3 February 1951 Aston Villa 0 Blackpool 3
Strong finish at Villa Park
MATTHEWS AGAIN
Aston Villa 0, Blackpool 3
By “Clifford Greenwood”
FOR Blackpool the match at Villa Park this afternoon - a Villa Park which will always be famous in the club’s history as the scene of the famous Cup semi-final with the Spurs three years ago - was merely an interlude in the stern warfare of the Cup
For the Villa, who have been losing a lot too many points during the last two months, it was an action in a battle for First Division salvation, with the team in claret and blue beset by a relegation menace which often since the war has threatened the proud status of one of the proudest clubs in the land.
Not even the presence of the box-office stars of Blackpool had attracted 30,000 inside the gates half an hour before the kick-off, so low have the Villa’s fortunes ebbed, but I was assured that by 3-0 p.m. there would be nearly 50,000 in the stands and on the mountainous terraces.
Johnny Crosland played in the left back position, where he won fame in an hour and a half at Wembley in 1948. Eric Hayward had, as a result, his first game in the First Division since the end of December.
The Villa, whose forwards these days are led by David Walsh the Irishman whom Blackpool were always being told they should sign before they signed Allan Brown instead, entered the game without a victory against Blackpool in postwar football.
Last week I watched football on a field crusted with frost. This afternoon it was mud, or, to be exact, soon would be.
FLU VICTIM
A quarter of an hour before the teams appeared it was announced that Colin Gibson was ill with flu and that there would have to be a shuffle of the Villa’s attack.
Billy Goffin, the wing-forward who scored the last-minute goal which gave the Villa an equalising goal against Blackpool earlier in the season, was introduced at outside-right, with little Tommy Thompson, inside man from Newcastle, as his partner.
Teams:
ASTON VILLA: Jones; Parkes, Dorsett; Canning, Martin, Moss (A.); Goffin, Thompson, Walsh, Dixon, Smith (L.).
BLACKPOOL: Farm; Shimwell, Crosland; Johnston, Hayward, Kelly; Matthews, Mudie, Mortensen, Brown, Perry.
Referee: Mr. R. A. Mortimer (Huddersfield).
First half
In tangerine jerseys at last the first time for two months in any away match - Blackpool lost the toss, but lost nothing with it, for there was little, if any, wind.
Harry Johnston’s long crossfield pass to the left wing opened a raid on the Villa's goal in the first minute. Bill Perry raced away from his full-back to take it before crossing a high centre which Con Martin, leaping to a great height, headed away.
Inside the next 30 seconds Blackpool conceded a corner on their right wing which was not cleared until Farm, clutching the ball out of the air, fell, still clutching it, and held it under Walsh's challenge, staggered up with it, and cleared it, with two other forwards hounding him desperately.
PACE AND FURY
Nobody could call this a passive prologue. There was pace and fury everywhere, with Allan Brown once making position for himself adroitly and losing it as he steered himself a shade too laboriously into a shooting space.
Pressure on the Blackpool goal was almost continuous afterwards.
There was one crisp clearance by Kelly as the Villa’s right wing escaped its full-back for the second time in a minute, and another which Shimwell hit anywhere when Leslie Smith, racing unchallenged into an open space, hit across a centre as fast as a shot.
DOWNFIELD PASS
Except when Mortensen chased Perry’s downfield pass into a position which Mr. Mortimer and a linesman said was offside but which, frankly, did not appear to be so from the Press box, the Blackpool attack was seldom in action, seldom given a pass.
When at last a pass reached Stanley Matthews from the other Stanley, the wing forward, to a thunderous cheer, lost it to the ex-Wolf, Dickie Dorsett.
Still the Villa raided and still the Villa were singularly unimpressive, moving on the Blackpool goal at a great pace but doing nothing, or being summarily halted by Blackpool when they arrived there.
One corner came and another, and another - the fourth in the 13th minute - and all on the right flank of a retreating but not noticeably disturbed Blackpool defence.
BLACKPOOL RAID
And it nearly brings a goal
Once, and once only, in this time Blackpool raided, and this one raid was nearly worth the goal which all the Villa’s pressure had never even promised.
Then, inevitably, it was on the right wing that the attack with a goal punch in it was built.
Matthews darted on to a pass, took it away, eluded one man and then another, hesitated as he reached the line, and crossed a low centre into which Larry Canning, the Villa’s right-half, ran full tilt.
It was a goal for all the Villa knew about it, and would have been if the cannoning ball had not hit another Villa man and, skidding off the turf, bounced up into the Villa goalkeeper’s waiting arms.
Within a minute, as if to show what could be done, Brown created one raid with Mudie and the left wing.
MUCH TOO HIGH
It ended in Perry accepting a back pass from Mortensen which he thundered so high over the bar that it could have counted only at Twickenham or Murrayfield.
The Villa often introduced long passes to the wings, but the Blackpool full-backs were seldom being passed and, in fact, there was only one shooting chance for the Villa forwards for a long time, so close packed was the Blackpool defence.
Then Johnny Dixon found himself with a bouncing ball in front of him and the goal gaping, too, and took such a long time settling on the ball that in the end he did not shoot at all.
NEAT BLACKPOOL
Blackpool were in the game - at times almost dictating it - with 20 minutes of the half gone, playing neat, brisk football which often had the Villa full-backs and half-backs chasing passes which were eluding them everywhere.
Hugh Kelly punted a couple of free-kicks which a massed Villa defence repelled inside a couple of minutes, with the game still moving on the Villa goal as it had moved on Blackpool’s earlier in the day.
Still, in one Villa attack, a harassed Blackpool defence twice forfeited shooting positions to Thompson, who each time delayed the shot that fraction of a second too long and hit a Blackpool full-back with it.
HAYWARD THERE
In the next minute, too, after Crosland’s headed clearance had fallen short, braked in the mud and given Thompson another clear course, it was only a desperate sliding tackle by Hayward which halted this raider.
Half an hour gone and still not a goal in it and not a lot in midfield either, with Blackpool retaliating in a complex raid.
This opened with Stanley Matthews gliding a pass away in the inside-left position, and ended with Brown out on the wing crossing inside to Mudie a bouncing ball which the little Scot missed completely, with the Villa’s defence in a fine old state of gloom, despondency and panic.
JUST MISSED
It was in it again a couple of minutes later as Matthews, back on the old pitch, gave Dorsett a couple of yards’ start, passed him in half a dozen, and took the ball almost to the post before crossing a centre which missed Brown’s head by about a cat’s whisker, with the Scot apparently certain to score his first goal in this country.
This was not the Blackpool I saw last week. A Blackpool with a winning punch it may not have been, but with the pitch sufficiently thick in slime to be holding the ball there was a design in the team’s football everywhere, which for too long was absent last week.
Chances were still, nevertheless, being rejected. Bill Perry lost another as Kelly crossed a perfect pass to him in a shooting position.
FARM’S DIVE
This might have been expensive, too, and, in fact, would have been a minute later as a cannoning ball put Dave Walsh on-side and compelled Farm to take a flying dive at the Irish leader’s feet with the centre-forward racing in on top of him, flying over him, and catapulting into a squad of Press photographers crouching behind the line.
Another two minutes, too, and as Thompson went to earth, chasing another random pass down the centre, with Hayward and Crosland both harrying him, there was a clamour for a penalty which was not silenced even after Mr. Mortimer had waved it aside. And with only three minutes of the half left, Tommy Thompson was in the game again, and in it this time almost with a goal with a shot so fast that it nearly brushed the post.
FINE GOAL
Mudie crowns combined movement
Another minute, and Blackpool were in it with a goal. It was a goal immaculate in its design.
The raid opened out on the left wing with a throw-in, continued across a Villa defence disintegrating everywhere, and ended in Mortensen serving Brown with a short squared pass and the Scot steering across another pass to his right.
There MUDIE waited, had all the time in the world to steady himself, settled on the ball, and almost deliberately shot it beneath Jones as the goalkeeper fell a shade late in front of him.
Half-time: Aston Villa 0, Blackpool 1
Second half
In the first minute of the second half George Farm had trainer John Lynas out to him after a right wing raid by the Villa which ended in the goalkeeper colliding with Dixon as he fell to intercept the centre.
Farm was soon passed for service again, nursing his ribs but apparently not seriously hurt.
The Villa went at it desperately in the next few minutes, had a corner granted by Mr. Mortimer which he immediately revoked for an offside free-kick on a linesman’s intervention.
Yet in the fifth minute of the half the cunning manoeuvring of Perry and Brown won a corner for Blackpool, a corner which was actually the first one by Blackpool all the afternoon.
WORTHLESS CORNER
It was worth what so many Blackpool corners are worth, which is exactly nothing at all, but it sufficed to end the Villa’s brief early-in-the-half assault.
After it the Blackpool front line was often operating again and, in fact, might have made it 2-0 in the sixth minute of the half as Matthews, selling a couple of dummies en route, crossed a ball which Mudie lost in a shooting position.
For a time afterwards Blackpool outplayed the Villa everywhere.
There was nearly goal No. 2 again with only 10 minutes of the half gone as a free-kick from out on the right wing was glided away to the left by Brown to an open space, where Mortensen headed in fast a ball which Jones beat out in a flying dive to his right for another corner.
JOHNSTON RAID
Another minute and Johnston became a forward with the Villa retreating everywhere, gave a pass to Perry, called for a return, was given it, and, racing in, hooked the ball fast into Jones’ waiting hands.
All this, however, was only the prelude to an amazing hit-or-miss offensive by the Villa which raged for five tumultuous minutes, rose unexpectedly as a summer storm, and went on and on.
During it three corners were conceded at the rate of one a minute, and in the 13th minute of the half there was a disallowed goal, and a thunderous protest against the decision by the massed Kop behind the goal.
The raid itself promised nothing in particular and would have achieved nothing if Shimwell had not cut back for a ball which his goalkeeper considered was his own.
OVER THE LINE
No But referee says goal
In the confusion which followed with both men hesitating and the ball bouncing and at last almost at rest between them, Dave Walsh thundered up, made a smash and grab tackle on the falling Farm, ran on to the empty goal, and shot it over the line.
Mr. Mortimer was definite that a foul had been committed and I am convinced that one had. He said “No” and, in spite of all the protests, continued to say it.
One had to admire this Villa. They were playing football which had no particular plan in it, but they were always prepared to chase the ball and chase in everywhere they were doing, on to a Blackpool defence in which I saw Eric Hayward make two resolute clearances in rapid succession.
HIT SIDE NET
Leslie Smith shot into the side net three minutes after crossing a free-kick which almost brushed the far post as it flew out.
Back and back Blackpool were still going as the game entered on its last quarter-hour, but there were no signs of the defence caving in, desperately as the Villa raided in an assault which produced the ninth corner of the match.
Nor had that corner been cleared, either, before Farm was in the wars again, reeling backwards as Martin hit him in mid-air, falling on to the post, and there collapsing.
Soon he was back again, and soon, too, Matthews was tangling the Villa’s defence into knots in another breakaway.
MORTENSEN SCORES
Six minutes were left and Blackpool settled it with goal No. 2. It was a great goal made again by Allan Brown.
The Scot raced on to a loose ball, fell under a tackle, retrieved the ball as the full-back fell, too, ran on, and crossed a centre which MORTENSEN shot into the roof of the net from almost under the bar.
Two minutes to go, and a third goal came.
This was a goal made by the magic of Matthews, who toyed with three men near a corner flag for nearly half a minute before leaving them sprawling in his wake and crossing to JOHNSTON a ball which the Blackpool captain rocketed into the roof of the net.
Stanley Matthews left the field to a remarkable reception, thousands standing to cheer him, even the Villa players patting him on the back en route to the dressing rooms.
Result:
ASTON VILLA 0
BLACKPOOL 3 (Mudie 43, Mortensen 84, Johnston 88)
COMMENTS ON THE GAME
BLACKPOOL still have a hoodoo on the Villa. Not that it was a hoodoo but good football which won this match.
The Blackpool defence, admittedly, was often retreating, conceding 13 corners during the afternoon.
But it seldom lost position under the Villa's steam roller assaults, and it was a defence as calm as in last week’s Cuptie it was often excitable and desperate.
The half-back line was its chief strength, but Shimwell had a game in his old defiant stand-and-deliver manner on the right flank and Johnny Crosland adapted himself admirably to an unfamiliar position, short as a few of his clearances may excusably have been.
FARM’S PART
One of the stars of this defence was yet again George Farm. A great goalkeeper this Scot.
Dominating the front line - and at times the match - was Stanley Matthews.
The left flank of the Villa’s defence never knew what to do with him, and often were able to do nothing.
This attack was stronger on the right than on the left as a result, superb as Brown’s midfield football always was.
One’s only criticism of the front line was that it left it so long to settle the match. Blackpool should have won by a distance long before the end.
BLACKPOOL, in meeting Mansfield Town, will have to study the tactics they are going to employ. They will not have to be too fanciful; they will have to cut out carpet-weaving and get on with the job.
This Mansfield team is dour, and backs and halfbacks are fast, and their first-time hard tackles can be very disturbing to players who like to hang on to the ball.
Steele, Ottewell danger men
MANSFIELD’S inside-forwards are not dangerous, but Freddie Steele, player-manager, is a clever leader, not because he chases the ball and rushes in, but because of his clever heading and intelligent foot flicks.
Against Sheffield United in the replay on Wednesday he always seemed to find his man, and in particular wingers Coole and Ottewell.
Ottewell may be 32 years of age but he is made for Cup-ties. He was the thorn in the side of Sheffield United’s backs. They simply could not keep him down, and he responded with wonderful enthusiasm to the promptings of Steele.
Coole is very fast and a hard shot, but not so dangerous as Ottewell.
The half-back line works well, but the best is the two-footed Antonio, former colleague of Stan Matthews at Stoke, as is Steele. Antonio has had considerable experience, and Hagan was never comfortable against him.
The defence is tough, just like the team as a whole, but if Blackpool can get an early goal the initiative should be seized and pushed home.
It was noteworthy that when Sheffield United took the lead in the replay Mansfield were shaken, and if Sheffield had followed it up strongly instead of hanging back to make sure of retaining the lead there could have been a different result.
That was the period in which Sheffield United should have pressed their advantage home instead of playing for safety. Once Mansfield had drawn level Sheffield were on their way out.
Next Tuesday is Shrove Tuesday.
IN THE NEWS
Australia, Bishop Auckland—and that Cuptie penalty
By Clifford Greenwood
THREE question marks (writes Clifford Greenwood) after the Stockport County Cuptie at Blackpool a week ago - apart from the inevitable question “What went wrong with Blackpool?”
No. 1: Did Stanley Matthews run the ball over the dead-line before crossing the centre from which Stanley Mortensen gave Blackpool a 50-second lead?
A Press photographer near the post said “Yes.” It was impossible to give a verdict from the Press box.
Stanley Matthews says - and you can take his word for it - “It was never over.”
No. 2: Should Allan Brown have been credited with his first goal in England?
Half a dozen correspondents who were on the Kop say the ball was beyond the bar and therefore over the line for a goal before Ronnie Staniforth, the County’s full-back, punched it out for the penalty which Tom Garrett missed.
Again I wouldn’t know - couldn’t tell from the Press box.
No. 3: Was Bill Perry’s goal offside?
I can give an opinion on this subject. The answer, I think, should be “No.” For, as I saw it, the wing forward ran past the full-back after the pass had been made.
***
I NOTICE that last weekend: Walter Rickett, playing for Sheffield Wednesday Reserve against Everton’s second team in the Central League, scored the two goals that beat the Goodison Park men.
Basil Hayward, brother of Blackpool’s centre-half, who has played as a full-back and half-back this season for Port Vale, led the Vale’s forwards at Reading.
Jack Cross, the ex-ATC wing-forward, who played a few games for Blackpool in wartime football, is back in Bournemouth’s first team and scored the winning goal against Swindon.
***
ONE who seldom misses a Blackpool match - if music-hall and other engagements permit - is a little man who was once King Rat and whose name is Mr. Tom Moss.
Music-hall producer and comedian living for years in St. Annes, Tom Moss was the man who booked Stanley Matthews for his footlights tour a couple of years ago and gave him a season on St. Annes Pier. Now he is entering a new medium - television - which he thinks is to be the entertainment of the future, challenging both the stage and the cinema.
In the meantime, as a little interlude, he has been out to Australia, flew 12,000 miles to watch one of the Rugby League “Tests,” and, when none of the Blackpool team is within earshot, confesses that Rugby League was his game - and still is when he can watch it - long before he was lured to Soccer.
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