Denaby Utd – Worksop Town 2 Denaby 1 – United not Disgraced

January 1966

South Yorkshire Times January 29 1966

Denaby United not Disgraced by Cup Defeat at Worksop

Worksop Town 2 Denaby United 1

It wasn’t an attractive game at Central Avenue on Saturday when, for the third successive time, Denaby United went down fighting to a powerful, if inconsistent, Worksop Town side.

The last time they met, Denaby and Worksop were both in the Midland league – Denaby at the bottom, Worksop halfway down – and United lost 3-6.

It was something of a surprise then that on Saturday Denaby should emerge from the comparative gloom of the Yorkshire League Second Division to give as good as they got to a team second in the Midland league in this grim, foggy Sheffield Senior Challenge Cup game.

It may have been largely Worksop’s fault, but Denaby were always in with a chance. You had to admire their grit and determination in plugging away vital to the final whistle

Offside Appeals

Worksop had a 1-0 lead at half-time. There had been some heated offside appeals when Bell, in the 12th minute, had pushed the ball wide of Hyde, but at this stage Denaby themselves didn’t look like penetrating the Worksop defence, their midfield efforts collapsed time after time.

There were more offside appeals as an ominous thump out of the fog heralded Worksop second again from Bell after 55 minutes. But eight minutes later centre forward Caunt, now moving forward after a defensive first half, thrashed the ball through the Town defence to Phillips. The young inside left hit the ball hard passed Crawford in gave Denaby new heart

United’s tackling became crisper and their attacks more mobile. It was a near thing when in the 70th minute , when Crawford just managed to fingertip a fine 20 yard shot from Denaby left half Collins over the bar. Time ran out on Denaby, who left the field defeated but certainly not disgraced.

Teams and ratings:

Worksop: Crawford 8; Sullivan 7, Robinson 7; Sanderson 7, Lohan 8, Whitton 7; Sawyer 8, Best 7, Bell 8, Leadbetter 7, Jenkinson 7.

Denaby: Hyde 8; Dodd 7, Cox 8; Whant 7, William 7, Colin 7; Smith 7, Foster 7, Caunt 7, Phillips 8, Kingston 7.

Referee: Mr, a. R. Rawson (Sheffield) 7,