THE GALLOPING MAJOR

Never had a visitor extended such warm hospitality only to have it thrown back in their face in such cruel manner. For what was once footballing fact lay in tatters. They came from every angle, inconceivable or not it mattered little, the rules were being rewritten.

English football was in the midst of it fiercest examination as each Hungarian pass, either hit long or deceptively short appeared designed to not just hurt England but torture them. For the dumbstruck Wembley crowd it was a performance as beautiful to behold as extraordinarily shattering.

Bewitching and devastating Ferenc Puskas, Josef Bozsik, Zoltan Czibor, Sandor Kocsis and Nandor Hidegkuti lit up a murky grey London afternoon. Their play exquisite and deadly, totally outclassing an opponent unable to grasp tight on the magic men in red.

Twenty five minutes passed in an eye blink. This storm ninety years in waiting turned into a whirlwind and at its blistering heart orchestrating chaos was the remarkable Puskas. Receiving a pass from Czibor on the edge of the English six yard box, Puskas dragged the ball clear with his instep from a befuddled Billy Wright and then unleashed a flashing shot high into the net past a startled goalkeeper Gil Merrick.

A goal that visibly staggered Wembley.

An embarrassed Wright picked himself up off the floor still seemingly wondering where Puskas had gone! The Golden Boy of English football reduced to playing a stooge by the genius of the Magyar Captain. Soon to be promoted and hereafter immortalised as the 'Galloping Major'.

John Ludden
Cfieldsoffire@aol.com