South Yorkshire Times, April 2nd, 1960
Nothing Ding Dong in Rivals’ Meeting
Gainsborough Trinity, 0; Denaby United, 0.
The Gainsborough Trinity-Denaby United match on the Northolme was to have been a ding-dong battle between “old rivals,” and a meeting of “old friends.” The old friends were there—George Davey and Geoff Lees (both ex-Trinitarians) but there was nothing ding-dong about it.
In fact, for the 800 fans who turned up in biting cold weather to see this late kick-off match, it was one of the dullest seen on the Northolme this season.
The score-line was fair, neither side looked like scoring—but then again neither side really deserved the point they got for their half-hearted displays.
Shaky Defences
But, not as one would expect looking at the score-line, defences were not on top. In fact both were shaky with the exceptions of Den-ubyte centre-half Howard Johnson, and his opposite number, Norris. Trouble was that the forwards could not take advantage of the chances presented them. Gainsborough had more opportunities than Denaby, but Davey, in goal, easily accounted for those.
Sanderson, Gainsborough’s inside-right, was the main offender as far as shooting goes. He missed a simple chance after only three minutes, when he jumped for a centre from Hungarian leader, Haas, but went into the net without the hall. Minutes later he ballooned the ball over the bar from close range.
For Denaby, Shaw placed his free-kick (23 minutes) well, but goalkeeper, Hatton, was also well placed and saved a dangerous situation.
Shaw Goes Close
Centre-forward, Shaw, almost put Denaby in front after half-an-hour when he drove in from just inside the penalty area, but again Hatton saved, tipping the shot round the post. From the resultant corner, Shaw headed in, but Rodgers headed off the line.