only Banks was in front of me," he begins.

I knew I had to beat him quickly and on his left side. I looked up and saw Mortensen running to the nearest post and, in the gap he'd left behind him, there was Bill Perry who deserves credit too it wasn't an easy chance, he had to hit it first time from about 10 yards. A great goal."

Matthews was the football superstar of his generation and is still revered today as one of the finest players England has ever produced. In a 33‑year career that ended in 1965, Matthews never

benefited from the vast wages that players of his ilk can demand today. He ran out at Wembley for the love of the game and the English public simply adored him.

The final chapter in the 1953 EA. Cup story made Stanley Matthews Wembley's greatest ever Cup Final hero.

Wembley hat‑tricks on this day have hardly been plentiful over the years, though the fact that Stan Mortensen completed such a feat in 1953 is rarely remembered. That EA. Cup Final between Blackpool and Bolton was all about the legendary Stan Matthews.

Matthews was the national hero as he went into his third EA. Cup Final still seeking that elusive winners' medal. Blackpool defeats at Wembley in 1948 and 1951 merely served to heighten the excitement around a game that lived up to its billing in every sense of the phrase.

Seven goals, incident aplenty and a dramatic and emotional final few seconds made up the story of a Cup final that is rightly placed near the

top of any list of great Wembley games. It was Matthews who stole the show, with his cross in the last few seconds allowing Bill Perry, a player who hardly receives a mention when this game is under debate, to score the winner.

'The Greatest Stage' paints the scene. "The Wembley setting was perfect, 100,000 spectators basking in clear May sunshine and Queen Elizabeth II watching from the Royal Box. While the whole country looked on or listened in, willing Matthews to get his winners' medal at last, the game itself set out at first to confound expectations and best wishes.

"Thanks to a typically forceful performance from Bolton Wanderers' centre‑forward, the Footballer of the Year Nat Lofthouse, and some nerve‑rackingly inept goalkeeping by Blackpool's George Farm, the hour mark passed with Bolton sitting comfortably on a 31 lead. Our hero's time had come. 'It's mostly the last 20 minutes that win matches,' Matthews said later. 'You keep plodding on and plodding on. You never think you're going to lose anyway, you just keep going,' which is just what Matthews did."

Bolton had been weakened by injuries on their left flank and Matthews, who had not been as effective as expected throughout the game, burst into life as the seconds ticked away. He laid on Mortensen's second of the game and carved open chances with increasing regularity as Blackpool fought for an equaliser. That arrived just a minute before the end of normal time from a Mortensen free‑kick.

Daily Express reporter Desmond Hackett describes the winger 'Matthews is gliding down the wing with all the menace and smoothness of a snake. There is the brave music of cheers rising, rising in salute to this slight balding man with the ball. There is the sudden shock of hushed silence as Matthews smooths over his pass, leaning widely over his left ankle before he falls. And he is still leaning on his elbow on the ground when Perry sweeps the ball past the frantically reaching foot of John Ball."

Matthews himself always claims that it is in fact, Morty's Final'. "People forget that Stan Mortensen scored three goals that day," he argues, hardly appreciating why he was the focus of attention. However, this was always to be hailed as his finest hour, with the rest of the Blackpool side merely supporting actors in his glory. He recalls the winning goal with great clarity 46 years on. "When I received the ball from Ernie Taylor,