SATURDAY 6TH DECEMBER, 1952
LEAGUE DIVISION ONE AT MOLINEUX, WOLVERHAMPTON
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 0 TOTTENHAM HOTSPURS 0
Williams; Short, Pritchard; Baxter, Shorthouse, Wright (capt);
Smith, Broadbent, Swinbourne, W.J. Slater, Mullen;
Ditchburn; Ramsey, Willis; Nicholson, Clarke, Burgess (capt);
Walters, Bennett, Duquieman, Harmer, Dicker;
Wolves brought in W.J. Slater, the amateur international, at inside left in place of Doug Taylor. Spurs had a reserve left wing partnership of Harmer and Dicker in place of internationals Bailey and Medley.
The opening of the gates was delayed until 2 o'clock as the Spurs did not arrive until then because of fog around London. Thousands waited outside the ground. One end of the field, which had been marked out with blue lines, still had a light covering of snow, but had been well sanded.
Ditchburn held well a header from Mullen in the first minute. Mullen was prominent in all Wolves' early attacks and Ramsey his direct opponent had problems because of the difficulty in turning on the icy surface. The Wolves forwards were very lively, especially Slater.
Spurs' defence however looked very confident. Baxter had a good game for Wolves and although Harmer showed some nice touches, the Spurs forward line just could not get going. At half time Spurs' captain Ron Burgess moved to outside left because of injury , with Bennett at left half and Dicker at inside forward. This further disrupted Spurs who never looked like scoring. Smith had the best chance of winning the game for Wolves but Ditchburn made a splendid save, diving well to his left.
SATURDAY 20TH DECEMBER, 1952
LEAGUE DIVISION TWO AT ST ANDREWS, BIRMINGHAM Attendance 12,000
BIRMINGHAM CITY 4 (Purdon, Murphy, Trigg pen., Wardle) ROTHERHAM UNITED 0
Merrick; Green, Martin; Boyd (capt), Ferris, Warhurst;
Stewart, Purdon, Trigg, Murphy, Wardle;
Quairney; Selkirk, Noble; Edwards, Gibson, Williams (H);
Grainger, Guest (capt), Shaw, Rawson, Rickett;
Referee:- W.H.E. Evans, Liverpool
A very poor crowd saw the very tall Rotherham team take the field. The visitors played the off-side game throughout. Birmingham played with a strong wind and rain behind them in the first half. It blew one Merrick goal kick straight out at the other end of the field. Murphy got clear on the right and his centre, just clear of the diving Quairney, was tapped in by Purdon.
Ferris kept a tight hold on the dangerous Shaw and all the Rotherham forwards showed a lack of shooting power, although they got many good passes from wing halves Edwards and Williams. Selkirk showed good anticipation at right back.
Murphy, who played well throughout, scored a splendid individual goal and Trigg scored a powerful penalty awarded for hands. Then Wardle, who had a terrible match, scored the fourth from an acute angle which Quairney misjudged. The Rotherham keeper never matched Merrick's coolness and brilliance.
FRIDAY 26TH DECEMBER 1952
LEAGUE DIVISION ONE AT MOLINEUX, WOLVERHAMPTON
WOLVES 1 (Swinbourne) SUNDERLAND 1 (Bingham) Attendance 50,000
Williams; Short, Pritchard; Wright (capt), Shorthouse, W.J. Slater;
Smith, Broadbent, Swinbourne, Wilshaw, Mullen;
Mapson; Stelling, Hedley; Watson, Aitken, Wright (A);
Bingham, Davis, Ford, Kirtley, Reynolds;
In front of a large Boxing Day crowd, Sunderland brought in veteran goalkeeper Johnny Mapson for the injured Threadgold. Aitken moved from wing half to centre half and played a magnificent game, although the man he was marking centre forward Roy Swinbourne scored for Wolves after only ten minutes with a fine header. Irishman Billy Bingham equalised just two minutes later when he received the ball after the left wing had drawn the defence.
Bingham was the best forward afield, his intelligent centres and speedy bursts were causing the crowd to make many complimentary remarks about his prowess. Kirtley and Reynolds were also prominent, but Davis seemed out of place - perhaps a bit overweight. Shorthouse outplayed Trevor Ford until he was injured when tackling the Welsh centre forward and had to go on to the wing.
Billy Wright then moved to centre half. He was the star of the team in both positions and repeated his recent England form at Wembley in subduing Ford once again. Arthur Wright played well for the visitors, but both Ford and Davis were booed for charging goalkeeper Bert Williams. Jimmy Mullen had a lot of the ball and sent across many good centres, but the other forwards could not take advantage of them as Aitken was so dominant in the air.
SATURDAY 27TH DECEMBER, 1952
LEAGUE DIVISION ONE AT THE HAWTHORNS, WEST BROMWICH
WEST BROMWICH ALBION 0 SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 1 (Dooley)
Heath; Rickaby, Millard; Dudley, Kennedy (capt), Barlow;
Griffin, Nicholls, Allen, Ryan, Lee;
Capewell; Kenny, Curtis; Gannon, Turton (capt), Witcomb;
Marriott, Sewell, Dooley, Slater, Storrar;
Referee:- R.P. Hartley, Burnley
Wednesday, the perennial yo-yo team, were promoted last season largely due to the phenomenal scoring record of their centre forward Derek Dooley, who had already established an incredible scoring ability with Wednesday's junior and reserve teams.
It was Albion who started off like world-beaters, shots whizzed over the bar and past the posts. Barlow was playing splendid football to inspire his team. Capewell also made many fine saves. However, after this first barrage Albion faded and Wednesday made several attacks mainly through their small, tricky right wing pair of Marriott and Sewell.
Dooley looked very awkward and Joe Kennedy seemed to have no trouble in subduing him throughout the first half. The young Sheffield left wing pair tried hard, but were plainly out of their class.
Half time 0-0.
Soon after the start of the second half Derek Dooley rose to head the only goal of the game into the empty net, after a Marriott centre had totally deceived goalkeeper Norman Heath. Sewell seemed to be the only consistently good forward on the field and Turton, the Wednesday captain and centre half, played a splendid game throughout. Curtis, at left back, also had a good game and cleared two certain goals off the line to help his side to rather a surprise victory.
SATURDAY 10TH JANUARY, 1953
CENTRAL LEAGUE AT MOLINEUX, WOLVERHAMPTON
WOLVES RESERVES 2 (Cooper, Both) EVERTON RESERVES 2 (Lewis 2)
Sims; Short, Guttridge; W.J. Slater (capt), Russell, Clamp;
Dimmer, Stockin, Whitfield, Booth, Cooper;
Leyland; Tansey, Anderton; Rae, Woods, Melville;
McNamara, Thomas, Moore (capt), Lewis, Easthope;
Wolves were captained by amateur international Bill Slater and Everton by former first team full back Moore, who played at centre forward. Len Cooper, who played in the all conquering Brierly Hill Schoolboys team made his first Central League appearance for Wolves.
For most of the game the strong Everton defence held the Wolves, but towards the end it cracked and Wolves scored twice. Everton's main danger came from their wingers, McNamara and Easthope, who often had the Wolves' full backs in trouble. Everton took the lead when the outside right dispossessed Guttridge on the edge of the area, drew Sims from his goal and passed the ball inside to Lewis who had an easy task to push the ball into an empty net.
The second Everton goal came after Thomas had made a brilliant run to the goal line. He crossed the ball across goal and Lewis again had a simple task to push the ball home. Towards the end of the game Wolves really piled on the pressure and young Cooper headed in a Dimmer centre after Whitfield had missed it. Booth scored the equaliser soon afterwards. He was clean through but shot straight at Leyland from only six yards out, however the ball rebounded to him from the goalkeeper and he time to control it, turn round and hit it past the prostrate keeper.
SATURDAY 17TH JANUARY, 1953
LEAGUE DIVISION TWO AT ST ANDREWS, BIRMINGHAM
BIRMINGHAM CITY 2 (Purdon, Trigg) WEST HAM UNITED 0
Merrick; Hall, Green; Bannister, Ferris, Boyd (capt); Stewart, Purdon, Trigg, Murphy, Wardle;
Gregory (E); Wright, Bond; Parker, Allison, O'Farrell; Woodgate, Gregory (J). Kearns, Gazzard, Andrews;
Referee;- W. Ling, Stapleford, Cambs
Merrick, the England goalkeeper, was mobbed by autograph hunters when the teams came out. Birmingham took the lead in the first minute, Murphy crossed the ball from the left, both O'Farrell and Purdon missed it, but Purdon turned round quickly to crack the ball in. Play was even for the rest of the first half, but both sides missed chances to score. Ernie Gregory made one splendid save from Murphy.
Woodgate and Gazzard were livewires in West Ham's forward line. Bannister and Hall were both playing well for Birmingham and Ferris held a tight grip on Kearns throughout the math.
Trigg's wandering often had Malcolm Allison bothered and Parked was the pick of West Ham's defence, apart from goalkeeper Gregory. Andrews, a small winger something like Stewart, was very fast and tricky. Cyril Trigg clinched victory for the home side with the second goal after a goalmouth mix up.
SATURDAY 24TH JANUARY, 1953
LEAGUE DIVISION ONE AT MOLINEUX, WOLVERHAMPTON
WOLVES 3 (Hancocks, Mullen, Wilshaw) DERBY COUNTY 1 (Stamps pen)
Williams; Short, Guttridge; Flowers, Shorthouse, Wright (capt);
Hancocks, W.J. Slater, Swinbourne, Wilshaw, Mullen;
Townsend; Mozley, Savin; McLachlan, Oliver, Musson;
Whatley, Hazeldine, Parry, Stamps, McLaren;
Referee:- Mr J. McGann, Preston
Mullen got clean through in the very first minute, but shot just wide of the post with only the advancing Townsend to beat. Derby played the off-side trap, but it was all Wolves early on. Townsend, apparently lying helpless on the floor, scooped a header from Slater off the line. After twenty five minutes Hancocks scored when he dispossessed Savin, crossed it to Mullen, who centred. Swinbourne missed it and Hancocks ran in to score from a narrow angle.
Derby were playing good football but only Stamps wanted to shoot. Wolves scored again when Slater lobbed the ball in to Mulllen whose shot hit the post then centre half Oliver before going into the net.
Then Shorthouse handled and Stamps scored easily from the spot to make it 2-1. Hancocks and Mullen both played well and got in several good shots.
Hancocks knocked the burly Townsend off his feet with a fierce twenty yarder before Wilshaw got the third goal following a Hancocks corner. Just before the end Williams made a fine save from Parry.
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