United Deserved their Ossett Point

Ossett Town 2 Denaby United 2

Denaby United made the best of a bad job on Saturday to salvage a valuable Yorkshire League point from the mud bath that at Ossett they call a football pitch.

The shocking ground conditions – water inches deep and the barest of facilities for players or spectators – plus some puzzling and hotly disputed decisions by referee Mr P Hale of Southampton, give the whole business an unpleasant taste.

And that fact was very unfortunate, for both sides produce extremely good, fighting football, with Denaby at first all at sea in the sticky slosh, but finally finding their sea legs to pull back a two-goal deficits through Kelly in the 57^th minute and Caunt (penalty) after 75 minutes.

Denaby inside left Caunt was unlucky to come away was only one goal after a storming performance that produced a series of shots good enough to beat all but the best keepers – and Ossett’s Livesey was as good as they come in the Yorkshire League.

Early Goal

Ossett proved quite a handful in the first half. They were willing to shoot on sight and produced the right brand of fast, forceful football to get results in conditions like these. So in the third minute they slipped the doubtful Denaby cover and Ellis pushed the ball home from Fish’s cross.

The Denaby forwards were taking only half the chances they set up for themselves and had cause to regret it when after seven minutes of the second half Ellis was there to chip in a Fish shop that rebounded out off the post.

Denaby centre forward Kelly was coming more into things now and after 57 minutes pounced as Livesey mishandled a Toyne cross.

Penalty Reply

The penalty from which Caunt scored remains as much a mystery as various other decisions – and sometimes a lack of them – from the centre; but at least it produced a fairer result. Despite their shortcomings in the first half, Denaby had at least shown their ability to fight back against the odds and adapt themselves to conditions more suitable for frogs than footballers.

Team: Collingwood 7, Whant 6, Cox 6; Collins 7, Dalton 6, Williams 7; Kelly 7, Smith 7, McKay 6, Caunt 8, Toyne 6