Jackie Sewell, perhaps the finest footballer to come from west Cumbria, has died at the age of 89.

John Sewell, always known as Jackie, was born in Kells, Whitehaven, on January 24, 1927 and was the last living player from the Match of the 20th Century.

Capped six times by England, one of them was at Wembley on November 25, 1953 when the host nation was humbled for the first time at home by Hungary, the Mighty Magyars.

When Jackie was transferred to Sheffield Wednesday from Notts County in 1951 for £34,500, he was the most expensive signing in English football.

He had started his career at County and was a key member of the team which won the Third Division South title in 1949/50. With the club, he scored 97 goals in 178 league appearances.

It was after signing for Wednesday that he won his six England caps and, in 175 games for the Hillsborough club, he scored another 92 goals in four years.

He joined Aston Villa in December 1955 for £20,000 and clocked up another 23 first-team appearances, scoring 36 goals. He was a member of the 1957 FA Cup-winning team.

His final port of call in England was Hull City, where he spent two years before announcing his retirement in 1961. He played 44 times for the Tigers and scored eight goals.

Jackie then moved to Northern Rhodesia and became player-coach for City of Lusaka FC, and later coached in Zimbabwe and the Belgian Congo before returning to England and settling again in Nottingham.

He was actually one of the few players to represent two different countries as he made 10 appearances for Zambia between 1964 and 1965, scoring seven goals – aged in his late thirties.

Current Notts County director Aileen Trew said: “Jackie always had a huge, huge love for Notts County and it really showed when he talked about it.

“He was always welcome, not only as one of our great former players, but as a person as well.”

Sewell scored against the Hungarians to make it 1-1 and 60 years on, in an interview recalling the 6-3 defeat, said: “It was as if they had the ball on a piece of string. We had seen nothing like it.

“It’s not my favourite memory from playing but I’m glad that I was part of history.”