1959-60 - Part five (Walsall/Burnley/Real Madrid)

Posted by Tony Hutton



TUESDAY 29TH MARCH, 1960

INTER-CITIES FAIRS CUP FINAL (FIRST LEG) AT ST ANDREWS BIRMINGHAM

BIRMINGHAM CITY 0 BARCELONA 0                          Attendance 40,500

Schofield; Farmer, Allen; Watts, Smith (capt), Neal;
Astall, Gordon, Weston, Orritt, Hooper;

Ramallets; Olivella, Rodriguez, Gracia; Segarra (capt), Gensana;
Coll, Koscis, Martinez, Ribellas, Villaverde;

Referee:- L Van Nuffell, Belgium

Barcelona in the Midlands for the second time this month, after trouncing Wolves 9-2 on aggregate in the European Cup, were without star inside forward Juan Suarez and brought in an unknown reserve Enrique Ribelles. The visitors must have got a shock when they stepped out on the pitch for although it had rained on and off during the day no one expected to see the top surface covered with water. The conditions may have been one of the reason why the conquerors of Wolves failed to produce the devastating form of which they are capable.

Another reason mentioned in some quarters was that they treated this match as unimportant, with the second leg coming up in Barcelona  which they are sure to win and with more important games with Real Madrid in the offing in the Spanish League as well as the European Cup, they could well afford to take things easy.

Barcelona only really threatened to score during the opening minutes when Louis Coll looked most likely to do the trick, but for the most part they were chase and harried off the ball by the hard tackling Birmingham defence who performed magnificently. In attack Birmingham's best players were the two wingers Gordon Astall and Harry Hooper who thrived on the long passes which reached them from defence. Hooper missed two chances during the second half but the worst of the lot was by Weston shortly before the end.

The Spaniards defence was however much too powerful for the inept Birmingham inside forwards, Gensana and Segarra the present Spanish international wing halves being in a class of their own. As far as the attack was concerned only Coll, with some brilliant dribbles and Martinez to a lesser extent, showed anything like their normal form. Koscis just ambled through the game almost unnoticed and Villaverde shrugged his shoulders at the fierce tackles and got out of the way.

Altogether a very disappointing game and while giving Blues credit for their fighting defence, one must assume in view of the different in this performance and that at Wolverhampton that the Barcelona side were saving themselves for greater things to come.

The second leg of this final was not played until 4th May when Barcelona predictably won by 4-1. Two goals from Hungarian winger Czibor and one each from Coll and Martinez were sufficent for Barcelona to take this rather long drawn out trophy which had been going on since 1958.

SATURDAY 16TH APRIL, 1960

LEAGUE DIVISION FOUR AT FELLOWS PARK, WALSALL               Attendance 10,527

WALSALL 2 (Billingham pen, Hodgkisson) GILLINGHAM 3 (Shepherd 2, Terry)

Christie; Haddington, Sharples; Billingham, McPherson (capt), Dudley;
Askey, Faulkner, Richards, Hodgkisson, Taylor;

Simpson; Proverbs, Hunt; Smith, Hughes, Hannaway;
Bacon, Shepherd, Terry, Pulley, Brown;

Referee:- R.H. Windle, Chesterfield

The league leaders Walsall kept the same side which beat Oldham 4-2 and Southport 4-1 during the previous week. Walsall did all the early attacking and it came as a surprise when Gillingham went ahead after eleven minutes. Outside right Bacon beat Sharples and Shepherd running in hit his centre first time from the edge of the penalty area to score a fine goal.

From now on it was all Gillingham. Playing fast constructive football their lively forwards had the Walsall defenders running round in circles. After both Pulley and Shepherd had missed good chances, the visitors scored again in thirty minutes. Brown put over a perfect centre from the left which found Terry opposite the far post and the centre forward scored with a grand header which went over Christie and dropped just under the bar.

Five minute later Walsall pulled one back when Taylor was brought down as he was going through and Peter Billingham scored from the spot. Gillingham's two centre forward plan troubled McPherson and when a bouncing ball beat the Walsall centre half, Terry was able to head on to Shepherd who scored his second goal with a low shot. Half time 1-3.

Walsall attacked strongly during the second half determined to draw level at least as Gillingham are only the third tea to score more than two goals against Walsall this season, the others being Watford and Peterbrough (in the cup). They had bad luck when Richards headed only inches wide from a Dudley free kick and again when a close range drive by Asked was pushed over the bar by Simpson.

Eventually after seventy three minutes Walsall managed to score a second goal. Askey headed the ball down to Hodgkisson who scored with a close range shot. The pressure was on now as the Saddlers went all out for an equaliser, but it would not come and the resolute Gillingham defence held out to the end. A very disappointing result for the home side following their two fine away wins, but Gillingham certainly deserved the points on their first half showing alone.


MONDAY 18TH APRIL, 1960                                   Attendance 22,788

LEAGUE DIVISION FOUR AT MEADOW LANE, NOTTINGHAM

NOTTS COUNTY 2 (Hateley, Roby pen) WALSALL 1 (Hodgkisson)

Christie; Haddington, Sharples; Billingham, McPherson (capt), Dudley;
Askey, Hodgkisson, Davies, Richards, Taylor;

Smith; Butler, Noon; Sheridan, Loxley, Carver;
Roby, Joyce, Hateley, Forrest (capt), Withers;

Referee:- G. McCabe, Sheffield

A large crowd turned up to see the two leading teams of the Fourth Division do battle, including about 5,000 who had travelled from Walsall. Both teams unexpectedly lost at home on Saturday and both made several changes.

Walsall did most of the early attacking down the right wing where Askey looked in good form. County retaliated with a fine run by left winger Alan Withers, but after twenty three minutes Walsall deservedly took the lead to the delight of their supporters. Dudley passed to Taylor who pushed it on down the left to Richards. He squared it across goal and Hodgkisson was on hand to hit it home from twelve yards.

Five minutes later County equalised with a splendid goal. Withers, a very tricky winger, broke away down the left and sent over a grand centre. Tony Hateley, jumping high, flicked his head and sent the ball just inside the post as Christie dived too late. A goal which must have reminded County supporters of the great Tommy Lawton. Roby missed a chance soon afterwards and Walsall were on the defensive right up to the interval.
Half time 1-1.

County really piled on the pressure in the second half and the Walsall defence in which Sharples was noticeably shaky and McPherson not at his best, had a struggle to keep them at bay. In the fifty first minute
 after Christie had been drawn out of goal, Haddington punched a shot from the bustling Hately over the bar and Roby scored from the resulting penalty.

County nearly added to their total twice in the next minute when first Haddington cleared off the line and then Christie brought off a grand one handed save. The Walsall attack was now almost non-existent and Roby and Joyce were playing havoc with the left flank of the defence. One particularly fine move ended with Joyce heading against the bar.

Walsall began their usual late rally and very nearly forced a draw when Richards swung over a perfect ball from the left and Hodgkisson met with his head only for Smith to save at the second attempt. So two very valuable points for the home side.

Both teams were in fact promoted to the Third Division at the end of the season. Walsall as Champions with 65 points and Notts County as runners up with 60 points

WEDNESDAY 27TH APRIL, 1960

LEAGUE DIVISION ONE AT ST ANDREWS, BIRMINGHAM

BIRMINGHAM CITY 0 BURNLEY 1 (Pilkington)

Schofield; Sissons, Farmer; Watts, Smith (capt), Neal;
Astall, Gordon, Weston, Murphy, Hooper;

Blacklaw; Angus, Elder; Adamson (capt), Cummings, Miller;
Meredith, McIlroy, Pointer, Robson, Pilkington;

Referee:- R.E. Smith, Newport (Mon)

Burnley with two games in hand on Spurs and Wolves the only two clubs ahead of them have a great chance of pulling off the league championship title and Birmingham still had an outside chance of being relegated. So this match was vital to both sides.

The visitors were without England outside right John Connelly and Birmingham continued with veteran Peter Murphy at inside left. Murphy, recently brought back from the third team, has virtually saved the Blues from relegation and scored two goal in the 4-2 win over Sheffield Wednesday last Saturday.

Burnley went all out into attack from the start, the clever footwork and short corners soon had Birmingham in trouble down the left wing and a surprise shot from McIlroy was brilliant saved by goalkeeper Schofield. After this early onslaught Birmingham made several tentative advances, but on nearly every occasion Hooper used the ball very badly.

With those two splendid wing halves Adamson and Miller gaining control Burnley returned to the attack. After Schofield had saved well from Miller he dropped a shot from Pilkington, but luckily no one was there to profit from his mistake. Pointer header into the net but was given offside. Then a most curious decision by the referee when he awarded an indirect free kick to Burnley after Meredith had been blatantly brought down inside the penalty area. Half time 0-0.

Birmingham's attack was very ragged and the only occasion on which Blacklaw was worried was during a terrific goalmouth scramble which was more like a Rugby scrum than an attack by a first division forward line. However it looked as though the hard work of Smith and Schofield would keep Burnley out. Then with only twenty minutes left Smith slipped and Pointer had only the goalkeeper to beat, but in trying to lob it over the keeper's head he only lobbed it gently into Schofield's waiting arms.

Soon afterwards came the decisive moment of the match when Meredith, the clever little reserve winger, beat Farmer and then Neal out on the right and crossed a low ball across the face of the goal. Pointer just touched it on and there was Pilkington, completely unmarked, with all the time in the world to place it into the corner of the net.

With just two matches remaining Burnley went on to take the League title. They drew nervously at home to Fulham but won the last match away at Manchester City 2-1 to finish the season on top.
Wolves took second place behind Burnley but also added the F.A. Cup by beating Blackburn 3-0 at Wembley. The victorious side is seen below.

Wolves team of cup winners - back row - Harris, Finlayson, Flowers, Slater (with cup), Broadbent, Clamp, Showell. Front row - Stobart, Horne, Murray and Deeley.

WEDNESDAY 18TH MAY, 1960         Attendance 127,621* (some papers quoted 134,000)        
            
EUROPEAN CUP FINAL AT HAMPDEN PARK, GLASGOW (TELEVISED LIVE)

REAL MADRID 7 (Di Stefano 3, Puskas 4) EINTRACHT FRANKFURT 3 (Kress, Stein 2)

Doninguez; Marquitos, Pachin; Vidal, Santamaria, Zarraga (capt);
Canario, Del Sol, Di Stefano, Puskas, Gento;

 Ley; Lutz, Hoffer; Weilbacher (capt), Eigenbrodt, Stinka;
Kress, Lardner, Stein, Pfaff, Meier;

Referee:- J. Mowatt, Scotland

Real Madrid had reached the final by beating their great Spanish rivals Barcelona in the semi-final, winning 3-1 both home and away. Having seen Barcelona destroy the English champions, Wolves, in the quarter finals, I was amazed at this result.

The front page of the German football magazine 'Kicker' describes Alfredo Di Stefano as the 'field commander' even before the game started in their special report from Glasgow.

Eintracht Frankfurt were paying their second visit to the city of Glasgow, having overwhelmed Glasgow Rangers 6-3 in the second leg of their semi-final after beating them 6-1 in Frankfurt.

After nineteen minutes of this remarkable game Eintracht outside right Kress in the centre forward position surprised red hot favourites Real Madrid by pushing home a right wing centre to give the Germans the lead.
Three minutes later the great Alfredo Di Stefano got in on the act. Canario rounded his full back in the tiniest of spaces on the right and pulled it back for Di Stefano to hit home from close range.

Then a swerving shot from Del Sol escaped Loy's grasp and in the instant it slipped from his hands, Di Stefano was there again to crashing the ball into the roof of the net. Just before half time Ference Puskas broke clear on the left and from a narrow angle sent a terrific shot into the net. Half time 3-1 to Real Madrid.

                                     Eintract attack (above) and defend (below)


After fifty four minutes speedy Gento was charged off the ball and a rather harsh penalty was awarded to Madrid. Puskas, instead of blasting it as one would expect, just sent the goalkeeper the wrong way and calmly rolled the ball into the corner of the net. Five minutes later Gento  was away like a bullet down his wing, near the goal line he turned and sent across a perfect hard centre. Puskas threw himself at it, headed it into the corner and ended up in the back of the net himself. 5-1 to Real and a truly brilliant goal.

After seventy minutes Puskas scored his fourth and makes it 6-1 with a brilliant left foot shot on the turn which thunders into goal. Then in a near goal a minute rush, centre forward Stein for Eintracht worked his way past three men and scored a grand goal to make it 6-2. Immediately from the kick off, Di Stefano had the ball and in a flash he was past four defenders and the ball was nestling in the right hand corner of the net. 7-2 in seventy two minutes!

Two minutes later Vidal mis-hit a back pass and Stein was on hand to score again for Eintracht. That finished the scoring at 7-3, but every minute of this game was exhibition stuff. Real Madrid seem to have reached perhaps the nearest to football perfection we shall ever see. Every player in their side was a true artist and there was no weak line. As for Di Stefano, Puskas and Gento, they must rank among the greatest geniuses this great game had ever produced. After Zarraga had been presented with the cup, Real ran around the ground in a lap of honour and was there ever such a roar of appreciation from just short of 130,000 people on any football ground anywhere in the world, never mind just Hampden Park.