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Tonight’s match is the first England men’s international to be held at Molineux since December 1956, when the hosts beat Denmark 5-2 in a World Cup qualifier. Under the famous Molineux floodlights, which according to our report “gave the mild evening a Christmas sparkle”, Tom Finney and Stanley Matthews ran the visitors ragged on the wings. Tommy Taylor notched a hat-trick, while his fellow Busby Babe Duncan Edwards scored a couple of long-range screamers as well as hitting the woodwork twice. “His shooting was remarkable, indeed unparalleled in modern representative football,” cooed our man Silchester (aka John Arlott).
Not that everything was perfect. “Denmark were beaten by brilliance which sprang, largely undeservedly, from much slipshod midfield play,” noted Arlott, who added that “few English teams will be so unsteady at the back, pass so uncertainly in midfield, and play with so little constructive variety, and yet win by so impressive a score.” Ow, tough crowd. But a 5-2 win’s a 5-2 win, and you can be damn sure Gareth Southgate would take a similar mixed bag tonight.
