TALL SCORING IN FOOTBALL MATCHES

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 27, 23 April 1927, Page 13

TALL SCORING IN FOOTBALL MATCHES

GREAT GAMES RECALLED (Written for THE SUN) With the interest of football enthusiasts centred on the opening matches, it is interesting io recall some striking examples of the uncertainty of the game, and some sensational scores, as recorded in famous matches in the Old Country. Some years ago the Wolverhampton Wanderers met West Bromwich Albion in a match which everybody expected to be a walk-over for the “wolves.” The latter had piled one brilliant success on another right up to that fateful meeting. They had beaten Aston Villa, the champions of the year, by three goals to nil; and a few days later they had given Blackburn Rovers a five-goals to one drubbing. On the other hand their opponents— West Bromwich Albion—had suffered defeat after defeat, culminating in a beating by Sunderland by three goals to two. Thus it was in a subdued, but none the less resolute, frame of mind that Albion faced the “wolves,” and such was the plucky fight the team put up that it won by the phenomenal margin of eight goals to nil. UNCERTAINTY OF FOOTBALL The biggest victory ever scored in an English Cup-tie match, as far as the writer’s records show, was when Preston North End pulverised Hyde by a 26 goals to nil beating. Even this record of tall scoring has been eclipsed —when Dundee beat Aberdeen Rovers by 35 goals to nil. On the very same day Arbroath routed Bon Accord by 36 goals to nil, both matches being in connection with the Scottish Cup. International matches have also witnessed some tall scoring and heavy defeats, as when England beat Ireland by 13 goals to nil, and Scotland has at different times beaten Ireland by such margins as 10 to 2, 0 to 1 and 11 to 0.

For a striking contrast to such one-sided playing we see a record of a great struggle between Shankhouse and Morpeth Harriers for the Northumberland Cup, when the rivals played no fewer than five drawn games and finally decided to share the laurels and the cup equally. The annals of the Rugby game can also furnish some interesting and startling figures. To score three goals out of four tries is considered good kicking. And so it is; but what are we to think of 14 goals out of 15 tries, a feat performed by A. in a match between Dudley Hill and Hunslett for the Yorkshire Cup? And even this performance was beaten by T. W. Pearson when playing for Mill Hill School scored 17 goals out of 18 tries. —J. Morgan Davies.