South Yorkshire Times, October, 11th, 1969.
Denaby United 2 Heeley Amateurs 0
If every match in the Yorkshire League campaign was limited to 15 minutes each way with a half hour break in the middle, then Heeley would probably trouble the best.
As it is, they have limitations which Denaby ruthlessly exposed at Tickhill square on Saturday to gain their eleventh point this season.
Four helpings of treacle pudding could not have slowed Heeley as successfully as 45 minutes of football did, leading to a second half farce in which Denaby threw everything into attack; but the dressing room sink, and yet emerged with a solitary goal.
But at this stage of the season with Denaby hoping to have attained a key position by Christmas, let us not worry too much about how the points are gained. Player-manager Harold Sapey, for one, will not mind if the victories are all as easy as this one.
Denaby were without key striker John Royston whose lethal brand of opportunism was sadly missed, for although the scoreline reads 2-0, it ought to have been 7-0.
Heeley’s football lacked any authority, their tackling was at times non-existent, and by the second half they had completely given up all hope of equalising a goal from Denaby schemer Roger Willey, scored after half an hour.
HIGHLIGHT
This, the highlight of a drab first half, was a gem of a shot out of the blue from the classy schemer. From outside the box he fired in a drive which gave ‘keeper Taylor little chance, ricocheting from the underside of the crossbar into the net.
Denaby underlined their superiority in the second period with Sapey producing several incisive runs upfield, and the tenacious young Allen spurring his forwards on, and while ‘keeper Whitehead chewed the cud leaning on a goal post, the Denaby attack gave a lesson in how not to score goals.
Time and again the opportunity was created, but the chance wasted by poor finishing or a lack of urgency, and the crowd must have despaired of ever seeing a goal until Sumpner finally clinched the points with ten minutes to go.
The blonde inside forward created the chance himself, saw it lost, then scrambled the ball home when England crossed low from the left wing.
The final whistle put an end to an unsatisfactory match, and leaves Harold with a problem to bring home to his team the fact that superiority counts as nothing when the points are added up. It’s the goals that count.
Teams:- Denaby Utd: Whitehead(K.), Wiggles, Tonye, Allen, Bennett, Whitehead(P.), Sapey, Willey, Morely, Sumpner, England.
Heeley Amateurs: – Taylor, Green, Thompson, Reading, Bond, Noble, Mallinson, Mansell, Shepard, Peacock, Clewes.