When I was six years old living in North Shore, I watched the 1953 final on our nine inch TV. In the decades since, I've seen highlights often but never watched the whole game again. I just watched the whole BBC coverage of the game. There was some very interesting trivia came out of the game, most that I had never seen before:
The Bolton Team - 10 of the 11 players were from Lancashire
Injuries - everyone is aware of the Eric Bell injury early on in the game which impacted the Bolton team. But several other Bolton players were the walking wounded: Banks, Lofthouse (3 times), Lawton and Berris. And Morty got a bad knock from scoring Pool's second goal.
Keepers' nightmare - Both keepers produced howlers. Farm should have saved Bolton's first two goals and Hanson dropped a Mathews cross that resulted in Morty scoring Pool's second
The Mathews Final - I always thought the match got that name because of sentimental reason. i.e Stan's third and last try at a winner's medal. But in watching the game, he was head and shoulders above anyone else on the pitch. Definitely MOTM
Morty's Hat Trick? - Throughout the commentary, Pool's first goal is not credited to Morty but is given to Harold Hassall as an own goal. I've looked at it from a couple of sources: BBC TV and Pathe News which are taken from different sides of the pitch. The BBC gives the clearer view and to me it looks like a definite own goal. Morty's shot looks to be going off target until Hassall puts it in. Does anyone know when Morty was credited with the Hat Trick? It certainly wasn't on the BBC broadcast
Losing 3-1 with 20 minutes to play - Not quite. Our second goal came on 67 minutes
.
Final Score? - When Bill Perry scored the winner in injury time, the Wembley Scoreboard showed the score as Bolton 4 Blackpool 4
Mathews Farewell? - At the end of the game, Kenneth Wolstenholme said, when talking about Mathews, "What an end to a great career". Really?
Hip Hip Hooray - On the pitch after the game, captain Harry Johnstone lead the 100,000 crowd in three cheers for the Queen
It was great to look at it all again
The Bolton Team - 10 of the 11 players were from Lancashire
Injuries - everyone is aware of the Eric Bell injury early on in the game which impacted the Bolton team. But several other Bolton players were the walking wounded: Banks, Lofthouse (3 times), Lawton and Berris. And Morty got a bad knock from scoring Pool's second goal.
Keepers' nightmare - Both keepers produced howlers. Farm should have saved Bolton's first two goals and Hanson dropped a Mathews cross that resulted in Morty scoring Pool's second
The Mathews Final - I always thought the match got that name because of sentimental reason. i.e Stan's third and last try at a winner's medal. But in watching the game, he was head and shoulders above anyone else on the pitch. Definitely MOTM
Morty's Hat Trick? - Throughout the commentary, Pool's first goal is not credited to Morty but is given to Harold Hassall as an own goal. I've looked at it from a couple of sources: BBC TV and Pathe News which are taken from different sides of the pitch. The BBC gives the clearer view and to me it looks like a definite own goal. Morty's shot looks to be going off target until Hassall puts it in. Does anyone know when Morty was credited with the Hat Trick? It certainly wasn't on the BBC broadcast
Losing 3-1 with 20 minutes to play - Not quite. Our second goal came on 67 minutes
.
Final Score? - When Bill Perry scored the winner in injury time, the Wembley Scoreboard showed the score as Bolton 4 Blackpool 4
Mathews Farewell? - At the end of the game, Kenneth Wolstenholme said, when talking about Mathews, "What an end to a great career". Really?
Hip Hip Hooray - On the pitch after the game, captain Harry Johnstone lead the 100,000 crowd in three cheers for the Queen
It was great to look at it all again
