Denaby Utd – Denaby 3 Grantham 0 – Remarkable Victory

28 April 1939

Mexborough and Swinton Times April 28.

Denaby took Three Chances to Win this match.

Denaby United 3 Grantham 0

Denaby United’s remarkable victory over Grantham at Tickhill square on Saturday was, all things considered, pretty comfortably achieved. Pretty convincingly too. There were long spells in the second half when Grantham threatened to wipe out and overwhelm Denaby’s two-goal advantage, the United defenders and an April gale between them staved off what danger there was.

There have been occasions this season in which Denaby forward line has attained this standard, and their reward has been nil. But on Saturday three of their chances were sufficient to earn the full points that have evaded them since so long ago as October of last year.

Radford and Bates were excellent forwards all the way through. So was Senior on the left wing. A high, swirling wind tended to put both lines off their stroke, yet Denaby, curiously enough, scored one of their three goals against it. Which, in view of Grantham’s heavy barrage in the second half, was no mean achievement. Actually, Grantham made much better use of the gale than United, but somehow, when Happs and Williams (at centre half) had been overcome, the Grantham line found the wind carrying their shots narrowly out of danger. Not always, however, for Green often did great work when occasion presented itself.

The man who, perhaps, handled the wind better than anyone, and was brought immediate results for his efforts, was Happs. There was one spell early in the first half when he seemed to be beating Grantham himself.

Hefty Punt.

It was from one of these hefty punts that the first goal resulted. Healy saw the ball coming but could only parry the lob with this thought, and as it bounced into the air L.Williams was there to head it in. That was after 20 minutes. Thereafter Denaby do not always make the best use of the ball (or shoot as often as they might have done), but sufficient encouragement came 5 minutes before half-time when Senior added a second goal for United from a centre from the right wing.

Few Idle Minutes.

There were few idle minutes for the Denaby defence in the second half, but Green would have been busier had it not been for great work by the backs led at centre half by Williams. They kept hard at it and at the satisfaction of seeing Denaby hold onto their lead and L.Williams increased it after 65 minutes play.

Grantham tried hard enough, but never seemed able to find fortune on their side

Record to date:

Played 38 Won 2 Lost 32 Drawn 3 Goals 33 Against 195 Points 8 Position 22 of 22