Denaby Utd – Denaby 1 Sutton Town 1 – Well Matched

December 1925

Mexborough and Swinton Times December 18, 1925

Well matched.
Sutton hold their own at Denaby

Denaby United 1 Sutton Town 1

Denaby disappointed a little on Saturday. They did not play a convincing game and Sutton were their equals in every department of the game. A slice of luck and Sutton would have been the 1st to beat Denaby on their own ground this season.

Yet Denaby gave Shaw rather more to do then Sutton gave Bromwich, though both goalkeepers distinguished themselves by one or two splendid clearances. The game was as even a contest as we have seen this season, fought at a fast pace, and with the play swinging merrily from end to end.

Occasionally one side or the other made a storming attack, and sustained it for a few minutes, but the fault of both sides was weak finishing. In the midfield work Sutton adopted the best tactics, kicking the ball hard and employing their wingmen well. The policy of the Sutton halves was to get the ball forward as quickly as possible. Denaby made the mistake of holding onto the ball and manoeuvring for position before passing, and this enabled the Sutton defenders almost always to be in position when the Denaby forward line got moving.

Denaby’s only goal was the result of a departure from this method, a halfback thrusting the ball swiftly forward without loss of time for Stanley Taylor to dash through alone and shoot into the net as Shaw ran out to meet him. This happened four minutes after the interval, during a brief period when Denaby were threatening to develop the opening game that had made Sutton the smartest side in the first half, and were consequently giving the Sutton defence a busy time.

But later Denaby relapsed into their old tip tapping methods, and Sutton, keeping to their fast open rushes got their equaliser through Collier 20 minutes later.

In the last few minutes Denaby roused themselves into a desperate assault. Shaw made one glorious save from Taylor, and did other good things, but Denaby had left it too late.

Earlier in the game Shaw had a big job to hold out the best shot of the first half, from Windle at about 25 yards range, and Bromwich had cleverly turned out a fine shot on the run by Greatorex. But chances were missed by both sets of forwards in either half, particulate good ones being allowed to go begging by Allen, Taylor and Fred Brown from Denaby, and Ramsford and Clark for Sutton.

An interesting feature of the game was display of Fred Brown, the young Beighton forward, who, after a spell with the reserve team, made his first appearance in the Midland league team, Pearson standing down for him. He showed clever footwork, fed his wingers judiciously and was a dashing, spirited player. He should be given further chances. The defence was on the whole good. Though Bisby and Wheelhouse both made blunders. The halves were splendid breakers of the Sutton attacking forces, poorly supported their own forwards because of the fault referred to, upholding the ball instead of getting it forward quickly. The forwards were affected by this and themselves were guilty of the fault. The passing of Denaby was not accurate, and the play of the side contained far too much individualism. Sutton impressed everyone with a very smart, well balanced combination. Strong in defence, and clever forward. But they finish rather weakly at times. Lee is a dangerous winger.

Team: Bromage; Wheelhouse, Bisby, Croot, Windle, Brown (D); Drew, Brown (R), Taylor, Allen, Skeels

Mexborough and Swinton Times December 18, 1925