Mexborough & Swinton Times, December 30
Midland League
Frickley Irrepressible
Six Goals Margin at Denaby
Another Lawson Triumph
Denaby Utd 1, Frickley Col. 7
There´s only one verdict to this Christmas Day march: Frickley were six goals the better side. Territorially Denaby had threequarters of the ball but against a strong Frickley defence they might have fought all afternoon in vain. Wright had Wildsmith were most in the picture, the centre-half particularly Brannan, in goal, played a very steady game, and the rest of the defence was equally dependable. Denaby pierced this cast-iron in the first minute of the second half. It was a snap header by GIBBS from a bunch of jostling players in the Frickley goalmouth that did the trick. Their other sorties were pieced together in the right fashion, but they never showed the same smooth running team-work of the Frickley players.
The First Goal
HANCOCK struck the first blow for Frickley after two minutes of the game had gone. Then McKenzie went near for Denaby and Gibbs put over a centre which Ardron headed into Davis put over another which dropped on top of the Frickley bar. Then Johnson found himself with the ball in midfield and made a solo effort which was rounded off with wide shot. During more closely than his shadow, and the Denaby centre-half and Attwell, who also played a fine game, broke up many Frickley attacks. Lawson occasionally broke loose but he was rarely dangerous, until a gilt-edged opening came his way – then he scored! Wright (Denaby left-half) cleverly won the ball in a tackle downfield but dallied in parting with it and lost it. It was swung away and LAWSON through harassed by two Denaby backs, sped for goal like a shot from a gun. The ball might have been fastened to his toe with a small length of elastic as he manoeuvred for position and within a few yards of goal beat Gibson all ends up. This was after 39 minutes.
Promised Revival
Gibbs promised revival with his early goal in the second half, but a minute and a half later Hancock made the running for a third Frickley goal by BURTON, the winger meeting a cross-goal centre to push it into the back of the net. The only incident of note before the avalanche came was when Davis made a clever run for goal and saw his shot pushed out by Brannan. A second shot from the Denaby forward line was cleared by Ford, and in an ensuing tussle Davis was brought down in the “Box”. Bratley took the penalty kick – and missed. Brannan pushing out a low ground shot. After 13 minutes Burton made the running for another opportunist goal by LAWSON, and 12 minutes later the Frickley centre-forward almost broke the net with a gem to complete a hat trick. After 36 minutes he got a fourth (and Frickley´s sixth) with a fine solo effort, and five minutes before the end Burton “made” him his fifth with a run down the wing, slipping across a perfectly placed centre for the Frickley leader to convert.
And so came the end. This was another personal triumph for Lawson, who indeed treated a good crowd to an entertaining exhibition of marksmanship. But the whole team played good football – particularly the forward line. They were good value for victory.