Frickley – the better side – win FA Cup thriller against Denaby

Frickley 3, Denaby United 2

This is certainly Frickley’s best season! There are surely not many occasions in the club’s history when they have defeated their neighbours and traditional bogie team, Denaby United, twice in one season, but they accomplished it on Saturday and still have a chance of completing a “hat-trick.”

Nobodyl could quibble at Frickley’s 3 – 2 defeat of Denaby at Westfield Lane in an FA Cup tie, except perhaps, to argue that better use of their second-half chances would have given Frickley a more convincing win.

Bumper Gate

As was expected, the game attracted a bumper gate with a large contingent from Tickhill Square providing plenty of vocal support for Denaby. They all obviously expected the match to be a thriller, and they were not disappointed. With Frickley failing to supplement their slender one goal lead, the possibility of Denaby’s snatching the match out of the fire and at least forcing a replay was ever present. The match built itself up into a real climax, in the last 10 minutes, Denaby threw all they had into the attack in an effort to achieve that end, but they made little impression upon Frickley’s defence.

Spectators who, leaving the ground, put the match down as one of the most exciting meetings of the neighbours for a long time, certainly had justification for the claim.

Three times Frickley fought their way into the lead and, on the third occasion, stayed there. It was after the third goal in the 55^th minute Frickley took command of the game for about 20 minutes. In that period frequently only Smethurst, the Denaby goalkeeper, stood between them and more goals, but he was in brilliant form and brought off many spectacular states. Admittedly there were times when he was let down lightly by the Frickley forwards failure to press home their advantage, but they did not detract from the excellence of his performance. That is not put forward in any carping spirit, but just to stress the superiority of the home side.

Denaby rarely matched the fast, open play of their opponents, preferring closer tactics which were often spoiled by the tendency of several players to hold on the ball too long. The match was played in an excellent spirit. There were but one or two occasions when feeling was apparent. Most serious warning recorded by the referee was to Denaby’s heavyweight Barnes, who was also involved in an incident with a spectator as he left the field.

Frickley had the advantage of a lively breeze in the first half and went into the lead after eight minutes. Scattergood put the ball into an open space on the left wing and Hall dashed out to send in a nicely placed centre, which Bainbridge had anticipated was there to shoot pass Smethurst.

Denaby hit back and drew levels somewhat luckilly. Hyde, whose handling of the low ball never inspired confidence, did not gather a shot from Lambert properly and Clarke was at hand to hit the ball home before the goalkeeper had a second opportunity to gather it. The game fluctuated in exciting fashion after that but five minutes from the interval Frickley drew level again when Bainbridge hit a shot into the far corner of the net, well out of the reach of Smethurst.

Offensive repulsed

Immediately after the interval, Frickley were back on the offensive again, but were repulsed and then after five minutes a long clearance sent Denaby racing away. Wright ended a nice run up the left wing with a well-placed centre which found Clarke. With no Frickley defender near him, he was able to beat hide in almost leisurely manner. Frickley were not to be outdone, however, and within five minutes were back in the lead with a goal by Hargreaves.