Three out of three as Wolves take on the world – at night
PART 3 of our look back at the famous floodlit friendlies that lit up Molineux in the 1950s
March 10, 1954 Wolves 3-1 Racing Club of Buenos Aires
Friendly – Attendance: 37,122
THE third instalment in my series of Wolves’ floodlit friendly games, takes us back to the time Wolves hosted South American opposition in the form of Argentina’s Racing Club of Buenos Aires.
As the popularity of welcoming overseas teams grew within Europe, the Argentinians arrived at Molineux having already played matches in Rome, Zagreb, Belgrade, Valencia, Bilbao, Madrid and Brussels.
Their stay in England would also see them play against Chelsea and West Ham United and then travelling to France for their final game in Paris.
Leading the attack for Wolves was Doug Taylor who was deputising for the injured Roy Swinbourne, and it was Taylor who opening the scoring in the game after 16 minutes when he scored from close range, following a mistake from Racing goalkeeper Dominguez.
However the keeper would make up for this and go on to put on a superb goalkeeping display.
Understudy
Doug Taylor was at Wolves for six years, although being the understudy to the likes of Roy Swinbourne, Jesse Pye and Dennis Wilshaw, his first team opportunities were very limited during his time at the club.
He left Wolves in 1955 to join Walsall, where he went on to score eight goals for the Saddlers in 38 appearances in the Third Division South before leaving league football for the nonleague game in 1957.
The visitors were not behind for long in the game, in fact within a minute they were rewarded with an equalising goal following a display of quick and neat football skills.
A through ball from veteran Argentinian international Norberto Doroteo Méndez found Pizzuti, who equalised with a powerful left-footed shot.
Norberto Doroteo Méndez had a fine international career, playing 33 games for the Argentina national team and winning three Copa América titles. He is most famous for being the joint all-time top scorer in the history of the tournament with 17 goals.
At half-time the game was evenly balanced, but Wolves soon managed to take a grip of the game and on the hour mark Norman Deeley put Wolves 2-1 up with a terrific driving shot from 23 yards out.
Wolves further increased their lead eleven minutes later, when Jimmy Mullen made it three with a crossshot to beat Dominguez.
Annoyed
The Wolves’ crowd had been annoyed by the behaviour of the South American visitors with the Racing forward players being caught off-side on numerous occasions, this resulted in the game being broken up.
However, the crowd’s frustrations soon turned to cheers with the secondhalf goals, which capped another fine performance from the team in gold and black, and a result that saw them maintain their unbeaten floodlit friendly record with a third straight victory.