better meddle...

wi' the de'il than the bairns o' fa'kirk

Match Report

Saturday, 6th August, 1966






The Conquerors

From over the sea they came to conquer. Their ancestors did it years ago, and on Monday eleven young men of the Danish club Aalborg did it again.

The Danish boys who play soccer for the love of the game, were always fitter and sharper on the ball. They turned on a delightful brand of football for the first Brockville crowd of the season - over 5,000.

Despite the fact that the game was only a friendly, the second half developed into a series of petty niggling fouls, all quite needless.

There were never any doubts about the result of this match. In the first five minutes that it took Aalborg to score it was evident that they were a side of great ability.

The goal was a classic. A defence splitting pass by outside-right Jens Flou and there was Poul Thomsen, strong blonde, and lethal, in the clear with only Whigham to beat - which he did with great ease.

From then on Aalborg took command and Thomsen, easily the best forward afield, had Whigham at full stretch a few times before he finally beat him once more with a shot from close in, eight minutes from the end of the first half.

Falkirk made changes at half-time. Baxter, who had been injured, was replaced by Scott, and McKinney came in for Cowan on the right wing.

The Falkirk side tried harder in the second half but never really looked dangerous. In contrast, Aalborg's neat moving of the ball was always penetrating and caused havoc in a weak home defence.

Then seven minutes from the end of the game, Bparne Lildballe, made it three for Aalborg - again from close in.

Perhaps the Falkirk support should not be too downhearted about the poor show of their team. It must be remembered that training only restarted a couple of weeks ago and the boys should be a lot fitter by the time the season starts.

Manager Harry Catterick of Everton, the English Cup-winners, was at Brockville to watch the game. Everton play Aalborg in the first round of the European Cup-Winners Cup. He must have been impressed with what he saw. Let's hope he did not take back any false impressions because the Danish players said afterwards that they thought they did not play as well as they could. A Danish newspaperman, who is following the team on tour, said that he thought Thomsen did not have a good game

Anyway, it was a fine game. And to think that these boys from Denmark have to PAY for the privilege of playing for their club. It makes you think!