Two Penalties Give Denaby United More Points

Denaby United 2 Notts County Reserves 0

T this wo penalty goals by crack marksman Bobby Southall, gave Denaby points in their tussle with Notts County at Tickell Square on Saturday, but a gale like wind blowing from end to end allowed only a minimum of good soccer to be played.

However, the crowd of about 1200 (the attendance was affected by televised afternoon racing) saw a game which was not without incident, including the unusual sight of the referee lying prone on the pitch after being knocked out following a collision with Denaby pivot Barnes.

Taking the full 90 minutes into account, especially the second half, Denaby deserved their win. The first half was devoid of real incident, but United had the ball in the net four times in the second half only two of these being allowed to register, the others being offside. This

United have now played 12 league games and have scored 40 goals with 25 against – total of 17 points. Counting cup and league matches they have obtained 46 goals.

Denaby kicked off against a strong wind with four of their regular first-team men, Hague, Gillett, Egan and Clark, still unfit. In their places were Duggan and Law forming the right spearhead and Roberts (left half) and Cooke (right back). This

It was evident straight from the whistle that the wind would be predominating factor and this was borne out time and again when the ball was blown over the Denaby goal line for goal kicks.

Despite the wind Denaby managed to keep the ball in the County half for long periods and their defence was shaken on more than one occasion when Quicksilver Cliff Martin was in the hunt. Twice he was within inches of scoring when County keeper Wynton fumbled the ball. Playing with the wind United showed up more as the league’s lending scorers’ in the second half and only a minute had elapsed when Lambert had the ball in the net but was ruled offside.

The crowd were not to be disappointed, however, for in the 55^th minute the home team were awarded a penalty for an infringement by Linton, despite strong appeals by most of the County players. Southall made no mistake with the spot kick, crashing the ball hard in high past Linton. Only a few minutes later Southall shot into the net from a freekick but a player was offside. In the 70^th minute Denaby were awarded a second penalty for a foul on Duggan and Southall again blasted the ball home.

Notts leader Cook was through on two occasions but Roberts intercepted the first breakaway and Cooke shot wide the second time after Smethurst had advanced and narrowed the angle.

It was following a goalmouth scramble that 33-year-old referee Bob McLean of Scunthorpe was seen to be lying prone on the ground after apparently colliding with Barnes. When he did not respond to assistance from the players Denaby trainer Jim Pickett ran onto the field and rendered first aid to referee McLean. He was several minutes before he was fit to resume control of the game.