Graham Kelly: 'Matthews final' was the crowning glory of a true footballing pioneer

Fifty years ago last Saturday, English football witnessed one of its most dramatic matches ever. The "Matthews Cup final" of 1953 between Blackpool and Bolton Wanderers set the seal on the career of the country's most noted player and surpassed even the night in Barcelona, when, in vastly more lucrative times, Manchester United snatched the European Champions' League title from the grasp of Bayern Munich.

The bare facts are these: Blackpool, one of the biggest crowd-pullers of the time, were 3-1 down after 55 minutes. Stanley Matthews, the greatest player the world had then known, a peerless attacking winger of 38, playing in his third Cup final in six years, inspired Blackpool to destroy their Lancashire rivals by dragging them back into a game that, in any rational view, was beyond them.

In a coronation year when many households acquired a television for the first time, most neutral observers wanted Matthews to win his coveted medal after Blackpool's disappointments against Manchester United and Newcastle in 1948 and 1951, but they got off to a horrible start on a blustery Wembley afternoon of brilliant sunshine when the England striker Nat Lofthouse beat George Farm in the second minute with a speculative shot which the nervous Scottish international goalkeeper let slip over his shoulder.

Sadly, this was not the last of Farm's bloomers, for he was distracted by the faintest deflected header by the Wanderers captain, Willie Moir, then, in the second half, the injured Bolton wing-half Eric Bell rose to head home a cross. The striker Stan Mortensen, meanwhile, had scored a first-half equaliser for Blackpool with a typical burst into the penalty area and a shot which deflected into the net off Harold Hassall.

If Farm had the jitters he was not the only one, for the Bolton keeper Stan Hanson made a hash of a simple cross from Matthews to allow Mortensen to force the ball home for a second Blackpool goal. In the latter stages Blackpool swept forward remorselessly in search of another equaliser.

Matthews roamed all over in search of an opening. Eventually, he concentrated on his full-back, Ralph Banks, and wore him down with the help of the inside-forward Ernie Taylor and the wing-half Ewan Fenton.

Repeatedly, they laid the ball along the flat Wembley turf to Matthews' feet and the veteran approached Banks ruthlessly, before slipping it past him and sprinting away with his trademark devastating acceleration. It was always the aim of Matthews to dominate utterly his direct opponent.

The longer the game progressed the more Bolton players went down injured. The inside-forward Jackie Mudie and left-winger Bill Perry changed positions for Blackpool. Their manager, Joe Smith, a former Cup-winner with Bolton himself, always encouraged the players to think for themselves in the heat of battle.

The equaliser, with two minutes remaining, had a touch of good fortune. Mudie was about to attempt a shot from just outside the penalty area when he received the faintest of brushes from a defending boot and the referee, Welshman Mervyn Griffiths, blew. Had times been different the argument would have been raging still. Particularly as Mortensen blasted the ensuing free-kick past the defensive wall into the Bolton net to complete a brilliant hat-trick. But there was a complete absence of acrimony about the game then. Niggle is something we have discovered in later years.

With the scores level, Smith was running along the line to collect the ball when it went out of play. As 90 minutes were up, the ball ran through to Farm in the Blackpool goal and the keeper threw the ball to Matthews who passed inside to Fenton, who lost control as Hassall came in to tackle.

Fortunately for Blackpool the ball ran loose to Taylor, who again fed Matthews. Matthews shimmied past Banks and crossed behind Mortensen who had moved to the near post, picking out Perry who was waiting near the penalty spot. The South African coolly hooked the ball into the net to clinch a 4-3 victory that meant Harry Johnston had to replace his dentures before collecting the Cup from the new Queen.

Blackpool is an entrepreneurial place and the club demanded a fee of £3,500 when the 45-year-old Matthews, his knee troubling him, returned to Second Division Stoke City in 1961. Before he retired, aged 50 in 1965, he had become the first active player to receive a knighthood. The quaint footage we see tends to obscure the fact that with his solitary concentration on sprints, suppleness and diet, Matthews brought the game into the modern era.

On his death in 2000 his Cup-winner's medal was donated by his family to the Professional Footballers' Association, because the loner who had devoted long hours to making himself the most feared opponent in the game always believed in the true value of a man's labour.

grahamkelly@btinternet.com