WEMBLEY Week is finally upon us - we have our pipes beneath our oxters, our kilts are neatly pressed, we've got a sporran full of oatmeal for the road, some Crawford's tartan shortbread, and tottie scones as well, and we're just about to paint ourselves with woad - to quote one of The Big Yin's great numbers from 40-years ago, when he was still funny.
The advance forces of the Tartan Army have already left, with the main body of the army ready to follow tomorrow and Wednesday. As even the GOC, Field Marshall Gordon Strachan has admitted - this one isn't "just another friendly". You bet, this one matters, a lot.
Legend tells us, back in time, when we were an independent nation, pre-match preparations, for such big games as Bannockburn, Flodden or Culloden would consist of a wee ceremony, when the names of our olden heroes were read out. That's kind of what this wee series of mine has been all about, and, we continue today with the tale of what I consider to be our third-best Wembley win:
England 1 Scotland 3: 1949
UNOFFICIAL international football during World War II was not a golden period for Scotland; certainly, courtesy of a late Jimmy Delaney goal, we did beat England in an unofficial "Victory" international in 1946, but this was one small triumph in a sea of setbacks which followed the end of that war.
By the time the invaders set off for Wembley in April, 1949, we hadn't beaten England in an official international for 11 years. We hadn't set the heather on fire in the first two full post-war seasons: 1946-47 and 1947-48, but, things had started to look up in the autumn of 1948 and the Wembley match with the Auld Enemy was again a Home International Championship decider.
England had won the Inter-League game and that victory was to be a pointer as to how the Scots might win at Wembley. Apparently there was somebody on the SFA selection committee who knew a wee bit about the game, for the selected Scottish team included a couple of unexpected picks, which, legend has it, were inspired by that Inter-League game.
Somebody within the corridors of power in Carlton Place, where the SFA's headquarters then were, had noticed that England centre-half Neil Franklin was a terrific player when given time on the ball, to set-up England attacks; but, he was less happy when hustled. The selectors also reckoned that, with Hibs outside left Willie Ormond injured, the sheer pace of his team mate Lawrie Reilly, usually a centre forward, just might pay off against an English defence which was perceived to be a bit slow.
So, into the side came the first and to this day only "Doonhamer" to be capped at full level by Scotland: Billy Houliston; the burly centre forward given instructions to "rummel-up" Franklin and veteran England goalkeeper Frank Swift, while Reilly was handed the number 11 jersey and told to run at the home defence.
The plan worked, but, only after as fraught an opening half-hour as any Scotland side has endured at Wembley. England came out with all guns blazing and immediately put the Scots under extreme pressure. But, came the hour, came the man, as goalkeeper Jimmy Cowan produced a performance which, over half a century later Sammy Cox, the Scotland left back, described as: "The finest display of net-minding I have ever seen".
Contemporary reports tell of six "world-class" super saves from Cowan, as England's two main strikers, Stan Mortensen and Jackie Milburn were repeatedly frustrated. And, on the one occasion he was beaten, Cox was on the goal line to clear.
Somehow, the Scots survived, then, inspired by their keeper's heroics, they began to turn the tide. Cox got on top of the feared Stan Matthews to such an extent, some of the English papers named him rather than Cowan as the Scottish hero.
On the other side of the park, big George Young, put the hems on Tom Finney, while, down the middle, Willie Woodburn was at his supreme best to get the better of Milburn.
Bobby Evans of Celtic, debutant George Aitken of East Fife, Third Lanark's Jimmy Mason and Derby Coounty's Billy Steel began to win the midfield battle and the tide turned.
Mason knocked home a Willie Waddell cross, cut-back to him by Reilly, in what was almost the first Scottish attack, in 28 minutes, and the Scots had a precious half time lead.
With Houliston spreading fear and alarm in the English rearguard as he repeatedly upset Franklin, and had the temerity to go in and shoulder charge Swift to the ground, in the second half, the Scots were emphatically on top.
Steel made it 2-0, seven minutes after the break; then, just after the hour mark, 20-year-old Reilly, the youngest man on the pitch made it 3-0 with a diving header and the English were rattled and beaten.
Cowan deserved a clean sheet, but, 15 minutes from time Milburn sneaked a consolation goal for the beaten home side, but, there was no way back for them and, when the final whistle blew, elements of the Tartan Army sprinted onto the park to carry Cowan, shoulder-high, to the dressing room.
The Scots had ended their long run of woe against their oldest opponents, they had lifted the Home International Championship, and had regained possession of the magnificent Jubilee Trophy, for the first time since being the inaugural winners in 1936.
This win was the first of four on the bounce during the calendar year 1949 and it left the Scots in confident frame of mind as they prepared to attempt to reach the World Cup Finals in Brazil the following year.
Sadly, as with so-many Scottish ambitions, things didn't work out as we had hoped.
Still, this was a terrific win; they beat a good England team, and beat them well. This match was crucial for Cowan, a Paisley Buddie who went over to the "dark side" to play for Morton. It was his first real test at international level and how well he rose to it.
Cowan had, however, shown he was a big match player when he had first burst onto the football scene, with a stand-out performance for a British Army of the Rhine team in beating a touring 'Scotland XI' - in effect the full Scotland team, in 1946. This fantastic first half display confirmed how good he was.
Cowan was the legendary figure, but, the whole 11 were heroes. The previous victorious Wembley teams, in 1928 and 1938, had been choc-a-bloc with Anglo-Scots, plying their trade with English clubs. This 1949 team was a home-grown unit, with only Steel playing his club football in England, for Derby County.
Cowan was with Morton, full-backs Young and Cox, centre-half Woodburn and outside right Waddell were with Rangers; right-half Evans was the solitary Celt, while left-half Aitken played his football on a Saturday for East Fife, after a week underground in the Fife coalfields. Inside right Jimmy Mason was the 33rd and last Third Lanark player to play for his country, centre forward Houliston was the first Queen of the South "cap" and Reilly was the sole representative of the reigning League Champions, Hibs.
There was no talk then of the English League being on a different planet from the Scottish one.
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