(
A game at Goodison I remember well in about 1958 was the 1st leg of the Liverpool Floodlight Cup, and I've never seen it recorded or mentioned anywhere. Everton won it 2-0 and I'm fairly sure that there were over 70,000 there. We lost the 2nd leg down there but won the cup on aggregate 3-2. Does anyone else remember it?
….i was only 2 at the time but from the looks of things, they won both legs of 1958 Floodlit Cup, the 2nd being at Goodison;
October 30, 1958. The Liverpool Daily Post
By Horace Yates
Everton 2, Liverpool 3
These are teams of which to be proud. If I never see a finer game this season I shall have no cause for disappointment for this Floodlight Challenge Cup clash at Goodison last night was full of the cleverest football played at a pace too hot for any side to maintain for ninety minutes and with only the odd ripple to mar the superb sportsmanship with which the teams settled their differences. The trophy belongs to Liverpool outright winners in both legs; but the credit, the glory and the satisfaction, if not the reward must be equally shared. If crowds were assured of seeing an exhibition such as this in friendly mid-week floodlit games, last night’s attendance figures of 41,610 would be maintained and beaten. Of course this was no friendly. It was a battle to the death, though fought out in the most creditable spirit, if we forget two incidents which crept into the closing minutes. Two Scots, Collins on one side and Harrower on the other, vied with each other in their efforts to show us the magic which their agile brains impart to their boots. It was a case of anything you can do I can do! If not better, then just as well. That was how it began and that was how it continued to the end. That these two players could accomplish some of the tricks they were able to produce in the thick of the struggle, stamped them as being in the very highest class of soccer craftsmen. It was Harrower who scored the first goal of the game in twelve minutes from an opportunity afforded him by Melia who could quite easily have crashed in a shot himself, but realized in a flash that harrower was between placed to choose the spot in the net he was going to hit. Melia let the ball go and Harrower did the rest. Precision passing swept the ball from man to man, judged to a fraction of an inch every time, and one early Liverpool movement in particular had the crowd roaring their appreciation. I am sure it was appreciation from friend and foe alike. That was the way of it. For me this was the best exhibition of two-sided football I have seen this season. Exhibitions by one side there have been on several occasions, but this was dramatic superb soccer, with both sides showing equal strength and incisiveness. If Everton are worthy members of Division 1, and there was nothing about their play last night to suggest otherwise, then the question is can Liverpool be far, if anything, behind them? Liverpool undoubtedly appear to be moving to a peak and the directors the most criticized football officials in the city for the last week or two could be pardoned their grins of triumph at half-time for Bimpson the man they had championed at the expense of Liddell, had given what was easily his best display. It seemed that his one big weakness was in the department where his height should have given him every advantage and that was in the air. He injured his leg later in the game but deserves to be fit for Saturday. The injury I am told is a bruised and discolored shin. Jimmy Harris emerged from the fray with his claim to being one of the most powerful marksmen in the game definitely enhanced. Certainly Bobby Charlton himself could not have infused more venom into his drives than did Harris and one effort in particular screeched over the bar like a rocket. Another hit the bar almost before Younger had time to move towards its flight. The first half hour produced only one goal, but there were almost counties near-misses by both sides. It seemed such excitement was too good to last but instead of drooping it soared and soared to new heights, and when Thomas produced the equalizer in the thirty-first minute it was with a drive worthy of the occasion. Travelling like a bullet, the ball flew away from Younger to find its place in the net. Everton had fought back and were fully entitled to be on level terms. Less than five minutes later Liverpool were a goal down following a movement started and finished by Jimmy Harris with Collins and O’Hara playing their part in between.
Morris Winded
An indication of the dynamite with which some of the shots were laden came when Morris was unlucky enough to get in the way of a full-blooded efforts from Twentyman. Down he went and it was a minute or two before he was himself again. Thomas might have sent Everton in at the break two up for when Collins dispossessed Younger, the inside forward hooked the ball over the bar with all the goal at which to aim. If Thomas hung his head in disappointment at his miss, so did Morris after the interval when Brian Harris, nothing like commanding figure he can be, hooked the ball back to give the Liverpool winger the sort of chance of which forwards dream. What a horrible awakening for Morris as he saw his shot sail wide. Morris compensation was that he had a hand or rather a foot, in the equalizer after 52 minutes, since it was from his cross that Bimpson drove the ball home. Within a minute Morris, who has never been in livier form than this, found Melia in the clear and with a stunning shot, of which few believed him capable, Melia hit what proved to be a winner. Everton simply could not have gone closer to an equalizer than when Hickson’s shot beat Younger and was actually on the line when Moran, who specializes in these last ditch saves, kicked the ball out. It was only poetic justice that this point did not count as a linesman had flagged O’Hara for offside but the referee, who handled the game extremely well, did not see the signal. It would have been easy to say of this match that the players were like clockwork footballers thoroughly wound up and displaying their mechanical movements as the spring unfolded, but that would have done less than justice. Movement’s were anything but mechanical. Many of them were entirely unorthodox the products of genuine football intelligence.
Last Ditch Save
Liverpool consolidated as the game wore on, but Everton never gave up a though they were two goals away from earning a replay, and there was a thrilling moment when Younger knocked down Hickson’s header and then had to hurt himself on the ball to prevent. Thomas sending it into the net. Thomas was there again with time running towards its close and actually found the net only to be ruled offside. There was no doubt about it. He was offside, but if the goal had counted could anyone really have been upset at the injustice of it all? Liverpool must be rubbing their hands with joy that Melia was preserved with when it would have been so easy to say that he had been given his chance and not taken it. He is unrecognizable in his recent games as the hesitant unimpressive forward who showed up so disappointingly in the season’s earlier matches. Wheeler too came right out of his shell with his best display this term and all the signs are there that Liverpool may have started a steep climb towards the target they seek – Division 1 football. Let us hope they can keep it up. O’Hara promises to be a power in the land before very much longer. Although he might not have settled immediately to the English League style of play, it has not taken him long to become acclimatized and I look forward to increasing pleasure from his enterprise. The danger of Hickson was so well appreciated that White found ready helpers on hand whenever the Everton leader promised to present difficulties. Everton; Dunlop, goal; Sanders and Bramwell, backs; King, Jones (captain) and B, Harris, half-backs; J. Harris, Thomas, Hickson, Collins, and O’Hara, forwards. Liverpool; Younger, goal; Molyneux and Moran, backs; Wheeler, White, and Twentyman, half-backs; Morris, Melia, Bimpson, Harrower, and Morrissey, forwards. Referee; Mr. J. Mitchell (Preston). Attendance 41,610.
