South Yorkshire Times November 22, 1958
Surprise of the Tie: Athletic Were so Uninspiring
But Denaby Never Looked Like Scoring in Cup Match
Denaby United 0, Oldham Athletic 2
THE ghosts of yesteryear must have been abroad at Tickhill, Square on Saturday for more than one old Denaby United supporter. What that wonderful forward line of Duggan, Lambert, Martin, Egan and Holmes might have done to this uninspired, uninspiring Oldham Athletic!
Beaten 2-0 in this first F.A. Cup first round appearance since 1932, United never looked to have the beating of these tall, hefty Lancastrians.
Ayre might just, perhaps, have turned the tide had he not lifted over the crossbar that potential equaliser to THOMPSON’S 44th minute goal, but no blame for Denaby’s defeat is laid at his door, It was one of those things. When I HOMPSON scored his second goal after 62 minutes it was all over.
The only speculation thereafter is whether Oldham would score again: sadly, Denaby never looked like scoring.
Oldham looked a truly ” high and mighty ” side by comparison with United—notably the defence—and this obvious height and weight advantage, coupled with United’s forward line ineptitude, set a ‘problem to which Denaby never found the answer.
Dull Scrambling
A good deal of early ” sizing up ” was reflected in dull, end to end ‘ scrambling in which Swaby and Bunclark between them forced the first of the three corners of the match and Hankin essayed a long shot which sailed over the Oldham bar.
But dangerous balls from, Phoenix and Bazley offered a hint of the pattern of the game. Almost entirely the initiative lay with Oldham and, poor as they were, they had that method which United lacked and It was always on the cards that if a goal came it would be via Bazley, Chaytor, Duffy, Hall and Phoenix.
What, in fact, happened, was that left-half Thompson suddenly moved up to inside left and Hall fell back into defence. As Miller was giving Duffy so little rope it was a move that certainly paid off for it was Thompson who gave Oldham the inestimable boost of a first half goal, a minute before half time and it was he who added the second goal after 17 minutes in the second half. Neither was a spectacular goal—but they served.
Two comparatively invigorating chases by Bunclark, in one of which goalkeeper Teece just beat him to the ball, falling on to it in the goalmouth, and a couple of snap shots by Hankin before the defence could get to grips with him, were the Denaby incidents of note this half and commendation goes to Bedford and Williams for thoughtful positioning and timely clearances and to Smethurst for one typically ” flying trapeze ” save from Duffy.
Low, Hard Shot
Pilkington stormed into Oldham territory at the commencement of the second half, but quickly Oldham returned to their erstwhile role and by way of warning Bazley whipped in a low, hard shot that flashed only narrowly wide. Then out of the blue Swaby raced for a long ball down the middle, outpacing Taylor, stride for stride.
The crowd roared, but as the centre-forward flicked the ball goalwards Teece partially intercepted and as it bounced in the goalmouth it was promptly pounced on before Swaby could get back to do anything with it.
It was the first real threat. — Pilkington, still trying to infuse power into the forward line, gave Ayre a ball which the winger received -at a very oblique angle to the goalmouth and the best he could do under the circumstances was to smash a shot into the side net. The best chance was to come to I him later. He took it excellently, but he was too close in to the Oldham goalmouth and the first time shot went over the top with Teece well off the premises, His own mortification was only too plain to see.
Whether it would have made any difference is a matter for speculation. Personally, I doubt it, for \ I only a few minute s later came Thompson’s second goal.
For the record, both Bazley and Duffy had the ball into the net on separate occasions, but the goals were disallowed for offside. In Bazley’s case it was Duffy, himself, who was offside—the ball hit Duffy and was returned to Bazley.
And so is written the end of another chapter in Tickhill Square football history.
Our Tickhill Square Ratings
THE “South Yorkshire Times” sports staff were asked by the “News Chronicle” to provide the match ratings for the Denaby United-Oldham Cup-tie on Saturday. Here they are:
Skill: Denaby 5, Oldham 6; Entertainment 5; Sportsmanship 9; Control 9.
Denaby: Smethurst 7; Williams 5, Bedford 6 Pilkington 5, Miller 5 Friel 6; Bunclark 5, Hankin 7, Swaby 5, Allott 5 Ayre 6.
Oldham: Teece 6; Naylor 6, West 5; Hobson 5, Taylor 6, Thompson 8; Bazley 7, Chaytor 7, Duffy 6, Hall 6, Phoenix 6.
Referee: Mr. K. Stokes (Nottingham).
The official attendance was 3.807.