Mexborough & Swinton Times, November 18, 1911
Denaby at Sheffield
Sheffield United Reserves 5 Denaby United 0
The very dickens is in Denaby. Apparently, they can do nothing right. They lost 5-0 at Bramall Lane, and brought their adverse goal average up to absurd proportions, and yet we are told that in the first half they were equally as good as were Sheffield United Reserves, who were lucky indeed to get one in. Exactly the opposite state of things prevailed at the first meeting at Denaby where young Shepherd had a gruelling and saw seven go past him in the first half, while he kept his goal intact throughout the second.
Here at Bramall Lane, where Denaby have never done particularly well at any time, Denaby put up a spirited defence in the first half, and cracked up like a rotten nut in the second. What is the meaning of the parable? The football is there.
The Sheffielders were convinced of that in the first half when Denaby played like a winning side.