1 September 1951 Blackpool 3 Wolverhampton Wanderers 2
Two-goal Morty decides game of thrills
FIGHT TO THE END
Blackpool 3, Wolverhampton Wanderers 2
By “Clifford Greenwood”
THERE is nothing as capricious - unless it is the football results - as the English climate.
It rains for cricket and the sun shines often from cloudless skies for football.
It was one of those days at Blackpool for the visit, always attractive in this part of the world, of Wolverhampton Wanderers this afternoon.
As early as two o’clock nearly 20,000 people were inside the gates, and, shortly before the kick-off the packing of Spion Kop by remote-control microphone had so populated the new embankment that for the first time this season the attendance was soaring up to an estimated 33,000.
Blackpool had the Garrett-Wright partnership at full-back again in the absence of Eddie Shimwell, still unfit.
The Wanderers, with two men disabled, announced a shuffle which affected four positions. In one of them centre-half Bill Shorthouse found himself as full-back on “Operation Matthews.” .
ALBERT HEARN THERE
Among the spectators was Albert Hearn, the young half-back who was taken seriously ill last season and for months has been in a Nottingham sanatorium.
The flag flew at half-mast in memory of Dr. H. F. Overend, one of the club’s medical advisers who died yesterday.
Teams: BLACKPOOL: Farm; Garrett Wright J.; Johnston, Hayward, Kelly; Matthews, Mudie, Mortensen. Brown, Perry.
Wolverhampton Wanderers : Williams; Short, Shorthouse ; Crook, Chatham, Wright W.; Hancocks, Smyth, Wilshaw, Dunn, Mullen.
Referee: Mr. A. Murdock (Sheffield).
BOY MASCOT
Every club has a mascot these days. Blackpool have a duck, the Wanderers have a little boy in Wolverhampton’s old gold jersey.
Out to meet Billy Wright, who, with his men had to wear white today, he trotted as the teams appeared to a chorus of rattles making the noise of a thousand road drills.
THE GAME
Harry Johnston lost the toss.
Blackpool’s defence protected a north goal which had the sun shining across it.
The Blackpool defence almost forfeited a scoring position in the first minute - an error which Eric Hayward redeemed with a back pass to his waiting goalkeeper - and with the light ball bouncing skittishly all the time this defence was under pressure for a minute or two afterwards Twice raids were repelled by Kelly and Hayward, and it was not, in fact, until Hugh Kelly converted himself into a wing forward out on an empty left flank that' Blackpool made any progress at all.
For teams with forward lines of such repute there was nothing in the attacking football calculated to disturb a compact defence during the first five minutes.
SLICED WIDE
When at last Billy Wright created a shooting position for Jimmy Mullen, who has so often scored goals on this ground, could only slice his shot so far wide of the near post that he was manifestly ashamed of himself.
Blackpool’s first raid of any consequence was created out on the right wing.
There, Shorthouse lost a bouncing ball, gave a clear field to Matthews and the wing forward, fast into it, crossed a centre which Mortensen headed barely wide of the far post in a great leap at it.
Within another minute, the Wolverhampton defence was content to concede a corner to repel the familiar Matthews menace.
And there were two more raids on a Wolverhampton defence with a few ominous gaps in it before, in another fast swoop by the Wanderers only a grand tackle by Johnston took the ball away from Sammy Smyth as the inside-right chased it into a scoring position.
BLACKPOOL AHEAD
Morty splits defence - Mudie scores
That was in the eighth minute.
Two minutes later Blackpool were in front - in front by a goal surrendered by a Wolverhampton defence which was stampeded out of all order before it was scored.
The raid was built on the left, and continued there until a ball was crossed which Mortensen chased, lost and went after again until a wide open space had been almost exploded in front of the Wolverhampton goal.
Into this space ran JACKIE MUDIE. who. I think, must have called to his centre-forward “Leave it!” The leader left it, and left, too, the little inside-right to volley the ball into the roof of the net with no man near him and Bert Williams left at his mercy.
The Wanderers were not outplayed afterwards.
Yet they were near to the loss of another goal when by his speed alone Perry passed his full-back in a 50-yard pursuit of the ball and shot it so fast that it required a goalkeeper of Williams' class to hold it as he flung himself at it and fell forward, still clutching it at the feet of the advancing Mortensen.
That was nearly 2-0. Within a couple of minutes it was nearly 1-1 as Dennis Wilshaw took a forward pass, raced into shooting position with it and shot fast away from the far post.
The game had gone faster and faster minute by minute in the first quarter-hour, with the Wanderers at the time raiding with a purpose almost every minute on a Blackpool defence often losing position but always retrieving it at the last desperate second.
FAST, DIRECT
Strong pressure by the Wolves
The passes of Brown and Johnston were creating the few raids Blackpool were building.
One by Brown to Perry won a corner, but it went the way of all Blackpool corners these days, and, in fact, was merely an interruption of pressure by the Wanderers which was produced by fast, direct football.
Yet, with 20 minutes of the half gone, and chiefly because at this time Johnston was employing the long forward or crossfield pass.
Blackpool were in the game almost as often as the Wanderers.
Twice though, Hayward had to repel down-the-centre raids which had all the old Wanderers punch and pace in them.
Kelly, too, made a fine headed clearance from Mullen’s free-kick, with a tall aggressive Wilshaw hurling himself at the flying ball.
DESPERATE TACKLE
The Wanderers, I think, nearly conceded a penalty as Mortensen fell under a desperate tackle in pursuit of a pass which had ended a right wing raid.
The Wolverhampton forwards, repeatedly put into the game by Billy Wright, were a line good to watch in the open, making the pass fast and chasing it fast, too, but scoring positions were still not being created out of all this pressure.
One came, and Jimmy Dunn, son of a famous father, rejected it, finding himself in a wide open space direct from a full-back’s clearance before shooting a ball which doubled up Farm like a penknife but which the goalkeeper held as he fell backwards under the impact.
So it continued, with the Wanderers still raiding in vain against a Blackpool team not advancing so often but making shooting positions.
FINE CLEARANCES
Bert Williams had to produce a couple of magnificent flying clearances inside half a minute, the second from a free-kick surrendered by a full-back beginning to show a few signs of desperation in his clashes - and clashes was the word - with Stanley Matthews.
Matthews was in the next raid, too, punting forward from the inside-left position a pass which Mortensen chased and shot wide of a post as Ray Chatham fell in a heap on top of him.
The game still moved, at times almost without interruption, on the Blackpool goal, but still the Wanderers forwards could create few shooting positions, and when they created them could not shoot.
It had been a fast and good half. The Wanderers should have finished it in front.
Half-time: Blackpool 1, Wolves 0.
Second half
Before the Wanderers even knew what had hit them they were two down before the second half was half a minute old.
Seldom have I seen a half open with such drama.
Within exactly 28 seconds Blackpool’s lead had been increased. It was a bolt-from-the-blue goal almost direct from the kick-off.
Dunn’s first pass was intercepted by Kelly, who made a back pass to Wright.
The full-back punted a long ball downfield. After it went Perry, reached it at full gallop as it bounced high in front of him, glided it inside into a Wanderers’ defence wide open and utterly unprepared.
STANLEY MORTENSEN was after it fast as a greyhound, reached it, and shot it low and wide of Williams’ right hand as the England goalkeeper fell full length but a split second late to it.
FURIOUS ATTACKS
The Wanderers’ retaliation was immediate.
It won two corners, a couple of shooting positions from which not a forward shot, and, in fact, merely prefaced three Blackpool assaults which had such fury in them that the Wanderers’ half-back and full-back lines buckled under them.
No goals came, but that there was panic, or something approaching it, in this defence was revealed when in a Matthews swoop a full-back hit the ball out for a corner without any apology.
The Wanderers were still raiding, as they had been raiding all the afternoon, but it was seldom that Blackpool’s goal was seriously menaced.
In Blackpool raids which had fewer passes in them a greater punch was being revealed.
WOLVES FADE
And Matthews makes a dream pass
Slowly afterwards the Wanderers began to fade.
For a time Stanley Matthews had everything as he wanted it, won an indirect free-kick in the penalty area which came to nothing and immediately afterwards stabbed backwards a pass - a dream of a pass - which Mudie rocketed high over the bar.
Jimmy Dunn had one chance while this was happening and squandered it, shooting at the crouching Farm with the rest of the goal to aim at QUICK GOALS
Then came drama again - two goals in three minutes.
The first appeared to ensure the points for Blackpool. A great goal it was too - a goal built by one pass
Stanley Matthews made it, a high lobbed pass down the centre. Again the Wanderers defence was exposed wide open MORTENSEN raced into the open space again, mastered the bouncing ball and hit the back of the net from 15 yards with a fast low cross shot to which even Williams hurled himself in vain.
They had scarcely ceased cheering this third of Blackpool’s goals when they were cheering one for the Wanderers. It came after at last a Wolverhampton forward had shot as Wolverhampton forwards are all supposed to be able to shoot.
Johnny Hancocks hit a high rising ball from 20 yards. Farm leaped at it and beat it out in mid-air in the greatest save of the match
FROM A CORNER
It cost a corner, and the corner cost a goal.
After the ball had been crossed from the right wing flag it flew out towards the left, where JIMMY MULLEN shot it back again low and fast into the far wall of the net for the goal he so often scores at Bloomfield-road.
For minutes afterwards the Wanderers were all out in a desperate bid to retrieve a match which had seemed beyond redemption.
But it was still 3-1 with 15 minutes left and after this brief storm had been weathered Blackpool’s position began to appear secure again.
It not only appeared secure but as the end approached it promised to be strengthened, with Matthews tearing gaps in the Wanderers’ left flank of defence and winning a couple of corners
MISSED CHANCES
Yet in one of the last of Wolverhampton’s break-aways Mullen shot straight at Farm from a position simpler than the one from which he had scored, and a minute later Smyth, with Wilshaw waiting in front of an open Blackpool goal, hooked the ball away from the centre-forward.
Nor was that the end of the excitement, for inside a minute Matthews raced away from everybody almost direct from one of George Farm’s clearances, reached a position in front of the deserted Williams, and hooked his shot wide when his first goal for nearly two years seemed a 100-1 on.
AND AGAIN
Whereupon, half a minute later, Wilshaw hooked the ball high over an empty goal.
This game was dying in a thunderclap of incidents.
With two minutes left a goal came, but it was the Wanderers who scored it.
There was a raid on the left which was half repelled but built again.
In the end, with Farm trapped out of his goal, a high ball came over from this wing which the tall SAMMY SMYTH headed in as he leaped almost to the height of the bar.
Result:
BLACKPOOL 3 (Mudie 10, Mortensen 46, 65)
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 2 (Mullen 67, Smyth 88)
COMMENTS ON THE GAME
THERE were 32,074 people at this match. The odd 74 may have gone home before the final whistle.
The remaining 32,000 remained to the end of the match which, as a drama, may not be equalled at Blackpool all season.
Blackpool won it and were entitled to win it.
Chiefly because of the grand opportunism of Stanley Mortensen, they were scoring, until the match’s last quarter, from the positions where the Wanderers were missing.
There was little else between the teams. But it made the difference between a couple of points for Blackpool and none at all, for the Wanderers, who had not less than 60 per cent, of the game, should definitely have been winning at half-time.
The Wanderers’ fate was sealed by three forwards - a grand centre - forward chasing everything, a right wing forward Stanley Matthews who was the old master again today, and the South African Perry, in fast, direct raids.
JOHNSTON’S PASSES
The inside forwards were never moving sufficiently fast to the ball, and it was for this reason that for long periods the half back line was primarily concerned with defence, even if Harry Johnston repeatedly opened out a suspect Wolverhampton defence with long passes downfield and crossfield.
This was - as it had to be - the best game played by the Blackpool defence this season, suspect as it may appear to be after losing two late goals.
Still, this was no day seriously to criticise either team. They made a grand, almost a memorable, match of it.
By Clifford Greenwood
PRESTON NORTH END v BLACKPOOL.
There’s magic in the words.
There always has been, and there always will be Football - well, there’s not always that.
But they will be there - 30,000 to 35,000 of them at Deepdale next Wednesday evening for the renewal of the old feud which some times has been almost a blood feud, writes Clifford Greenwood.
It is only three years ago - on October 2, 1948-that Blackpool last played at
Preston in a First Division game. It was a game in which, as an experiment, Blackpool fielded Walter Rickett as a centre-forward.
He was so unlike, in build and in his football. all that a centre-forward is supposed to be that the North End defence never appeared to come out of the bewilderment which his presence caused them.
Blackpool won 3 - 1, and - Mr. Ripley please notice - Stanley Matthews scored one of the three goals.
Who scored North End’s one? Another little centre- forward, and he was called Willie McIntosh.
On to Sunderland three days later after the Deepdale hullabaloo.
Blackpool’s defence will face at Roker Park the most expensive forward line in present-day football.
That should not cause any sort of melancholia, for Blackpool’s visits to Roker Park in the past have not been profitless, and the records reveal, in fact, that of the last three games there one - last season’s 2 - 0 match - was won and the other two drawn.
It’s not a case of abandoning hope all ye that enter Roker Park - not, at least, if you are wearing a tangerine jersey.
FADE-OUTS ARE A PUZZLE
BY "CLIFFORD GREENWOOD" 1 September 1951
Go down to Bloomfield-road these days, and you will find no particular elation over the team’s winning of five points in four games, even if it compares with only three points in the first four games of last season.
Nor will you find any particular depression, either.
It is not as good as it was expected to be by all those people who have apparently been convincing themselves and everybody who would listen to them that Blackpool would embark immediately on an all-conquering progress.
But it is not as bad, either, as it might have been.
Blackpool a team of contrasts
NOBODY is pretending that the Blackpool team have yet played the football which an almost identical team played week after week in the second half of last season. It has not been the football of late 1950 and early 1951, when, in spite of one or two unimpressive games in the Cupties - yes-, in the Cupties, in spite of the ultimate advance to Wembley - between Boxing Day and that ill-fated April 7 at Huddersfield 12 successive games were played without one defeat.
What has gone wrong defies analysis. It may not be serious.
There is no reason why it should be.
The fact remains that in the games I have seen Blackpool play - and I have seen three of the four - the team have looked at times like a million dollars, as during the first 20 minutes of the Portsmouth match this week, and at other times - and not many minutes later, either - have appeared to be worth considerably less.
It's a puzzle
IT’S been the old Jekyll and Hyde act. And nobody at headquarters pretends to understand it.
There have been obvious contributory factors to the strange fade-outs which have beset the team.
The defence have repeatedly been guilty of waiting for the raiding forward instead of going to meet him.
In the forward line Stanley Matthews, in spite of an occasional glittering extract from his unexampled repertoire, has not yet in his three games in the tangerine jersey been the superb artist he can be and will be again.
Jackie Mudie has shot one great goal - the first at Huddersfield - and has toiled prodigiously, but his playing to excess of the pass to Matthews has broken down many a raid.
Lost confidence
UNQUESTIONABLY, too, Allan Brown has lost a lot of his confidence.
That has surprised a few people. It should not surprise them after the melancholy chain of circumstances which cost him two Wembley matches in a fortnight at the end of last season and ultimately consigned him to a nursing home for an operation.
I cannot think that he will not come again. Footballers of his quality do not suddenly fade away.
Nor has the team’s balance been aided by the loss of contact which has resulted between the half-back and forward lines.
All that is on the debit side.
There is something on the credit, too.
For, apart from those purple patches which have coloured every match, there are signs that Stanley Mortensen is still the fast, assertive raider which made him the First Division’s chief marksman last season.
And young Bill Perry is faster than he was last season, is going into the shooting positions, and when he acquires a greater composure in front of goal may yet become the scoring wing forward Blackpool have been seeking for so long.
Insurance
AND all the time, too, as I wrote last week, there are those second team men whose promise has so rapidly and richly matured and who are Blackpool’s best insurance against whatever the future may hold.
What will that future contain?
It can only be a matter of idle and futile speculation today.
Nothing has happened yet to cause despair or to set the bells pealing. These, in fact, are early days to be reaching any conclusions at all.
RESERVE KEY MAN IS BILL
A key man in Blackpool Reserve's defence is agile 5ft. 10in. goalkeeper Bill Hall, writes Don Greedy.
The play of this Higher Walton-born footballer has made a big advance since he joined Blackpool from Preston North End in the summer of 1949.
Being understudy to a goalkeeper like George Farm is not an enviable job, but Hall has not allowed this to upset his game.
In fact, his displays have been consistently sound.
This cheerful, modest player awaits patiently the time when he will get his first-team chance.
When it comes it is not likely that he will let Blackpool down.
Strong halves
TWO other men in the defence who have been prominent this season are the wing-halves Ewan Fenton and David Proctor.
Fenton has already proved his worth in First Division football, but until he gets his release from the Army one cannot expect him completely to settle down.
Proctor, the tall, tough Irishman, was particularly impressive in the home match against Sheffield United Reserve on Saturday, and it was unfortunate that he had to go off with a leg injury in the closing minutes after giving a forceful display.
Proctor is developing into an attacking half-back, and he has the speed to make a quick recovery if his side loses the initiative. I notice, too, that he has a powerful and accurate shot and is not afraid to use it.
By Clifford Greenwood
Blackpool games at Huddersfield are no treble chance line on the coupons.
Since the sensational 10 - 1 defeat in December, 1930 - it is still Blackpool’s biggest defeat in the First Division - the teams have met 10 times at Leeds-road and never once finished level.
Blackpool’s win last weekend was the club’s fourth in the First Division on the Yorkshire club’s ground. The Town have won the other six, and, in fact, scored no fewer than 15 goals in the first two matches in the series, following the 1930 10 - 1 landslide with another 5 - 0 match a year later.
Often I am asked who were the men who lost the 1930 Waterloo?
If they will forgive this almost indecent exhumation the tragedy’s cast was: Pearson; Grant, Ramsay; Watson (A.), McMahon, Benton; Rattray, Upton, Hampson, Oxberry, Downes.
This was the match in which Huddersfield’s second-half marksmen were not identified until after the match.
The goals after the interval were all scored at an end so thick in fog that except when there was a muted cheer behind the net and the teams came trotting back to the centre circle again only the few thousand scattered on the embankment close to this one goal knew that Blackpool’s goalkeeper was groping in the back of the net again.
Two of the goals were allotted to Jim Smailes, the little ex-Spur who later came to Blackpool, but whether he ever scored them - or whether they took the names out of the hat at full-time - I shall never know
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WHO was Everton’s leading scorer last season ?
The answer - and it will surprise a few folk in Blackpool and be a little disconcerting to all those others who have never been too charitable to him - was Jim McIntosh the former Blackpool centre-forward.
He had to score only 11 goals to be top of the Goodison Park club’s list, but No. 1 marksman he still was, and he was out of the team for 13 of its 42 matches.
I shall always think that Jim McIntosh might have been one of the game’s great centre-forwards if he had not been overplayed when he was young.
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There's one man who doesn't like Blackpool.
“MAURICE TREMLETT, the Somerset batsman,” I read, “always feels sick when he bowls.” Strange if it’s true - and it may be true.
There is a case in football of a man who always feels ill when he visits a town whose air is reputed to cure almost all ills. Douglas Reid, the Portsmouth forward, is the man, and the town - Publicity Office, I ask your pardon! - is Blackpool of the dustless breezes.
Of the truth of this fact, if not of the truth of Mr. Tremlett’s peculiar malady, I can vouch.
Once or twice, in fact, when Portsmouth have come to Blackpool for a match, Reid has been left at some town distant from the coast and its rich air.
Once when he took a chance on it and stayed with the rest of the team in Blackpool he was so oppressed by the atmosphere that in the early hours of the morning he was escorted on a Promenade walk by his trainer.
There’s one man who doesn’t like to be beside the seaside - not even when it’s Blackpool.
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