[00:00.00] UNIT 7

[00:29.28]Are You a Football Fan?

[00:34.25]Integrated Skills Development

[00:39.99]Passage

[00:45.27]The Most Dramatic Cup Final Wembley

[00:51.23]The Cup Final is still the only football match

[00:57.70]guaranteed to attract 100,000 spectators to Wembley Stadium every year,

[01:05.15]even though it is also shown on television.

[01:10.32]It is a great public event, as much as a game of football.

[01:17.45]I was very excited when my father managed to get two tickets

[01:23.80]for the Final a few years ago,

[01:27.64]though I did not realise then

[01:31.48]that it could be the most memorable ever played.

[01:36.44]The teams, Blackpool and Bolton Wanderers,both came from the north,

[01:43.71]but almost everyone in England wanted Blackpool to win

[01:49.48]because the greatest player of his generation,Stanley Matthews, then 40 years old,

[01:57.24]was playing for them in what would surely be his last Cup Final.

[02:04.08]He had twice reached the Final before,

[02:08.52]but each time a cup winner's medal had eluded him.

[02:14.77]The atmosphere before the match was traditional, but electric.

[02:22.13]The crowd sang songs for an hour,

[02:26.70]led by a conductor in the middle of the pitch.

[02:31.43]At one end there was a sea of orange,

[02:36.29]with Blackpool supporters roaring for their team;

[02:41.33]at the other,

[02:44.57]there were black and white scarves,hats and banners waving in the air for Bolton.

[02:52.04]The game began on a false note for Blackpool.

[02:57.89]Farm, their goalkeeper,

[03:02.13]had an attack of nerves,and let a simple shot bounce over his outstretched arm in the first minute.

[03:10.88]Twenty minutes later,

[03:14.85]he made another terrible mistake to give Bolton their second goal.

[03:21.09]It looked as if Matthews would be disappointed once again.

[03:27.15]But then one of the Bolton half-backs, Bell,

[03:32.82]was injured and in those days no substitutes were allowed.

[03:39.27]He limped along the wing on one leg,

[03:44.34]and Blackpool,inspired by Matthews and the tireless Mortensen at centre forward,

[03:52.49]began to recover, and Mortensen scored.

[03:58.45]Early in the second half, however, disaster struck again.

[04:04.92]The injured Bell bravely headed a goal for Bolton,

[04:10.88]and though Mortensen again reduced the arrears,

[04:16.24]Bolton were still holding onto their 3-2 lead with four minutes to go.

[04:23.18]I can still remember Mortensen placing the ball

[04:29.24]for a free kick over 30 metres from the Bolton goal,

[04:35.10]just in front of where I was sitting,

[04:39.54]as if it were yesterday. He swung his boot.

[04:45.10]No one moved, not even Hanson in the Bolton goal.

[04:50.95]Then the whole terrace in orange colours to my left went mad with joy.

[04:58.61]The ball had travelled so fast that we could hardly believe it had hit the back of the net.

[05:06.96]Two minutes later, the old master, Matthews,

[05:12.74]made one of his inimitable runs down the right wing,

[05:18.20]and centred for Perry to score the winning goal.