Last weeks in Yorkshire

Posted by Tony Hutton
SATURDAY 24TH SEPTEMBER, 1949
FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION TWO AT ELLAND ROAD, LEEDS

LEEDS UNITED 3 (McMorran, Dudley, Barratt og) COVENTRY CITY 3 (Murphy, Simpson, Lockhart)
Searson; Dunn, Milburn; McAdam, Charles, Burden (capt);
Cochrane, McMorran, Dudley, Wilkins, Harrison (P);

Wood; Barratt, Timmins; Cook, Mason (G) (capt), Simpson (W);
Simpson (D), Dearson, Roberts, Murphy, Lockhart;

Referee H.T. Wright, Macclesfield                        Attendance 22,500

This report is from the Yorkshire Post.
17 year old John Charles suffered the ups and downs of football life in a very eventful ninety minutes at Elland Road, He enjoyed a fifty yard dribble then passed along the ground to Cochrane, from whose centre Dudley headed a perfect goal. Then he suffered the chill dismay of conceding a penalty and finally the sharp, nagging pain of a bad fall with just five minutes to go.

Charles writhed on the ground and was carried to the dressing room, but the crowd would have been astonished to see him just one hour later being able to walk from the ground, with only a knee strain and the after effects of a stunned nerve. He should be fit for next Saturday.

With ten minutes remaining Town led 3-1, but conceded two late goals both due to bad defensive mistakes and in the end were lucky to draw ! Coventry's passing was acurate, the positional play quick and interlligent, but their finishing was atrocious. On the other hand United had a brilliant goalkeeper and three well taken gla, just the opposite of City in fact. Wilkins and McMorran were both too slow at inside forward, right half McAdam was not seen until the second half and even Burden had an off day.

Frank Dudley's header falls to McMorran (2nd left) who scores

 

The result of all this was that United's forwards got little service and the defence little assistance. Already this season United have used nine players in the two inside forward positions and it was speculated in the Press that Yorkshire cricketer Brian Close might become the tenth before he joins the Army for two years National Service in the near future.

Harrison's corner, helped on by Dudley, enabled McMorran to open the scoring for United, Charles and Cochrance helped Dudley get the second, then the Irish international Cochrane got the third himself.



SATURDAY 1ST OCTOBER, 1949
FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION ONE AT LEEDS ROAD, HUDDERSFIELD

HUDDERSFIELD TOWN 1 (Nightingale) ASTON VILLA 0   Attendance 20,636
Mills; Briggs, Hayes; Whittaker, Boot (capt), Hunter;
Duthie, Glazzard, Rodgers, Nightingale, Metcalfe;

Jones; Parkes, Dorsett; Powell (I), Martin, Moss (F);
Craddock, Gibson, Ford, Dixon, Goffin;
Referee: C. Fletcher, Northwich

Town were again forced into several changes, with two new full backs, including the veteran Bill Hayes at left back. Eddie Boot playing in his third position of the season already was tried at centre half in the continued absence of Hepplewhite. Young outside right Duthie came in for McKenna and Hassall and Burke were still absent. In the circumstances Town could be pleased with their hard fought victory, thanks to a rare goal from Albert Nightingale. Boot did well to subdue Welsh international Trevor Ford.

Match report retrieved from the Yorkshire Post.

Town had only two chances to score throughout the match and took one of them which was enough to win the game. Metcalfe, who was prominent on the left wing, set up the first chance for Rodgers which was missed. However the left winger looked as good as any other in the country and was able to beat Parkes for speed at will. Town suffered a blow after 15 minutes when wing half Hunter was carried off with an injury.

The ten men put up a remarkable defence well led by Eddie Boot in his unusual centre half role. Not only did he control the dangerous Ford, but managed to cover the mistakes of both full backs. Mills in goal also had his best game of the season. The winning goal came from a free kick awarded to Town after Villa thought that Rodgers had barged Martin, but the referee ruled that Martin had obstructed him first. Metcalfe lobbed the free kick over the tall Villa defenders for Nightingale to head neatly into the net.

This proved to be my last match at Leeds Road for some time. The odd game was possible when staying with my grandparents in Leeds, but it was not until the late 1960s before I returned to Yorkshire.

SATURDAY 8TH OCTOBER, 1949

FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION TWO AT ELLAND ROAD, LEEDS

LEEDS UNITED 2 (Dudley, Browning) CARDIFF CITY 0      Attendance 25,000

Searson; Dunn, Bannister (E); McCabe, Charles, Burden (capt)
Cochrane, McMorran, Browning, Dudley, Williams;

Joslin; Lever, Sherwood (capt); Hollyman, Rowland, Baker;
Williams (R), Stevenson, Stitfall (R), Blair, Edwards;

Referee:- W.R. Rodgers, Birmingham

Match report retrieved from the Yorkshire Post.

United's first home win of the season showed promise of better things to come particularly in the second half when they took full control. After half an hour Cardiff were awarded a penalty when full back Bannister handled the ball. The award was hotly disputed but the kick was missed by Cardiff. United then got on top and Frank Dudley, who seemed happier at inside left than centre forward, scored with a fine shot from 25 yards, following a quick throw in by Browning, just a minute before half time.

Browning got the second goal cleverly beating Lever and reserve centre half Rowlands, before scoring with a cross shot past Joslin. In dominating the second half Dudley was the pick of the forward line although both wingers Cochrane and Williams were also in good form. The strength of the side however was the half back line. Charles was very sound, McCabe showed the form that won him an Irish cap last season and Burden, who took over as captain in the absence of Milburn, gave a fine lead to his side.  

Blair and Edwards were the two outstanding Cardiff players, but after they missed two early chances as well as the penalty they fell away and were never really in the game.

This was to be the last game I saw in Yorkshire, apart from the odd holiday visits, for almost twenty years. The next blogs will cover my football watching in the West Midlands where in turn I watched Walsall, Aston Villa, West Bromwich Albion, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Birmingham City. So sadly with John Charles just beginning his great career, I only saw him a very few times in the future.

Len Browning in action against Cardiff