Pullu Demanuele and Lolly Borg... great match against Chelsea.Pullu Demanuele and Lolly Borg... great match against Chelsea.

Ever since the visit of Tottenham Hotspur in 1929, the Maltese had been waiting eagerly for another visit by a top English club.

After the Spurs’ visit, the Maltese had to wait 20 years before another English team visited the islands.

In 1949, Chelsea FC accepted an invitation to play here and the tour created a lot of interest.

The Pensioners had their fair share of supporters even though at the time they were not among the biggest names in UK football.

They had won few honours but at the same time spent most of their league career in the top division.

Chelsea came to Malta with their regular XI bar Roy Bentley who was away with the England squad that was touring the Scandinavia.

Bentley was not the only international player in the Chelsea squad. Full-back Danny Winter and Bill Hughes both played regularly for Wales while Goulden had also represented England in a 2-2 draw against Italy at the San Siro.

Chelsea played their first game on May 24, 1949. Playing with ease, they beat Combined Services 6-0.

The next day they met the MFA XI in front of one of the biggest crowds ever assembled at the stadium. Chelsea attacked from the word go and after only 14 minutes they went ahead.

Jones intercepted a back-pass from Eddie Cole to Gabaretta and planted the ball into the net.

The second half started with a bang. Williams centred perfectly for Billington to smash first-time into the MFA XI’s net. A few minutes later the same player rifled in number three.

This goal seemed to satisfy the Chelsea forwards and Tony Nicholl gave the crowds a taste of things to come with a great shot which Medhurst saved.

The Lolly Borg-Pullu Demanuele tandem was now working beautifully on the left flank. The crowd was on its feet as the Reds invaded the Blues’ penalty-area.

The seconds ticked away until four minutes from time when Borg weaved his way into the box. The crowd was already shouting ‘goal’ when he was brought down heavily by Winter. It was a penalty all the way and Bennetti made no mistake from the spot.

Two minutes later Salvinu Schembri placed one of his special through-passes to Borg. The latter passed to Demanuele who mesmerised the whole defence with a grand dribble. He hung on to the ball long enough for Nicholl to find position in the box before placing the ball in the corner of the net.

Everyone in the record crowd went home satisfied with the result. The visitors undoubtedly deserved the 3-2 verdict but the local selection’s late rally captured the imagination of all those present.

Chelsea completed their short tour on May 18 when they defeated a Sliema Wanderers-Ħamrun Spartans combination 6-2.

Displaying their best play, the visitors outclassed the local team. Their superiority was more marked in the first period when they built opened a commanding lead of five clear goals.

The final score does not in the least exaggerate the superiority of the winners and they might have made the margin even more pronounced had they taken all their chances.

Still, despite the locals’ poor show, the crowd loved every minute of it. Television was still a thing of the future and matches of this kind were a treat for all local football lovers.

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