Cobbold's other great attribute was his speed. In his prime he was a considerable sprinter, his obituary in "The Times" recalling: "Who that ever saw him speeding away down Parker's Piece will ever forget it? He was extraordinarily hard to stop and extremely fast." Although in essence a one-paced player, lacking the ability – so conspicuously displayed by Stanley Matthews – to stop, start and accelerate, Cobbold nonetheless possessed the exceptional ball control required to make him a most daunting opponent. "No man that ever played," wrote Pickford and Gibson, "could control the ball so effectively as Cobbold could when travelling at full speed... was inimitable, the finest and fastest dribbler the Association game has known."