In November 1953, as Wolves were heading towards their first League Championship, Hungary arrived in England to play the home country in a friendly at Wembley. Whatever result the footballing public were expecting, it certainly wasn't the one that occurred on that misty afternoon in north London. The final score of England 3 Hungary 6 was one which sent shock waves through English soccer, thrusting the game into a deep depression. Any hope of exacting revenge the following summer in a return fixture in Budapest was destroyed along with the team, as this time the Hungarians humiliated England by 7-1. English soccer had never been at a lower ebb.

  On the domestic front, with the Championship won, Wolves continued to play top opposition in a series of floodlit friendlies that were to gain them world reknown. The opening of the lights in September 1953 was commemorated by the visit of the South African national side who were beaten 3-1. Other opponents were Glasgow Celtic, Racing Club of Buenos Aires, First Vienna, Maccabi of Tel Aviv and Moscow Spartak. All were beaten with the exception of Vienna who held Wolves to a scoreless draw. When it was announced that the next team to try and achieve a victory at Molineux was to be the crack Hungarian side Honved, the interest not just in Wolverhampton, but throughout the country, was immense.

  This was the chance to exact a little revenge and put some pride back into English soccer. However, the measure of the task that faced Wolves was clear. They were to face a side that included five of the team that had given England a footballing lesson at Wembley a year previously, as well as a regular from the team who missed the game through injury. It was also a chance for Billy Wright to settle a few scores. He had been the only Wolves player in the team at Wembley and the captain of both national and club sides once more faced his Hungarian counterpart, the great Ferenc Puskas.

  As the teams walked out into the chilly December air in front of a vast 55,000 crowd, Wolves wore satin shirts which they believed stood out more under the floodlights. At the start of that season they had changed their colours from the traditional old gold to a brighter gold. Honved were kitted out in white with two red hoops on their shirts. The first ten minutes of the game was something of a midfield stalemate as the teams jousted for possession in the thick mud that soon churned up, making the centre of the park resemble a ploughed field.

  The atmosphere was tremendous but it was muted in the tenth minute when, from a Puskas free kick fortuitously awarded on the edge of the box after the ball had hit Flowers' hand, Kocsis headed home. Within a minute Swinbourne had the chance to level things but Farago smothered the centre forward's shot. It proved to be a costly miss, for Honved counter attacked brilliantly. With the crowd still talking of the Swinbourne miss, Honved took the ball to the other end of the field with some great touch football and Machos slipped the ball past Williams.

  Two down and the game still in its infancy. But the team, nor for that matter the crowd, refused to yield, and Wolves began to peg Honved back into their own half restricting them to the odd breakaway. Twice, Les Smith, playing on the left wing in place of the injured Jimmy Mullen, had good chances to pull a goal back, and Johnny Hancocks, Dennis Wilshaw and Swinbourne all brought the best out of Farago who was putting on a world class display in the visitor's goal. But the interval arrived and Wolves still hadn't breached the Hungarian defence.

  During the break, manager Stan Cullis told his team, "You are too nervous. Get out there and play your normal game." His words seemed to have the desired effect for within four minutes Wolves had pulled a goal back. Hancocks ran through into the area only to be fouled by Kovacs. The referee awarded a penalty, a decision that did not please the Honved players. The diminutive Wolves number seven picked himself up and blasted the ball home from the spot. The penalty was the signal for an all out assault on the Honved goal.

  The Hungarians were restricted to breakaway attacks and, although they were extremely dangerous, the home defence played superbly. A youthful Ron Flowers and Bill Slater gave great support to Wright whilst Eddie Stuart and Bill Shorthouse gave solid displays in the full back berths. South African Stuart was the only non-Englishman in the Wolves team. Peter Broadbent was finding more and more space in the centre of the park and Puskas kept having to fall back to rally his beleaguered troops. Such was the importance of the game, it was broadcast on radio and shown on live television. The radio commentators in their excitement, as Wolves got more and more on top, kept referring to Honved as Hungary. The commentators went as mad as the crowd did when Swinbourne got a deserved equaliser fourteen minutes from the end.

  Wolves had forced a succession of corners, all of which had come to nothing. It seemed the goal just wouldn't come. Then Wilshaw's centre found the head of Swinbourne and, to the deafening roar of the crowd, the ball hit the back of the net. A minute later, Smith went on a run down the left, beat two Honved defenders and centred for Swinbourne to hook the ball home.

  The last ten minutes must have seemed like an eternity for the Wolves team and the crowd. The Hungarians broke out of defence to try and get an equaliser though it was still Wolves that looked the more dangerous side. When Welsh referee B M Griffiths blew for time, the cheers that arose from the crowd shook the famous old ground to the rafters. Billy Wright was met by Mr Marosi, the Honved manager as he left the field. He warmly shook the Wolves' skipper's hand conceding that the better team had won. A delighted Wright said later, "I was so proud of the team. They all played a wonderful game. They were all wonderful, in fact everything's wonderful." Stan Cullis turned to his captain and simply said, "Magnificent." 

  The following morning, Wolves commanded the headlines of the national press. 'Wolves champions of the World now' said the Daily Mail, whilst the News Chronicle led with 'That's great Wolves, another boost for England: Honved hammered'. Such was the importance of the game to football in England, and Wolves had not failed in their duty. Honved returned to Molineux for a friendly in December, 1962. It was a poor game which contained little of the skills and thrills of the one that had taken place eight years earlier. Honved went in front with just five minutes of the match left through right winger Nagy. Two minutes later, Alan Hinton slammed the ball home to level the scores. There had been little else to cheer the crowd of 13,914.

  Nobody who was at Molineux on that Monday evening in December 1954, will surely ever forget the dramatic game in which Wolves helped restore the pride in English football.

  For more information on many of the great Wolves players mentioned above, click here.