Derby Spirit Spreads in Lively Grandstand Finish

Denaby United 1, Mexborough Town 1

Denaby United recovered sufficiently from previous weeks to give Mexborough a real fight for a point, but their face-saving goal must have the, regarded as something of a mystery by the large crowd that witnessed a 1-1 result in the Yorkshire League derby at Tickhill Square.

One could say with conviction that the game’s main ingredient was excitement with a capital ‘E’. One man, Roddis, was sent off, two had their names taken, one goal disallowed, and Mexborough conceded a penalty. All this happened in the last fifteen minutes of the game, for previously it had been a remarkably amiable game with none of the crunching tackles that typify a “derby” game.

There were some neat moves and one or two snap shots here and there but above all the midfield work of both teams was a pleasure to watch. Whitaker, Wood, Hall and Toyne played excellent games

Two Shine

Never have I seen ‘Tiger’ Hall and Steve Toyne play better games and their exhaustive efforts for the full 90 minutes were made even better because they had four and five men up front to make the best use of their neat, precision passing.

So the game was set with Mexborough forwards, shaken into full production through player-manager Terry Glossop, plugging away, yet the Denaby defence stood firm. Colin Parker winning out the duel with Howard Morley. Only once did they falter and how utterly stupid it was.

Freddie Jones, playing against his old club, shot on the volley and the ball bouncing three times, beat three Denaby defenders and goalkeeper Smith, who all seemed to leave it for everyone else.

Denaby were by no means impotent and Wood, Launders and Whitaker (2), all had shots turned away by Butler.

Fifteen minutes to go and already Albert Schofield, a new signing from Frickley Colliery, had been crippled, and Pettit was a non-runner in the second half. Mexborough, for the first time in the match, seemed to lose their composure and committed little niggling fouls. Foster had his name taken and previously Denaby’s Ainscough was similarly put in print.

And then with Launders taking a corner kick, Referee Raby blew. Everyone stopped and looked in amazement until he pointed to the penalty spot. Denaby were thrilled, Mexborough were furious and spectators just wondered what it was all about.

CAUNT, with the minimum of fuss in the 80th minute, duly converted

Then came a real grandstand finish and without exaggeration the whistle blew almost as many times as tackles came. Four minutes remained when Rodis felled Cooper, and although it missed the eagle eye of the referee, the linesman was on hand to report the incident and Roddis got his bath four minutes early

Teams and ratings:—

Denaby: G. Smith 6; Wiggles7. Caunt 7; Wood 7, C. Parker & Ainscough 6; Cooper 6, Whittaker 8, B. Parker 7, Pettit 7, Launders 7. (sub. M. Smith 7)

Mexborough; Butler 7; A Rose 6, Roddis 7; Hall 8, Foster 7,: Toyne, 8; Gilbert 7. Schofield 6, Morley 7 7, Glossop 8, Jones 7. °

Referee: Mr. R.E.Raby (Leeds)