17 February 1951 Blackpool 3 Derby County 1
County are hammered to a standstill
KELLY INJURED
Blackpool 3, Derby County 1
By “Clifford Greenwood”
STRANGE HOW LEAGUE MATCHES SHED A LOT OF THEIR GLAMOUR WHEN A TEAM IS STILL IN THE CUP.
There were no long queues, no closed gates and no tension in the air this afternoon for the visit of Derby - good box-office team though the County always seem to be.
Today they had England players in every line, except goal, where Terry Webster, a boy of 19, played his first game in the First Division this season. I was told that Scottish selectors were present. Not more than 23,000 other people were at the kick-off.
There were wide open spaces everywhere on the paddocks and in the corners of the eastern terraces, exposed to a high wind blowing in gusts from the sea. Pools of water littered the pitch early today, and in spite of the wind and sun the field was still so soft that the marching of the band across it left a trail of boot prints.
SHIMWELL'S INJURY
Blackpool had the Garrett Wright partnership in action again at full-back, while Eddie Shimwell nursed a pulled muscle that has been plaguing him ever since the Stockport County Cup-tie.
Shortly before the kick-off Mr. Holt, of Rochdale, was substituted as the referee
Teams:
BLACKPOOL: Farm; Garrett, Wright (J.); Johnston, Hayward, Kelly; Matthews, Mudie, Mortensen, Brown, Perry.
DERBY COUNTY: Webster; Mozley, Parr; Ward, Oliver, Masson; Mynard, Stamps, Lee, Morris, McLaren.
Referee: Mr H. Holt (Rochdale).
THE GAME
The County took whatever aid the wind offered and it threatened to be an embarrassment to both teams - when Tim Ward won the toss and decided to defend the south goal.
Jackie Wright made a couple of clearances with First Division written all over them in the County's two opening raids on the Blackpool goal.
Earlier, a Matthews centre had crossed the face of the Derby goal low and been lost out on the left, and a minute afterwards Allan Brown served another of those fast forward passes of which Mortensen chased into an open space and shot wide from the penalty area edge.
EARLY ESCAPE
But the football with the promise of goals in it was played by the County in the early afternoon, and inside four minutes, in fact, the County, I think, should have gone in front.
It was dark-haired Johnnie Morris, the inside forward who made one of the Manchester United goals that beat Blackpool at Wembley three years ago, who made the position for this one.
From the left wing Morris crossed a perfect centre. Big Jack Lee was up to it and, heading it down to his left before the Blackpool defence could position itself, left McLaren in an open space to stab a skidding ball slowly at Farm, with the goal almost open in front of him.
Twice afterwards Hugh Kelly crossed the path of a raiding forward and halted him in a scoring position.
MORRIS HALTED
The first time it was Morris after the inside forward had swerved away from Hayward.
The next time and within a minute, too, it was Les Mynard as the understudy outside right raced on to a perfect pass which he could have taken in on to a crouching Farm.
Yet twice in the succeeding minutes the County goal was as near downfall.
Again it was an Allan Brown made-to-measure pass which sent a forward away.
His partner, young Perry, pursued this one, running in all alone past a defence mainly demanding the offside whistle, before losing a ball out to which Terry Webster came galloping like a Powderhall sprinter, booting it anywhere in a full-back's clearance.
Within the next half-minute, too, Matthews had left his full-back standing before crossing a low centre which appeared from the Press box to miss Mortensen.
It was 50-50 afterwards, with all the football as calm and planned as it so seldom seems to be in Cupties.
Next major incident, in fact, was delayed until the 15th minute when the County's young goalkeeper went out to a loose ball, reached it a foot outside the penalty area, clawed it back over the line, and appeared to be astonished when Mr. Holt gave a free-kick against him.
Not that the free-kick was worth anything, for Mortensen lifted it high over the bar.
TWO-MAN GOAL
It made no difference, however, for within another minute, in the 16th of the half, Blackpool took the lead and the man who had missed the free-kick scored the goal.
It was the goal of two men. Little Mudie took a pass midway between the centre circle and the penalty area, hesitated with it, appeared to lose it, collected it again, and, with Mortensen calling for a pass, lifted it gently forward.
Mortensen went as fast for it as a man could go in the mud, and lashed it away from the unprotected Webster into the back of the net before the unprepared full-backs could close in on him.
Within a minute, to the hullabaloo which always greets this event, Stanley Matthews not only beat his man, but, having eluded him, shot a ball which Webster held in a leap to his right.
RAIN OF SHOTS
Two minutes later, there was a raid which ended in four shots in less than four seconds raining on the Blackpool goal, with Farm beating out two of them and other men running - by accident, I suspect - into the path of the other two.
How the Blackpool goal escaped downfall in that little foray will always be one of the season's major mysteries.
But escape it did, and with 20 minutes gone Blackpool were still in front by a goal, and on the quality of the football not undeservedly in front.
Yet in the 25th minute the County made it 1-1 with one of the strangest goals I have seen for a long time.
It all began when the County's left wing was allowed to race in from a position which appeared to be offside.
DEFENCE STANDSTILL
That raid was partly cleared, and there appeared to be plenty of time to clear it completely.
Yet in the end, big Jack Stamps, who scored four goals against Blackpool at the Baseball Ground in September, was permitted almost at his leisure to cross from the line a ball which McLaren, no less at his leisure, headed past Farm.
During those seconds the Blackpool defence appeared for some inexplicable reason to be almost at a standstill.
EYES ON CUPTIE?
A lot of Blackpool's football before this, and some of it afterwards, had been played at the deliberate pace of a team concerned less with what was happening this week than what was to happen next.
Yet there was still quality in it, and whenever the forwards approached the County's goal the Derby defence appeared to be none too compact.
But with the first half-hour gone, it was Derby who were raiding and at times almost continuously, even if in one Blackpool counter-attack Brown made position perfectly for Perry and Perry made everything that could be made out of it before crossing a centre which Mudie headed into Webster's hands.
KELLY INJURED
Kelly, who had been Blackpool's best half-back in these first 30 minutes, was left with a limp and in the end hobbled to outside-left after a tackle by Morris which Mr. Holt punished with a free kick.
The free kick was worth nothing, and during the succeeding minutes a Blackpool front line deprived of Brown, who had retired into the wing-half position, made less progress than ever, even if the County's attack, making plenty of progress, achieved little with it.
Yet Blackpool's four forwards, or to be exact, Matthews and Mudie, aided by Johnston, won a corner.
Then Johnston, surging forward as an extra forward in another raid, was unceremoniously felled to earth for a free kick which prefaced another raid in which Johnston - yes, that man again! - took Matthews' centre in his stride, and, as two men sprawled on him, hooked a shot barely over the bar.
DERBY IN RETREAT
Blackpool at this time, even with ten men and a cripple, were playing with an intensity which had never been revealed earlier, and under it the County were going back as they had not retreated for a long time.
This County defence, in fact, was conceding free kicks at the rate of about one a minute at this time, and nowhere, with the half approaching its end, were the County anywhere near a goal until five minutes before half-time.
Half-time: Blackpool 1, Derby County 1
Second half
Blackpool were still 10 men and one other, the other being Hugh Kelly, still limping at outside-left, when the second half opened.
Yet it was all Blackpool in the opening minutes of the half. In the first 30 seconds Stanley Matthews had the Derby defence in a tangle before crossing a short squared centre which was cleared anywhere.
Johnston launched himself on to this never-too-compact Derby defence in a one-man raid afterwards, and far out on the right wing Mortensen won a corner which, when it was crossed from the flag, Webster fielded and cleared magnificently.
PERRY'S RAID
Blackpool's pressure was continuous.
Perry beat three men by lifting the ball past each of them in turn and chasing it in one raid, and Mudie, neatly hooking a pass over his own head, made position to win another corner, with the County's defence reeling backwards against this nonstop attack and a storm of sleet.
Kelly, hobbling in from one wing, headed a centre from the other high over the bar, and still on and on the pressure raged by this 10-man team as the sleet continued to fall and the sun to shine through it.
If Blackpool had been taking it at half-pace for half an hour, they were not taking it at anything except full pace now.
KELLY GOES OFF
So it still was one each with only 20 minutes left - and still Blackpool raided, even if there were signs that at last as the pace began to tell that the County front line was coming, however belatedly, out of its bondage.
Fifteen minutes were left, and one of the big chances of the match was rejected.
There was a long clearance into the Derby goal area. The ball sailed over Ken Oliver's head, left Mortensen all on his own. The Kop was shouting for a goal as the leader hit the ball wide of the far post, with young Webster all alone in front of him.
JOHNSTON THERE
The retreating County had surrendered four corners in the first 12 minutes of the half, and under Blackpool's unexpected hammer blows the County continued to go back.
A fifth corner came as Hugh Kelly at last accepted the inevitable and left the field.
Not that it made any difference to the one-way traffic on the County's goal.
The first time, in fact, that George Farm was in action at all in this half was after 20 minutes had gone, and then all he had to field was a tame lobbed centre from Ward.
Yet a goal would not come. Mortensen lashed the ball out of the mud and high over the bar after he had opened a raid with a pass to Mudie, who sent his partner racing away past the full-back as if Jack Parr were standing still.
There was everything in Blackpool's game except goals - tons of courage, good football (remarkably good on such a surface) - but no man to convert a scoring position.
Goal after Mortensen thunderbolt
Yet Stanley Mortensen soon atoned for this major error. Another five minutes had gone and 10 minutes only were left when Mudie was flagrantly fouled by a Derby half-back.
The Scot required attention before the game could begin again. When it began, it exploded into amazing action.
Mortensen, unexpectedly taking the free-kick 40 yards out, shot the ball so fast from this amazing range that its pace beat Terry Webster. The ball cracked on the underside of the bar, dropped on the line, and as men fell sprawling, Harry Johnston crashed it home.
No. 3 came with five minutes to go. What a goal this was.
MADE BY MATTHEWS
It was Stanley Matthews in everything but name. Down the right wing and into the centre the wing forward raced, walked past three men, reached shooting position, shot, and sliced his shot.
But it skidded across the goal's face and reached Mortensen, who merely stabbed it over the line, hitting the foot of the post en route.
I've never seen a finer finish by a depleted team for years.
Result: BLACKPOOL 3 (Mortensen 16, 85, Johnston 80)
DERBY COUNTY 1 (McLaren 25)
COMMENTS ON THE GAME
Blackpool, unlike the month of March, came into this game like lambs and went out of it like lions.
After playing for the first half-hour as if they were thinking less of this particular League fixture than of the Cuptie in a week's time, Blackpool hammered the County to a standstill, laid violent siege to the Derby goal for 35 minutes of the second half and in the end forced its capitulation twice in five minutes.
It was a magnificent show by 10 men.
Star of the game again was Stanley Matthews, and yet during the second half he had a partner in Jackie Mudie whose football was of the highest quality.
On the other flank, too, Perry by sheer resolution made himself a wing all on his own until he ran himself almost into the mud.
COURAGE - AND FOOTBALL
It was not only courage but good football which won this match.
Harry Johnston was the battling captain the day demanded, and, in fact, everywhere in defence, once Eric Hayward had mastered his man, there was punch and decision.
Garrett had another of those almost classical games he always plays as a right back, and on the other wing Jackie Wright established again that he is not out of his medium in the First Division.
A lot of compliments, I know, but if ever a team deserved them it was Blackpool today
WITHOUT ATTEMPTING TO BELITTLE THE TASK WITH WHICH THEY ARE FACED AT BLACKPOOL IN THE SIXTH ROUND OF THE FA CUP NEXT SATURDAY, FULHAM ARE CONFIDENT THAT THEY ARE GOING TO GET THROUGH.
This is the sober judgment of Mr. Frank Osborne, the Fulham general manager, and Bill Dodgin, team manager.
Interviewed at separate times, they both forecast a draw at Blackpool and victory in the replay at Craven Cottage. They have already decided that the following Wednesday will be the best day for the replay.
Mr. Osborne said:
"If Lancashire people, or anyone else, thinks this match is a one-horse race, they are in for a shock. I know that we are not fancied, but so far as I am concerned that is another reason why we should get through. Football is a very funny game, you know.
"Of course, we are fully aware that this is the toughest draw we have had in the competition this season, but that will only make us play better. You can also take it that we regard our 4-0 defeat in the League match at Blackpool early last September as a freak result. McKnight scored three goals in four minutes for Blackpool, and that sort of thing would never happen again."
"Stanley Matthews? Yes, he is a great player, but he is not the whole Blackpool team, and, anyway, we have some great defenders."
"Different now"
Bill Dodgin pointed to Fulham's two grand displays against Chelsea in the fifth round.
"We have only to reproduce that form to get through to the semi-final," he said. "In fact, I look upon our tie with Blackpool as another match on our road to Wembley."
"This is not going to be the one-sided affair that many people visualise. We are not in the least bit worried by the fact that Blackpool have taken three League points from us this season. Our new players have since settled down, and we are now playing different football."
Jim Taylor, Fulham captain, was terse and to the point:
"Blackpool home or away do not worry me or anyone else in the side."
Just one team problem
FULHAM have only one team problem for their Cuptie with Blackpool.
They have to decide whether to bring back Archie Macaulay, who missed the Chelsea replay through injury but is now fit again, and, if they do, where to play him.
If he does return it will probably be at right-half in place of Quested, for at the moment there is little inclination to alter the attack that did so well on Wednesday.
The team will not go away for special training but will travel up to Blackpool next Friday in the normal way.
But there’s been football as well
By Clifford Greenwood
IF one man had to be deputed to shadow Stanley Matthews at Blackpool last weekend, it was not as crazy as it might have seemed for Edwin Barks to have been given the assignment.
For this Derbyshire-born player was a half-back when he was signed by Mansfield from Nottingham Forest in February,
1949, and, in fact, had seldom played in any other position until George Antonio went to Field Mill from Stoke City.
Barks had never, however, in all his days, played as an outside-left, and, in spite of last weekend's programme, he has never played there yet.
***
Postscript on the Mansfield tie
WHEN I went out to Cleveleys last week and talked to Manager Freddie Steele, of Mansfield Town, writes Clifford Greenwood, a Press photographer approached and asked, "Could I take a photograph of whoever is to mark Stanley Matthews on Saturday?"
Mr. Steele pretended to deliberate, and said, at last, "You'd better take the lot of us!" Everybody obediently said, "Ha, ha!" as if it were a good joke, as obviously it was intended to be.
But there was a vestige of truth in it, sufficient truth to ensure that a few days later a Cuptie should be ruined.
I know that Stanley Matthews is a great player. There may never be his equal in the game. But to base an entire team's tactics on the blotting-out of one man - particularly when in the end no one is able to blot him out - is to be guilty of a strategical error.
Freddie Steele said before this match, "We'll be out to enjoy ourselves." If the 11 men of Mansfield enjoyed this match they were in an insignificant minority, and, somehow, I suspect, that even they did not enjoy themselves at all.
***
MICROPHONE STARS
NOT everybody keeps cool in front of a BBC microphone. But Blackpool have three players who seem completely unaffected by it.
One is Harry Johnston, who has been broadcasting at intervals for years, during and ever since his war service in the Middle East.
Two men new to the medium went on the air last weekend. One was Eric Hayward who, in a prematch interview, betrayed no signs of microphone nerves. The other was Allan Brown who, after the match was over, said all he had to say in accents as Scottish as the heather without apparently being disturbed at all.
And Manager Joe Smith always seems in front of a microphone to be as accustomed to it as Stuart Hibberd.
Once, after an Arsenal match had been broadcast at Blackpool, he had to review the game at its end, climbed into the old Press box on the back row of the main stand, rattled his head against one of the steel girders which in those days were always traps for the unwary, but talked away with sweet unconcern to the radio's vast audience a few minutes later.
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