Memory Match: Manager Joe Smith mysteriously missing from the touchline as Blackpool beat Derby County

Blackpool 2-1 Derby County – February 1, 1947

Manager Joe Smith was again not among those present.

His destination was not disclosed, but it may have been a First Division club’s ground as the hunt for a new forward is still on.

The intense cold probably reduced the attendance. There were fewer than 12,000 people on the ground when the teams appeared.

The first raid of the afternoon came from Derby, but thankfully it came to a premature end when England’s inside-right Carter lost the ball under the pressure of numbers.

The early advances by both forward lines were faster than had been expected on such a surface, but with the ball often bouncing nearly twice a man’s height every time it hit the rutted turf not a lot of order was revealed.

The first big incident was in front of Derby’s goal where Howe hooked Sibley’s clearance only inches wide of the post for a corner, which the experimental outside-left Blair put into the side netting.

In Blackpool’s next attack, Dick stabbed a shot wide with two men chasing in on him as he chased Munro’s pass.

Derby’s forwards were swift and direct in action. One fast raid ended in Carter shooting wide from the penalty area line at a speed which shows the punch there still is in this international’s boot.

A lot of the football was beginning to reveal a definite plan. In one advance on Blackpool’s left, Nelson wandered away into the outside-left position before calling for a pass from Blair, accepting it and crossing a ball which Eastham shot wide of the near post.

There had not been a lot in it in the first 15 minutes, yet there was nearly a goal in the 16th when Dick put Nelson in possession with a perfect pass and the Irish outside-right crossed a ball which Munro shot against the top of the bar.

Nor had that attack been repelled before, with the Spion Kop cheering as I have not heard it cheer for a long time, Dick lobbed inside a high ball which Woodley beat out anywhere as he hurled himself backwards.

Centre after centre was crossing the Derby goal, but all were missing the inside-forwards. But at this time the Rams were being completely outplayed.

Blackpool’s pressure reached its peak in the 28th minute as Eastham took a glorious pass from Dick before shooting a ball which Woodley reached in a cat’s leap with the crowd shouting “goal!” a split-second too soon.

A minute later, the goal fell. It could scarcely escape downfall in such a non-stop, relentless pressure.

In the end, it was the little Scot in the Blackpool line - the Scot who goes after everything - who put Blackpool in front in the 29th minute.

Munro went after another long bouncing pass which, from the press box, seemed certain he could never reach.

Yet he did reach it, beat Woodley to it by half a yard and tumbled head over heels over the falling goalkeeper as the ball crawled over the line.

It was a goal which Blackpool’s direct, non-nonsense football deserved.

Derby could not hold Munro afterwards. He won a corner on his own after roaming into the inside-left position, with the terraces and the Kop still cheering.

The non-stop passes of Farrow and Johnston and the constructive football of Eastham, who seldon put a pass wrong, were making Blackpool’s frontline a progressive force.

There was nothing whatsoever in this first half for the barrackers to moan about. Aside from a few breakaways, Derby had seldom been in the game.

Two minutes of the second-half had passed before Blackpool made it 2-0. A grand goal it was, too.

A pass was released from the right, Dick was waiting for it and hit it as soon as it reached him. All the way, from 15 yards out, the falling Woodley was beaten by the ball’s pace and was still falling as it hit the roof of the near post and cannoned inside over the line.

Derby made a few belated raids afterwards but it was still Blackpool’s game almost everywhere except on the left wing, where Blair was absent far too often.

But Derby’s frontline, scarcely in the match before the interval, soon began to have their say.

Twenty minutes into the second-half, the lead was reduced and not undeservedly.

Inevitably it was Carter who put his name on the scoresheet, chasing a forward pass into the first gap which had appeared in the left flank of Blackpool’s defence and shooting a fine goal.

Afterwards, Blackpool were in retreat for a time on all fronts until Dick, in a lone foray, crossed from the line a centre which Woodley near lost in mid-air.

For Derby, Carter shot barely wide after a one-man spurt and, with 15 minutes left, the game was still open.

Derby were all out at times for a point which earlier had appeared lost beyond redemption. Twice in rapid succession Nelson forced Woodley to the concession of corners.

With 10 minutes left, the game was still not definitely Blackpool’s. Their grip on the three points was never secure until referee Mr Lawless blew the whistle for the last time.

TEAM: Wallace, Shimwell, Sibley, Farrow, Hayward, Johnston, Nelson, Munro, Dick, Eastham, Blair