South Yorkshire Times – Friday 31 August 1934
Speed Counts
Denaby Outpaced At Home
Denaby 1, Boston 2
Boston, one of the clubs who have been in the doldrums of late, brought a team to Denaby on Monday which, with very few adjustments, should ensure a satisfactory position for them in the Midland League this season. To say that Denaby were outplayed would be to overstate the case, though there were one or two periods when it looked suspiciously as if they would be. It will be sufficient here to say that Boston fully merited their 2-1 win by reason of superior speed and opportunism.
Frank Bungay, who was doing this sort of thing for Mexboro’ not many seasons ago, flicked a centre from Marshall, the former Grimsby player, over Astle’s head to score a delightful goal for Boston within 30 seconds of the start. This early success was a rare tonic for the visitors and they continued to attack at a furious pace. They were yards faster on the ball, man for man, than Denaby. Marshall and Munnings swept up the respective wings and bombarded the Denaby goal area with centres which Bungay and Dean did their utmost to improve upon. That more goals did not accrue in the early stages of the game was due to the stalwart work of Matt Taylor, quite Denaby’s most impressive player on the day. With Cringan, the former Birmingham player, now Boston’s player-manager, directing operations from the centre-half position, the visitors more than held their own, though when Denaby broke away there was a hint of weakness at full-back, Ellis being uncertain in his too frequent back passes to the goalkeeper. Denaby settled down to a more effective display as the game progressed and Eagle in the Boston goal only saved his charge by exceptional agility and alertness on more than one occasion. However it was Boston who got the next goal, BUNGAY converting a well placed corner by Marshall just before the interval. Five minutes from time HUCK, who had previously made a glaring miss when he tried to screw the ball in with the Boston ’keeper on the ground, scored Denaby’s goal, but though the home team had rather the better of the last 20 minutes they could not find a way through a defence in which Cringan, Baxter, Ellis and Eagle all distinguished themselves.
The result of this early game under “cricket conditions” on a rough, dry ground, need not be taken as a serious reflection on the team Mr. Percy Harrison has built up. Speed will come with more training, and the defence at any rate should knit together into as sound a one as the club have ever had, with the added virtue of more constructive ability in the half-back line. Burkinshaw made many good passes down the middle and was always trying to make openings. The less experienced Crossley suffered through his praiseworthy efforts to do the same thing. He has not yet become acclimatised to the eager pace of the Midland League game, and must learn to tackle more decisively and recover more quickly. His constructive skill is bound to be an asset to the side, however. Smith played his usual sound game on the other flank, and Astle was quick and clever in goal, but only Burbanks of the forwards was seen in a really good light.