Mexborough & Swinton Times – Saturday 01 February 1913
Denaby’s Evil Star
Worksop 4 Denaby United 0
Denaby’s evil star still pursues the team doggedly, and added to their Midland League failures comes a Sheffield Challenge Cup whipping at the hands of Worksop, who have already vanquished them in the Midland League match. Denaby had little to say in Saturday’s cup-tie, for the Worksop forwards were pretty well busy all the time, and seven times got past Heath, only four of the goals being allowed to count, however. Still, a four-nothing defeat by Worksop is not a testimonial on vellum to the all-round capabilities of Denaby, and the visitors must have been a pretty feeble lot. Worksop were a long time before they registered their first legitimate goal. They had a couple of disappointments prior to the opening point which Wright registered, but when they did get going Denaby never had a look in.
Old Worksop Men
Jack Westwood, Denaby’s captain, and an old Worksop man, was absent from the team, as was also Johnny Laing, but on the recent form of these two players the side was not materially weakened. There were three ex-Worksop men in the team, Heath, Blackburn, and Raybould, and of the three Raybould alone did himself credit. Blackburn very much disappointed his former supporters, who had followed his career with interest since he left them to play with Denaby. Glossop, Bradford, and Huddersfield expected much smarter things from the diamond in the rough that was picked up on their ground by Tom Peters, and Dick Dunn, in Denaby’s palmiest days, Raybould and Dudley were the pick of the Denaby front line, who on the whole were given few opportunities of shining, for the Worksop defence kept them all the way.
Three Disallowals
Worksop got the first of their illegitimate goals very early in the game. Hobson’s centre was a regular beauty, well worth a goal, but while Clarke was pushing the ball through Heath was being impeded by another forward, and so the point was very properly disallowed. Worksop went very near in another set of exchanges, when Heath cleared a fine shot from Williams in good style. In the earlier exchanges Worksop did not have matters all their own way, and Dudley put his colleagues in the way of a very easy goal with a capital centre, but the chance was wasted all along the line. Blackburn once made an effort to get through, and was not attended with the best of luck, for Robinson rather luckily turned his shot round the post. Dudley himself had a shot subsequently, but it was saved, and then at the other end we saw Webster getting through for Worksop, but from an obvious offside position. The interval was within measurable distance before Worksop broke their scoring, and then they did so through Wright, who headed the ball home as a result of a mix-up in the Denaby goalmouth, having registered the opening goal. Worksop were not long in finding another to keep it company, and the second point came through Williams, who just on half-time converted a fine centre by Rounds.
Denaby Well Beaten
Further disappointment awaited Worksop, but all the second half, for after Heath had repelled a couple of smart attacks, Wright scored directly from a corner, but this point, for some reason or other, was disallowed. Denaby, however, could not profit by the obvious leniency of the referee, for Worksop kept up a strong and strenuous attack, and never gave Heath a moment’s peace. Denaby certainly had no knowledge of a defensive, but neither of them could do anything. In the final stages, Raybould was pulled up by Bell as he was going well through, and in the second Dudley made a miserable attempt when in a good scoring position. Denaby paid the penalty of neglecting their chances, and Rounds got a fine individual goal, shouldering Jackson aside, and scoring with a capital shot. Clarke, too, outwitted the Denaby backs neatly, but was beaten by the stickiness of the ground as he was preparing to shoot. The same player got in a shot in the next movement, but Heath saved finely. The rest of the game was in Worksop’s favour. Johnson had several good attempts on the Denaby goal, but so were Denaby, for while this was the limit of the scoring, Denaby scarcely ever looked like putting up a serious forward movement. Their best men were Heath, Stainforth, Johnson, and Raybould, and the general standard of the team’s play was much reduced.