Not a good night – Vienna thwart Wolves in ’50s friendly
Part 4 of our look back at the famous floodlit friendlies that lit up Molineux in the 1950s
October 13, 1954 Wolves 0-0 First Vienna
Friendly – Attendance: 39,969
Schmied made a fine save to deny a powerful strike from Peter Broadbent
THE fourth floodlit friendly against overseas opposition saw First Vienna of Austria arrive at Molineux in October 1954.
The was actually a ‘return fixture’ with Wolves having travelled to Austria only eight weeks prior to the rematch.
Whilst in the programme notes Wolves were very complementary about their hosts and how beautiful they had found their city; they did wish one thing to change for the game played at Molineux – and that was no rain! The game in Vienna has been played under a continuous downpour.
For their part, First Vienna were looking for revenge, having lost their home game against Wolves. The Austrians’ goalkeeper Kurt Schmied was quoted as saying that ‘Wolves were the best team seen in Vienna since the war.’
A BBC football correspondent in later years recalled his memories of the floodlit games at Molineux, explaining, “There was something special about Molineux on those dark, rainy nights. What was extraordinary was the attitude of the fans to foreign sides. There was a tremendous naiveté about it all, almost feeling that these were men from the moon rather than footballers from another neighbouring European country.”
The visitors brought with themselves a resilient defence that Wolves players found difficult to break through. The Wolves line-up had some changes to the team, the most notable one being Bill Slater playing up front with an attacking line up that saw him feature alongside Norman Deeley and Roy Swinbourne.
Wolves were looking to continue their fine form in the floodlit matches and were much the dominant of the two teams in the first half, with Schmied in goal for the visitors making some brilliant saves from Slater, Clamp, Flowers and Hancocks.
However, the best save came from a powerful strike from Peter Broadbent that saw Schmied make a fine leaping save to deny the Wolves player.
Despite all the Wolves chances the game remained goalless at half-time. After the break the second half continued in a similar vein to the first, with Wolves dominant with the ball and creating chances. Schmied again came to the rescue for the Austrians, as he denied Deeley twice and, when he was not preventing goals, it was his defenders who were on hand to clear the ball from the goal line after Deeley and Flowers both had goalscoring chances denied.
The near 40,000 crowd must have been wondering what Wolves had to do to beat their opponents – and they were kept wondering as the Austrian defence stood resolute in the face of a Wolves onslaught on their goal. The game finished a 0-0 draw with First Vienna stopping Wolves’ previous run of victories against foreign opposition under the Molineux lights.
Billy Wright for Wolves and Kurt Schmied for First Vienna were star performers on the night.
The Wolves supporters would not have to wait long for their next floodlit friendly, with Israeli side Maccabi Tel-aviv due to arrive at Molineux only two weeks later.