BLACKPOOL'S POOREST DISPLAY FOR MONTHS
By “Clifford Greenwood”
A STRANGER among the 71,008 people at Goodison Park yesterday afternoon might have been excused for confusing the identities of the two teams.
There was nothing of relegation in Everton’s fast, direct, objective football. There was nothing of the championship in Blackpool’s game, which had so little class in it and so little purpose after the first half hour that it was nearly incredible.
The disabling of Shimwell, who spent the second half wandering up and down the left wing of attack, could probably be advanced in part extenuation by a counsel for the defence. Otherwise there could be nothing material on his brief at all.
The forwards, admittedly, were given little of the ball by a halfback line which in spite of the tireless, undespairing game of Johnston, was chiefly concerned during the last hour in forming a defensive bloc against the swift foray of the Everton forwards.
But the Blackpool front line again contributed to its own discomfiture by its refusal to employ the open space as Everton employed it, by its obsession with the complex move which never produced one forward pass for such an opportunist as Stan Mortensen can be.
There was resolution, there was at times even something bordering on heroism in Blackpool’s backs-to-the-wall action in the second half, and George Farm was a gallant goalkeeper on an impossible assignment.
But, for the rest, it was Blackpool’s biggest fade-out for a long, long time, the least impressive game the team have played for months.
Result:
EVERTON 3 (Wainwright 2, Buckle)
BLACKPOOL 0
EVERTON LEND A HAND
Daily Dispatch
EVERTON 3 BLACKPOOL 0
SHOWING much more forward enterprise and all-round stamina than for many weeks, Everton helped both themselves and neighbours Liverpool.
Scoring three goals for only the third time this season - incidentally, Blackpool have only twice previously had three scored against them - Everton improved their prospects of escaping relegation and Liverpool’s hopes of accomplishing the “double.”
Everton looked far more like championship contenders than did Blackpool, who, after a bright opening, were completely outplayed for 75 minutes.
Blackpool could not cope with the Everton attack, in which Farrell starred.
Battered
Throughout the second half Shimwell was on the left wing with McIntosh at right back.
Everton were at their best In the last 10 minutes of the first half, when they battered the Blackpool defence into submission, and if their second half form was not quite up to that 10 minutes standard, it was still good enough to keep them well on top.
Everton had a defensive triangle composed of Moore, Hedley and Falder which never looked like breaking down.
The one time Everton looked in danger of losing a goal was when Burnett managed to finger away Mortensen’s header.
Generally it was Farm who was making the saves, hut he had no chance with the three efforts which beat him, Wainwright (35th minute and 44th minute) and Buckle (78th minute) were Everton scorers.
Lello, injured two months ago, returned to left half, and completed a powerful intermediate line.
Sweeping changes in Blackpool forward line
SOUTH AFRICAN RIGHT WING
By Clifford Greenwood
STANLEY MATTHEWS, THE ENGLAND AND BLACKPOOL FORWARD, IS NOT YET FIT, COULD NOT PLAY AGAINST ARSENAL AT BLACKPOOL THIS AFTERNOON.
He went to the ground for a test at noon, reported at the end of it, “I’m not yet 100 per cent.”, and Manager Joe Smith, accepting the decision, immediately began shuffling the forward line which was in the Everton defeat at Goodison Park yesterday.
A big-scale shuffle it was, too. Two men only who played at Everton - Stan. Mortensen and Bill Perry -were left in the line when it was completed, and they were not in the positions in which they had appeared 24 hours earlier.
The attack was led by Mortensen - a dress rehearsal for the Hampden Park match next week in which he will lead the England forwards - with Perry crossing to outside right.
Introduced as Perry’s partner in his First Division baptism was the other South African, 24- year-old Gordon Falconer.
It was the first time Blackpool had fielded an all-South African wing in big-time football.
Recalled as the left wing were Andy McCall, the little Scot whose last game in the First Division was on February 25 and Billy Wardle, who last played for the first team at Liverpool in the League match on March 8.
GARRETT BACK
With Eddie Shimwell, who was hurt yesterday, out of the defence, Tom Garrett came back to it after an absence of two months.
Arsenal, who came trailing extra clouds of glory as one of the teams with a date at Wembley, on April 29, had no engagement yesterday, spent the night in Manchester, and came to town in time for lunch at the County Hotel.
Joe Mercer, the ex-Everton and England wing half who watched Blackpool’s defeat at Goodison Park yesterday, was in an Arsenal team which included 10 men who will probably be playing in the Final three weeks today, among them the famous Brothers Compton, Denis and Leslie.
PACKED GROUND
The gale was still blowing in gusts from the south-west corner flag but had subsided appreciably since the early morning, and, in fact, the sun was shining early in the afternoon on a ground packed co capacity with 32,000 inside gates which half an hour before kick-off time were being closed in rapid succession.
Only the entrances admitting to the Kop were still open a quarter of an hour before the teams took the field to a Cuptie reception, with a big squad of Arsenal fans waving the red and white coloured standards they will be bearing at Wembley at the month’s end.
Reports reached the Press box during the early minutes of the game that thousands of people were milling in the streets outside the locked gates.
Teams:
BLACKPOOL: Farm; Garrett, Wright; Johnston, Crosland, Kelly; Perry, Falconer, Mortensen, McCall, Wardle.
ARSENAL: Swindin; Barnes, Smith; Forbes, Compton (L.), Mercer; Cox, Lewis, Goring, Lishman, Compton (D.).
Referee: Mr. B. J. Flanagan (Sheffield).
Easter Monday football
Reports of the Blackpool v. Everton First Division match, the important Central League clash between Burnley Reserve and Blackpool Reserve, and the games of other Fylde soccer and Rugby Union clubs will be in a special LATE EDITION of “The Evening Gazette” on sale on Monday soon after the final whistle has sounded.
Results of all the big League fixtures will also be given.
Record crowd see Reserve match
Blackpool Reserve kept their six point lead at the top of the Central League when they drew 0-0 with challengers Burnley Reserve at Bloomfield - road yesterday.
A record crowd for a Central League match at Blackpool - 12,453 -saw the game. It beat the previous biggest gate by 2,000.
Blackpool had most of the play and might have gained a decisive lead at the interval if Falconer, playing his first game at centre-forward, had had more support from McKnight and Davidson.
Burnley’s forwards made several breakaways and often had the Blackpool defence entangled. Their most dangerous forward was Stephenson.
Leave a Comment