The Swedes had beaten Hearts 2-0 at Tynecastle the week
before and manager Ancell and chairman Muirhead were in Edinburgh to meet the
Djurgården officials and confirm arrangements for the game the following
Monday. Over 16,000 turned out to see
the our young team face the first foreign opposition to visit Motherwell and,
although the game was not a thriller, they left happy enough at the result.
Despite the loss of a few players because of international
duties Ancell’s team won the match 2-1.
The visitors had the best of the first half and were unfortunate to have
secured only a one goal lead. We got
into our rhythm in the second period and raised the pace. A characteristic of that famous era was the
speed and passing that we displayed. It
was not a big team and it relied on players such as Pat Quinn to deliver the ball
with pin point accuracy to an impressive array of forwards.
St John scored the equaliser when he pounced of the rebound
from a Forrest shot and the winner came after a McSeveney run down the
touchline was followed by a cross to Weir.
The winger’s powerful header sealed the match.
That game was the first of several floodlit friendlies over
the next few years. Others in the series
include:-
10 November 1958 |
Motherwell |
2 |
Djurgårdens (Sweden) |
1 |
5 October 1959 |
Motherwell |
3 |
Winterthur (Switzerland) |
0 |
30 March 1960 |
Motherwell |
2 |
Gothenburg (Sweden) |
1 |
13 April 1960 |
Motherwell |
3 |
Bilbao Atletico (Spain) |
2 |
26 April 960 |
Motherwell |
9 |
Flamengo (Brazil) |
2 |
26 September 1960 |
Motherwell |
3 |
Bahia (Brazil) |
0 |
Opportunities to see teams outside our own leagues were very limited in the late 50s and early 60s and the supporters filled the old terraces. Over 25,000 saw the 9-2 dismantling of Flamengo. The advent of televised games and sky high gate prices have ensured that attendances of that order for friendly matches can only be found in the history books.
Source: DSG