07-11-55: Arsenal (h) 0-3 (HT 0-2) Crowd (19,000)

Programme:

Thanks to Steve Bell for the crowd, Arsenal team and goalscorer details.

Match Report (Courtesy Steve Bell)

Daily Express: 8th November 1955

LEEDS STAR RISKS CAP FOR HIS CLUB

CHARLES ALL OUT

By BOB PENNINGTON

Leeds 0 Arsenal 3

Never again can the knockers doubt John Charles' loyalty to Leeds. Britain's greatest footballer proved Britain's greatest clubman last night in a match in which Charles agrees he should never have played. Just before the kick-off veteran Leeds fan Mr Stanley Taylor told me : "Tell Charles all Leeds knows it is unjust playing him when he has been picked to play for Wales against Scotland on Wednesday." Mr Taylor, I inform you, is a Scot. But even injustice and the risk of missing a Welsh cap and a £50 match fee could not stop Charles putting Leeds first with a power show at centre forward.

Refused plea

Sam Bolton, outspoken, cash-conscious chairman of Leeds, who refused a Welsh F.A. plea to release Charles, puffed furiously at his pipe throughout the match. Mr Bolton is the boss who has insisted on Charles playing in floodlight matches in the week preceding his Welsh international appearances against England last week and Ireland last season. Not a flicker from Mr B. as Charles hared over a marsh-like pitch shouting for the ball when one slip could mean a pulled muscle. Only a hurried refill as Charles ran into the concrete barricade forcing a corner as 19,000 fans gasped. A more emotional boss than Mr Bolton might have stood up and cheered those flying Charles headers, those flowing passes, and the way he stood up to hard, but fair, shoulder charges. Arsenal manager Tom Whittaker can thank the fighting Welsh hearts of tearaway Derek Tapscott and courageous Jack Kelsey for this victory.

No excuse

Charles, Kelsey and Tapscott were all dubious about playing here with Scotland less than forty-eight hours away. Arsenal were not asked to release their men, though that is no excuse to me. Yet Tapscott's Welsh never-holdback spirit gave him two fine goals (thirty and seventy-one minutes) and he made goal number two for Doug Lishman (thirty-five minutes). With a little luck, mud-splattered Tapscott might have had three more. But the Welsh trio were not complaining as they caught the 2 a.m. sleeper to Glasgow, tired but unhurt. I have one kind word for Leeds. I sympathise NOW with the necessity for Charles to lead an attack that otherwise totally lacks punch. Arsenal, with Tapsott back, are on the mend, snapping up those half chances. Leeds, with twice as many opportunities, could not complain of being robbed.

Teams:- Leeds United: Wood; Dunn, Hair; Ripley, Charlton, Kerfoot; Williams, Nightingale, Charles, Forrest, Overfield. Arsenal: Kelsey; Wills, Evans; Goring, Fotheringham, Holton; Clapton, Tapscott, Roper, Lishman, Tiddy.