WOLVERHAMPTON W. 3-2 HONVÉD

In 1954, English football was smarting from the two crushing defeats suffered by the national team at the hands of Hungary, 6-3 in 1953 and 7-1 a year later. Something was needed to restore some pride to the English game, and a friendly match between league champions Wolves and Hungarian giants Honvéd was a real opportunity for this to happen.

Honvéd arrived at Molineux stadium for the match in December 1954 with six of players who had been involved in that win at Wembley, and were recognised as Europe's best club side with the nucleus of their team being in the Hungarian side that had reached that year's World Cup final. When the match got underway, the favourites looked to assert their authority from the outset. Ferenc Puskas played in a free kick for Sandor Kocsis to head home, and a few minutes later Kocsis played in Machos who doubled the advantage. Less than fifteen minutes had been played and Honvéd had a 2-0 lead.

On a difficult, muddy surface, Wolves were struggling to make an impact on the match and Honvéd comfortably held on to their two goal advantage until half-time. Manager Stan Cullis tried to rally his team, and within minutes of the restart they made a crucial breakthrough. Flying winger Johnny Hancocks burst into the penalty area and was fouled, and the referee pointed to the spot. Hancocks took the kick himself and put his team back in the match.

Wolves now had the confidence to get right back into the match, but as well as their famous forward line Honvéd also had a solid defence, and they were holding on to their one goal lead with fifteen minutes to go. Wolves were not going to give up, and fourteen minutes from time a cross from Dennis Wilshaw was headed in by Roy Swinbourne, and the English champions were level. Wolves had all the momentum, and rather than holding on to what already was an impressive result they went after the winning goal.

Just two minutes after scoring the equaliser, Wilshaw got the ball again down the left wing and this time played the ball low into the path of Swinbourne, who shot home to put Wolves in front. Having seen their two goal lead vanish and suddenly finding themselves behind, Honvéd were stunned. Although there were still more than ten minutes remaining, there was no way back for the Hungarians as Wolves easily maintained their lead until the final whistle.

In a classic match played on a surface made incredibly difficult by the December weather, English football had some measure of revenge against Hungary after the two international defeats. Wolves manager Stan Cullis proclaimed his side the best in the world, and it was this claim that went some way to inspiring the football authorities to create the European Cup. Wolves went on to record more famous results in their floodlit friendly matches, most notably victory over European Champions Real Madrid in 1957, but none went down in history as much as the win over Honvéd.