Brownsword, being rather on the short side at only 5ft. 8in. for a full back, made up for this with incisiveness and speed, coupled with all round manoeuvrability, he was a tough tackling full back few wingers got the better of him.
On being asked who was the best player he ever played agains, he would reply: Stanley Matthews.
One match in which Brownsowrd played against Matthews, is still talked about to this day and stands out in Scunthorpe folklore. It was played at the Old Showground on January 7 1961.
The Iron had been paired with First Division Blackpool in the FA Cup third round. Talk was of the legendary Matthews,a veteran of English football whose skills could still make the ball talk.
At kick-off time 19,303 had packed into the ground, and the teams lined up as follows:
Scunthorpe: Jones, John, Brownsword, Gibson, Horstead, Sharpe, Middleton, Godfrey, Thomas, Bonson and Bakes.
Blackpool: West, Armfield, Garrett, Kelly, Gatrix, Salt, Matthews, Mudie, Charnley, Parry and Perry.
Once the game got under way the players responded to the atmosphere. Brownsword was not giving Matthews an inch of space, and only had a break when Stan briefly left the pitch to change his boots.
In the middle Barry Horstead was enjoying a commanding performance. Only 10 minutes had been played when Thomas put Bonson clear in front of goal, and the Iron stole the lead. This prompted Blackpool to demonstrate their skills.
Jacky Mudie slipped the Iron back lines for a shot to equalise, then big Ray Charnley drilled home another goal just before half time.
Within sixty seconds of the restart another Thomas to Bonson exchange saw United equalise. Minutes later the noise was enough to burst the eardrums. Thomas shot, but as it went wide Bonson lunged out a leg and diverted it into the net.
At 3-2 Middleton moved out to the flank and gave Thomas more freedom to roam the box. Thomas responded with two lightning flashes in three minutes and the Iron were 5-2 up.
The rout was completed virtually on time when another Thomas thunderbolt gave him a fully deserved hat trick. Matthews was completely marked out the game by Brownsword who shadowed him for the whole of the game, and he seldom got the better of the full-back in future games they played.
It as been suggested that a few years later that when Matthews was at Stoke, and playing Scunthorpe, Stanley was not playing. Jack asked the replacement why the old man was not playing to which he got the response: “He was until he saw your name on the teamsheet!” Brownsword described that as the “ultimate compliment”.
Bill Shankly described Brownsword as "the best full back never to play for England" . More than one club tried to tempt him away from Scunthorpe , but he preferred to stay with the Iron.
“ I can only think of two wingers who have given me trouble with their speed and, coincidentally, they both played for Portsmouth- Peter Harris, the old England man, and John McClelland, who reached Fratton Park after spells with Manchester City , Lincoln City and Queen’s Park Rangers.” - Brownsword
Manchester City were very keen to secure his services, when they were a First Division club and represented the more luxurious side of football, but it was no use, he did not want to leave. City were not the only club who were disappointed by his refusal to leave Scunthorpe, but the thought that he might win honours with a more fashionable team did not bother him either: he was happy at Scunthorpe.
Brownsword was an all important member of the record breaking 1957/58 team, which won the Third Division North championship.
He also played his part in the great FA Cup run the team had, winning the Sunday Pictorial Giantkillers Trophy for the work the team accomplished in beating Newcastle United 3-1, in the fourt round Cup at St.James Park. Newcastle having been three times winners of the Cup during the fifies.
The game was watched by 39,407 spectators, on January 25 1958, and the teams lined up as follows: -
Newcastle: Simpson, McKinney , McMichael, Schouler, Paterson , Franks, Hughes, Hall, White, Eastham and Mitchell.
Scunthorpe: Hardwick, Sharpe, Brownsword, Marshall, Horstead, Bushby, Marriott, Waldock, Davis, Haigh and Jones.
An army of 70 workers cleared tons of snow off the St. James Park pitch and at 1.45pm on the Saturday, it was eventually passed fit for play, much to the relief of the 3,000 travelling Scunthorpe fans.
It soon became apparent that Newcastle were none too comfortable on a pitch which was a mixture of ice, water, mud and snow.. Scoular and Mitchell were indeed shackled while Ronnie Simpson had a nightmare in the home goal and Alf Michael was given the runaround by the speedy Marriott. Only Gordon Hughes, on the Newcastle right, looked threatening but he was slowed by a first-half injury. Whereas Scunthorpe opted to spread the play with long, diagonal passes, Newcastle were too slow in mounting attacks, allowing Scunthorpe time to get men behind the ball.
The writing was on the wall as early as the 25th minute when Ron Waldock surged through the mud to slide the ball under Simpson, only to see his effort disallowed for offside. Then, on the stroke of half-time, Scunthorpe took the lead. Marriott’s corner was met by the leaping Jack Haigh and, although his header appeared to lack the necessary power, it eluded Simpson’s belated dive.
Within five minutes of the restart, Newcastle were level. Mitchell made his one positive contribution to the match by winning a corner which he took himself. When it came over, centre-half Bill Paterson, a £22,000 signing from Doncaster , knocked it in. Scunthorpe full-back Jack Brownsword hooked it clear but the referee judged that it had just crossed the line. Newcastle ’s joy was short-lived, however. Five minutes later, Eric Davis, released by Plymouth the previous summer, beat Bill McKinney to head in Marshall’s centre with Simpson hopelessly stranded.
Scunthorpe’s cut-price heroes were in no mood to surrender their hard-won advantage. Three times Haigh had to receive attention but he insisted on continuing. With 15 minutes remaining, Davis put the seal on Scunthorpe ’s most famous triumph. Paterson missed Jone’s cross and Davis capitalised on the error to shoot past Simpson. Davis celebrated the goal with a Maori war dance, an early variation on doing the lambada with the corner flag.
“This remains my most memorable match, we stayed overnight before the match was played and it started to snow. Really we should not have played it, in my opion the pitch was unfit, but obviously we were delighted the game went on” - Jack Brownsword
United fielded the same team for the next round, the fifth, but were beaten 1-0 by Liverpool at the Old Showground. They also set a number of club records on the way to the title in 1957/58 which still stand today: 15 consecutive league games undefeated, [equalled in 1971/72], most league goals in a season 88, most points in one season 66, [when two points for a win was awarded, and reaching the F.A.Cup fifth round for first time [equalled in 1969/70].