Tottenham win at Hibernian in Anglo-Scottish Tournament Know Your Tottenham History
By Logan Holmes
Terry Dyson, star of the win over Hibernian
In the mid-1950s, for a couple of years after the introduction of floodlights and before the commencement of European competitions an Anglo-Scottish Floodlight competition was played. On this day, 17th September, 1956, Tottenham defeated Hibernian in Edinburgh. The competition was very loosely organised with five teams taking part. Spurs played the three Scottish teams home and away, but the matches had to be played as friendlies as the tournament had not received official sanction.
17th September, 1956
The Daily Express Headline the next day credited Terry Dyson with inspiring Tottenham’s win:
Tiny Dyson Sparkles in Spurs Triumph
Hibernian 1 Tottenham Hotspur 5
Scorers: Smith (2, Blanchflower, Harmer, Dyson
This was the opening game of the competition and Spurs won with goals from Bobby Smith (2), Danny Blanchflower, Tommy Harmer and Terry Dyson. Spurs also played Hearts and Partick Thistle, winning three, losing twice with one draw. The other English representative was Newcastle United.
Daily Express Report:
Terry Dyson, the small reserve winger with the big heart, starred in this sparkling Spurs win under the Easter Road floodlights in Edinburgh last night. Tearaway Terry is the son of a jockey and stands only 64 inches in his football boots but he was The Little Man who gave Hibs 90 minutes of trouble.
Spurs played the better football and were worthy winners. Hibs had more scoring chances but their forwards made poor use of them – and veteran goalkeeper Ted Ditchburn was in tip-top form. Spurs jumped off with the intelligent, fast football that brought them world fame but there was only one shot to show for their early work – an effort by Bobby Smith which did not trouble Hibernian’s 17 year old goalkeeper.
The Scots favoured more direct methods but they too gave Ditchburn no chance to shine. It was 22 minutes before the first goalmouth thrill came. Turnbull provided it with a free-kick from the edge of the penalty area. Ditchburn earned the cheers with a five-star save. Yet Hibs, despite their continued pressure found themselves a goal down after 39 minutes. Ever dangerous Dyson sent in a free-kick which the goalkeeper could only palm down to Blanchflower who scored so easily.
Hibs promptly equalised from a penalty but seconds before the interval Smith put Spurs back in the lead with a fine solo goal, rounding the goalkeeper and tapping the ball home.
Goalmouth thrills studded the start of the second half and with all the near misses, goals had to come for Spurs. A long lob up the middle found Smith who turned quickly and cracked the ball in off a defender. With less than 20 minutes to go, Smith put a pass through for Dyson to score and in the fading seconds Tommy Harmer completed Tottenham’s scoring visit.
Team: Ditchburn; Baker, Hopkins; Blanchflower, Clarke, Marchi; Medwin, Harmer, Smith, Stokes, Dyson
Terry Dyson was only a reserve at the time of this match but he persevered and became a member of Tottenham’s famous ‘Double’ winning team in 1960-61 and had his own moment of glory when scoring twice against Atletico Madrid as Spurs won 5 – 1 in the Final of the European Cup Winners Cup two years later. He also holds a very special place in the Tottenham record books as the only Spurs player to score a hat-trick against Arsenal.
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