenwood.
When the Hillsborough team visit Bloomfield Road next weekend it will be the first time that the clubs have been in conflict on the ground in the First Division since New Year’s Eve, 1932, when the Wednesday, who earlier in the season had won 4-1 in Sheffield, completed the double in a 4-3 match.
Those four points ultimately cost Blackpool First Division status.
That is something for Blackpool to avenge – if Blackpool can against a Wednesday team which may have in its ranks little Walter Rickett, who, after leaving Sheffield United for these parts and playing a memorable game in the 1948 Cup Final, went back to Sheffield a year ago – how he must love that Yorkshire city! – and has had a goal or two this season.
But there is something else to avenge, too – little matter of a Cup-tie at Hillsborough in 1947 which everybody, even the Wednesday, said Blackpool could not lose, but which Blackpool did lose, and by such a score as 4-1 at that.
Redfern Froggatt, son of a famous father, scored two of the four goals and will be playing again next week, and Blackpool will probably have Eddie Shimwell, Harry Johnston and Stanley Mortensen as the three survivors of the 1947 debacle.
Odds must be against the Wednesday, who in a new First Division environment have won only one away game this season and lost in nine matches outside Sheffield no fewer than 31 goals.
But these Yorkshire teams are never “out” until the count has been completed. Huddersfield Town showed that a week ago.
ABOUT ONE OF MR. SMITH’S BRIGHT YOUNG BOYS
The promise in Alan Withers’ game
By Clifford Greenwood
BEST inside-forward to play at Blackpool this season appeared as a half-back when his team had a game at Bloomfield Road last season, writes Clifford Greenwood.
But if Harold Hassall often plays such a match as made him the star of the Blackpool-Huddersfield Town game last weekend he will never play as a half-back again.
When I think of one or two inside-forwards whom I have seen this season and who are in the £20,000 class and compare them with this Huddersfield inside-left I ask “And how much is he worth?”
On this display the answer would be about a million dollars.
If only this Yorkshire club had a defence half as good as its forward line was in the open at Blackpool the lost glories of the Town would soon be restored. It is, in any case, good to see a team from Leeds Road coming out of the shadows at last.
***
I HEARD news of Paddy Sowden this week.
One of the younger school at Blackpool in the early post-war years, Paddy followed George Farrow to Bacup Borough when the former Blackpool half-back went as player-manager to the Lancashire Combination club.
Within a month or two he was transferred to Hull City at a fee which probably ensured the Borough’s solvency for several years.
What has happened to him since? The reason for the absence of his name from the news is that he is on his Army service, and yet down in the South, I am told, they are beginning to talk about him, for the City have given Aldershot permission to play him, and in recent times he has been in the Third Division club’s front line.
Next Wednesday, too, he will be playing for the Army against Oxford University at Dulwich.
Another of Blackpool’s young men making good, even if this one has had to leave Blackpool before doing it.
***
NEVER DONE BEFORE?
WAS Alan Withers’ three-goal exploit for Blackpool last weekend a First Division record? Has any other player ever scored a “hat-trick” in the first half of his baptismal game in the First Division?
I can find no equal to the achievement and definitely it has never been accomplished at Blackpool.
The nearest approach was the three goals scored in his first half-hour as a First Division centre-forward by Phil Watson against Aston Villa in a 6-2 match on March 18, 1933.
But that was not the Scot’s first game in top-class football, but merely his first game as a centre-forward. It was nearly his last, too, for he was never able to do it, or anything resembling it, again.
***
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