1958-59 - Part two (Goals galore)

Posted by Tony Hutton


SATURDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER, 1958

LEAGUE DIVISION ONE AT VILLA PARK, BIRMINGHAM           Attendance 30,000

ASTON VILLA 2 (Smith, Hitchens) NOTTINGHAM FOREST 3 (Burkitt, Wilson 2)

Sims; Lynn, Aldis (capt); Crowe, Saward, Lee;
Smith, Sewell, Hitchens, Hazelden, McParland;

Lightening; Whare, Thomas; Morley, McKinlay, Burkitt (capt);
Dwight, Quigley, Wilson, Gray, Imlach;

Referee:- J. Mitchell, Prescot

Villa are once again in the doldrums, after beating Portsmouth they have since lost 7-2 at West Ham and 5-2 at Portsmouth. As expected changes have been made, but not perhaps the expected ones. Dugdale, the club captain has been dropped for the first time since joining the club from West Bromwich. Saward switches to centre half and Lee was brought in for his league debut. Hazelden, who scored a hat trick for the reserves on Monday, came in for Myerscough. It is hard to see why Aldis, whose direct opponent on Wednesday, Peter Harris, scored five goals has been retained.

The early play by both sides showed little construction and it looked as though the crowd were in for a poor afternoon's entertainment from both sides. However eventually Forest began to liven up and when Burkitt swung over a good ball into the Villa goalmouth Quigley was just to slow to lob the ball over the goalkeeper as he dived at his feet. The first goal came after twenty six minutes and showed up Villa's defensive weakness.

Burkitt was able to go through on his own without being tackled and lobbed the ball beautifully over Sims' head into the top corner of the net from outside the penalty area. Six minutes later the Forest increased their lead. Gray made ground down the middle, switched the ball to Dwight on the right wing, who hit across a low hard centre. Saward left the ball to his goalkeeper, Sims, but Wilson ran in quickly past the centre half and prodded it home. Half time 0-2.

Six minutes after the interval Forest got another goal, Imlach put over a perfect centre from the left wing and Wilson headed a splendid goal. At last this seemed to prod Villa into life and after fifty five minutes Smith centred with his left foot and the ball curved away from Lightening into the corner of the net. 1-3 now and seven minutes later it was 2-3. McParland cut inside Whare and sent a fierce right foot shot aimed for the far post, Hitchens running in at speed headed it into the net. Villa continued to press but the Forest defence held firm and never looked like conceding another goal.


WEDNESDAY 10TH SEPTEMBER, 1958                      Attendance 34, 400

LEAGUE DIVISION ONE AT THE HAWTHORNS, WEST BROMWICH

WEST BROMWICH ALBION 1 (Campbell) PORTSMOUTH 2 (Saunders, Harris (H))

 Jackman; Howe, Williams (S.G.); Dudley, Barlow (capt), Setters;
Campbell, Kevan, Allen, Burnside, Hogg;

Uprichard; Gunter, Hayward; Phillips, Dickinson (capt), Casey;
Harris (P), Gprdam. Saunders, Harris (H), Newman;

Referee:- E.R. Hill, Chester

Albion were unchanged and fielded the side which had brought off two fine away wins during the previous week, 6-0 at Birmingham and 3-1 at Burnley. The young ball juggler David Burnside, who is deputising for the injured Robson, scored two goals in each of these games. Portsmouth included their new signing from Gillingham, Ron Saunders, who was playing his second game for the club.

Portsmouth looked a much improved side from their earlier visit to the Midlands this season. The defence was very compact with former England wing half Jimmy Dickinson in splendid form at centre half. The two wing halves Phillips and Casey, particularly the former, were right on top of the opposing inside forwards throughout the match. In attack Peter Harris, who scored five goals against Aston Villa a week ago, showed glimpses of his old devastating form.

 It was from a typical Harris run that Portsmouth took the lead. The winger swept past Williams, cut in to the bye-line, then pulled the ball back out of Jackman's reach for Saunders to run it easily into the net. Saunders had previously pushed the ball tamely over the bar when in a good scoring position and Gordan had hit the bar with a great shot after cleverly beating his man. Half time 0-1.

Albion continued to overdo the close passing and tip tapping during the second half and the less talented but more direct Portsmouth side got a further goal when Dudley miss-kicked the ball on the edge of his own penalty area and gave Harry Harris, the former Newport player, the chance to shoot on the turn with his left foot into the far corner of the net. Albion continued to plod their rather lethargic way until eventually Hogg, who had a shocking game, cut into the middle, had his shot blocked by Uprichard but allowed Campbell to run in and push it home for a consolation goal.

It is a great pity that Albion cannot produce the form of which we know they are capable on their own ground for they have now obtained only two points from a possible six  at home and five out of six away.


 THURSDAY 11TH SEPTEMBER, 1958

LEAGUE DIVISION FOUR AT FELLOWS PARK, WALSALL             Attendance 11,000

WALSALL 2 (Richards (A), Mason og) CHESTER 2 (Richards (G), Croft)

Savage; Guttridge, Perkins; Hodgkisson, McPherson (capt), Rawlings;
Metcalfe, Cochrane, Brownlee, Richards (A), Taylor (C);

Owen; Gill, Souter; Hunt, Saunders (capt), Mason;
Croft, Webster, Jepson, Bullock, Richards (G);

With Haddington and Askey unfit Walsall brough in Perkins and Metcalf to the side which drew at Carlisle on Saturday and won at Milwall the previous Monday. Chester who have been hit by injuries this season included two players making their first appearance in league football in eighteen year old schoolboy David Owen in goal and outside right Croft. Although without two of their star forwards Billy Foulkes, formerly Newcastle and Wales, and Stan Pearson, formerly Manchester United and England, Chester still had two players with first division experience. They were skipper Saunders, formerly a team mate of manager John Harris at Chelsea and inside forward Harry Webster, formerly with Bolton Wanderers.

Chester surprised the crowd and the Walsall side with some clever football right from the start. After only four minutes outside right Croft cut into the middle drawing the defence before slipping the ball out for outside left Gordon Richards to run onto and crash it into the net. It was an exact replica of Pulley's winning goal for Gillingham in the Saddlers last home match.

Seven minutes later Walsall equalised with a grand goal. McPherson headed the ball down to Brownlee in the centre circle and the centre forward flicked it to Tony Richards who ran on down the centre of the field, passed to Cochrane. Richards ran alongside him and took the return pass before crashing it into the net. Eighteen minutes later the third goal of the match duly arrived and again it was Chester who scored. It was a strange goal as Croft lobbed the ball into the centre, Savage appeared to be well out of position and the ball gently trickled just inside the post. Half time 1-2.

Five minutes after the interval Walsall equalised and again it was Tony Richards who, running along the goal line from the left, shot hard for the ball to be deflected into the net by the Chester left half. From then on it was nearly all Walsall, or I should say all Richards. He saw two fine headers scrape the bar and two grand shots go just wide. The perhaps the best chance of the game fell to Cochrane as he was played onside with only the goalkeeper to beat, but somehow managed to steer the ball wide.

Then the crowning disappointment for the home side came seconds before the end when Richards again got in a grand shot through a crowd of players, only to see it hit the inside of the post, roll right along the goal line and come out again.



WEDNESDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER, 1958

LEAGUE DIVISION ONE AT MOLINEUX, WOLVERHAMPTON     Attendance 45,000

WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 4 (Henderson 2, Murray 2) ASTON VILLA 0

Finlayson; Stuart, Harris; Clamp, Wright (capt), Slater;
Deeley, Broadbent, Murray, Booth, Henderson;

Sims; Lynn (capt), Sharples; Lee, Dugdale, Saward;
Smith, Hitchens, Willis, Hazelden, McParland;

Referee:- J.H. Clough, Bolton

Wolves made two changes from the side which broke Blackburn's long record of not being beaten at home on Saturday. Slater replaced Flowers and Henderson replaced Horne at outside left, despite the fact that the young South African scored one of the goals on Saturday. Aston Villa, after five successive defeats continued their policy of introducing young players into the side and gave John Willis a left winger from Cheshire League club Mossley his first game. Willis wore the number nine shirt but switched positions with Peter McParland from the start. Sharples, who had a splendid game against Brabrook at Chelsea on Saturday, made his third appearance for Villa.

With only five minutes gone Willis had the chance to make a name for himself when he received a perfect pass inside Stuart and had only the goalkeeper to beat from about six yards. However he sliced his shot hopelessly wide. For the first twenty minutes Villa looked as though they might make a game of it. They played some good constructive football with both wing halves as well as Smith and Hitchens all prominent.

In the twenty first minute a clever move between Deeley and Broadbent gave Henderson the chance to score with a splendid first time shot on the turn. From this point it was all Wolves and after Nigel Sims, playing against his old team,  had made three first class saves in as many minutes, Wolves got their second goal after thirty five minutes play. Henderson sent over a perfect corner and Murray running in headed a splendid goal. Half time 2-0.

Six minutes after the interval Murray headed another grand goal. This time turning the ball sharply past Sims from Deeley's centre. By this time Villa's attack was almost non-existent. Willis had faded right out of the game, Hitchens after his early rushes was showing the effects of having played for the Army in Glasgow last night and McParland was completely subdued by Wright. Slater and Clamp dominated the midfield play and Broadbent was also in splendid form.

Wolves had a remarkable series of misses including a clearance off the line by Lynn when Murray had the goal at his mercy from six yards. Finally Broadbent lobbed the ball over the heads of the Villa defence to Henderson standing completely unmarked and the Scot taking the ball on his thigh, shot on the volley as it dropped and that was number four.


SATURDAY 4TH OCTOBER, 1958                  Kick off 7 p.m.

LEAGUE DIVISION ONE AT MOLINEUX, WOLVERHAMPTON

WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 4 (Mason, Murray 2, Mullen) MANCHESTER UTD 0

Finlayson; Stuart (capt), Harris; Slater, Showell, Clamp;
Deeley, Durandt, Murray, Mason, Mullen;

Wood; Foulkes (capt), Greaves; Godwin, Harrop, Crowther;
Violett, Quixall, Webster, Pearson, Scanlon;

Referee:- A. Bond, Fulham

Wolves experiment of Saturday night football was not the resounding success expected. However contributory factors to the poor crowd were the bad weather and the absence of Wright, Broadbent, Charlton, McGuiness and Gregg, who were all on international duty in Belfast.

The home side called upon George Showell, a capable deputy, to replace Wright and in Broadbent's place was eighteen year old South African Cliff Durandt playing his first league game. United brought back Ray Wood for his first league game since the Munich air crash. Stan Crowther deputised for Wilf McGuiness, Mark Pearson for Bobby Charlton and Bobby Harrop deputised for injured Ron Cope at centre half.

Wolves dominated the game throughout, although they only scored once during the first half. Mullen playing as well as ever, picked up the ball on the edge of his own penalty area and made ground up the left wing. On the half way line he squared the ball inside to Slater, who veered to the right, evaded a tackle and chipped a perfect pass through to Deeley. The little winger put the ball across goal and Mason scored with a grand glancing header.

Manchester's attack could make little progress against a Wolves defence which constantly employed the off-side trap. £45,000 signing from Sheffield Wednesday, Albert Quixall was very rarely seen and does not appear to fit into the Manchester style of play as yet. Half time 1-0.

Murray scored the second goal with a fine drive following a pass from Durandt who was having a splendid first game. He has obviously modelled his play on Broadbent and has the same deceptive body swerve. Mullen with one of his fierce left foot drives on the run scored the third goal which went in off the crossbar and Murray added the fourth in the last minute of the game.



THURSDAY 9TH OCTOBER, 1958

LEAGUE DIVISION FOUR AT FELLOWS PARK, WALSALL           Attendance 14,612

WALSALL 2 (Richards, Hodgkisson) SHREWSBURY TOWN 3 (Rowley 2, Russell)

Savage; Haddington (capt), Perkins; Billingham, McPherson, Rawlings;
Askey, Hodgkisson, Faulkner, Richards, Taylor (C);

Crossley; Hob son, Skeech; Wallace, Maloney, Walters;
Whittaker, Russell, Edgley, Rowley (capt), Tucker;

Referee:- K. Stokes, Newark

No doubt encouraged by Walsall's fine 5-0 win at Aldershot last weekend the biggest crowd of the season turned up in hope of a repeat performance. However it was not to be and although Walsall played well, Shrewsbury just about deserved to win. The visitor's strength lay in their half back line, the two wing halves Wallace and Walters were strong in defence and linked up well with the forwards in attack.

Walsall scored first when Hodgkisson dribbled through, drew the centre half and flicked the ball with the outside of his right foot to Richards who hit the ball home. Shrewsbury stunned the cheering crowd to silence when they went downfield and equalised immediately. Russell, a clever ball player, dribbled through to score.
Four minutes later the ball ran loose to Tucker, completely unmarked on the left wing, his attempted shot was deflected to Arthur Rowley, the Shrewsbury player-manager, who scored easily.

In the sixty first minute the visitors went further ahead when right back Robson went upfield to receive the ball from a free kick near the corner flag. He squared the ball across goal and Rowley had a simple task to push the ball home. Walsall fought back strongly urged on by the big crowd and after seventy minutes Richards headed an Askey free kick down Hodgkisson who made it 3-2. Crossley made a brilliant save from a back-header by Richards and then Billingham, who had a grand game throughout, sent a terrific drive only inches over the bar.



MONDAY 20TH OCTOBER, 1958

FRIENDLY MATCH AT FELLOWS PARK, WALSALL            Attendance 4,891

WALSALL 3 (Wright, Hodgkisson, Brownlee) LINCOLN CITY 1 (Chapman)

Ball; Bunch, Guttridge; Billingham, McPherson (capt), Rawlings;
Askey, Wright, Brownlee, Hodgkisson, Taylor (C);

Thompson; Dykes, Smith; Middleton (capt), Jackson, Green;
Withers, McClelland, Grainger, Chapman, Coxon;

Referee:- Dennis Howell M.P., Perry Barr

Walsall, without four regular players, were more than a match for their Second Division opponents Lincoln City. Ball, the seventeen year old goalkeeper, Bunch, the former West Bromwich Albion player and Wright, were all making their first senior appearances. Lincoln included former Newcastle goalkeeper Thompson, ex Blackpool winger Alan Withers, recent signing from Manchester City - McClelland, Jack Grainger from Rotherham and Roy Chapman from Aston Villa.

The home side were the livelier from the start and it was no surprise when after fourteen minutes play young Wright headed the first goal from Brownlee's right wing centre. Seven minutes later after he had missed an opening down the middle, Hodgkisson headed a similar goal this time from Askey's centre. When Lincoln attacked they took advantage of poor marking by Bunch, but Ball was equal to all their efforts and made several splendid saves. Half time 2-0.

During the early part of the second half Walsall continued to dominate the play but many of their moves were spoilt by Brownlee's clumsiness. Taylor also had a poor game on the left wing. Walsall's newly found speed in switching from defence to attack was well demonstrated by their third goal which came after seventy three minutes. Ball saved a shot from McClelland at full length and cleared the ball to McPherson. The centre half sent a long ball downfield and Brownlee, winning a race for it with Thompson, was able to turn it into the empty net.

Lincoln at last came into the game during the final quarter of an hour, showing the crowd something approaching Second Division football. With only five minutes left for play, after several dangerous individual bursts, Chapman volleyed Coxon's left wing centre first time into the corner of the net for a splendid goal.


WEDNESDAY 22ND OCTOBER, 1958

LEAGUE DIVISION ONE AT VILLA PARK, BIRMINGHAM

ASTON VILLA 1 (McParland) ARSENAL 2 (Ward, Nutt)        Attendance 30,000

Sims; Lynn (capt), Sharples; Lee, Dugdale, Crowe;
Smith, Myerscough, Sewell, Barrett, McParland;

Kelsey; Wills, Evans; Ward, Dodgin, Docherty (capt);
Clapton, Groves, Herd, Bloomfield, Nutt;

Referee:- J.G. Williams, Nottingham

A significant omission from the programme for this match was the First Division league table which would have shown Aston Villa at the bottom and Arsenal just behind the leaders Bolton. Villa continued their forward shuffling and McParland, who withdrew his transfer request earlier today, played on the left wing.
Arsenal were without Jackie Henderson, their recent signing from Wolves, who was injured playing for Scotland last week. Arsenal's two other Scottish players Docherty and Herd both returned, but Bowen who captained Wales on Saturday was unable to get back into the Arsenal side due to the fine form shown by young Ward recently.

Arsenal got off to a good start and their clever forwards looked far too good for the shaky Villa defence. Sims made a magnificent save from Bloomfield diving full length in mid air to push his shot round the post. Following the corner , taken by Nutt,  the ball ran loose to Ward just outside the penalty area and he promptly hit it into the far corner of the net for a fine goal after only eight minutes play. Ward scored a similar goal against Manchester United eleven days ago.

Arsenal, with their right wing pair of Groves and Clapton particularly dangerous, looked like chalking up a big win, but gradually they seemed to loose the sense of urgency and lapsed into over-elaboration. Villa now came into the game more with Lee prompting the forwards well. After thirty nine minutes the home side equalised when McParland headed in from a Smith corner. Half time 1-1.

Villa's attack policy during the second half consisted of sending long balls down the centre for McParland to chase and although the Irishman went close on several occasions Kelsey was in masterly form in the Arsenal goal. Docherty and Ward eventually gained control of the mid-field play, linking up well with Bloomfield and it came as no surprise when Arsenal took the lead after sixty eight minutes. An angled shot from Nutt entering the net via the far post. Arsenal's defence held out with ease for the rest of the game which ended in a comfortable win for the visitors.


On the same day England were taking on Russia at Wembley in a friendly international.