Mexborough & Swinton Times – Friday 01 December 1933
Barnsley Well Beaten by Denaby
Barnsley Reserves 1 Denaby United 2
The crowd at Oakwell on Saturday were sadly disappointed in the display of the home players, when they lost 2-1 to Denaby United. Denaby’s victory gave them a rise in the league table, while Barnsley went to the bottom. Denaby won fairly easily and a bigger score would have been registered had it not been for the masterful and determined display of Barham, the Barnsley centre-half. He was here, there and everywhere, and when he failed it was left to Rose, in goal, to do his best. He had plenty of work to do and did it well, saving many shots which appeared certain goals.
The reasons for Barnsley’s defeat were that Johnson, their centre-forward, who had been on the injured list, experienced a recurrence of his injury in the first ten minutes and had to figure on the right wing, and the team lacked method and shooting power, while there seemed to be a lack of spirit in many departments. Only three times during the game was the Denaby defence seriously troubled. Fisher, who took over from Johnson, was at times a dangerous raider but he was kept well in hand by Seth King. J. C. Johnson, the former Denaby and Rotherham half-back, played a cool game but was not altogether at home at full-back.
There was not a weak spot in the Denaby team. Each player did his best, and Kirby had little to do owing to the fine defensive play of Taylor and Skelton. The latter appeared a little shaky at the start but recovered. Smith, King and Roberts did good work and always held the upper hand. They kept the forwards well supplied with passes which were rarely wasted. The forward line played with a better understanding than for some time. The return of McLean made a big improvement. Fitzgerald was a hard worker and a great schemer. He had hard lines with one or two shots. Haggar in the middle appeared quite at home. He proved a great opportunist and always kept his wingers on the move. Gilchrist, who was on trial, displayed clever footwork but is still a little slow. Siddall, the most dangerous forward on the field, was never left by Happs or Scott but held his own and several times made Rose go full length to save.
From the start Barnsley went all out, Kirby having to save from Evans. Tate made a fine run on the left to centre for Fisher to give Johnson a fine chance but Fred Smith kicked away the centre-forward’s shot.
After this Denaby settled down to force the pace. King sent the ball out to McLean who should have given Denaby the lead when he ran in and put the ball wide. Again Denaby attacked and Haggar sent out to Siddall, who made a fine run only to shoot over with Rose hopelessly beaten.
At this stage Barnsley had to re-organise their forward line. They were penned in their own half and their defence was hard pressed. After twenty minutes Denaby gained a deserved lead. A centre from McLean led to a misunderstanding between the home backs and Rose, who allowed Haggar to run through and score.
Denaby kept up their attacks to give Rose some anxious moments. Gilchrist sent an overhead pass to Siddall, who made another fine run to centre for McLean to head the second goal.
For a short spell Barnsley attacked. Fisher went close with a hard drive. Kirby smartly held a long shot from Jones. King eased the situation by sending the ball out to Siddall, who after tricking Happs and Scott struck the crossbar with a hot shot.
During the last five minutes of the half Barnsley attacked in force but their efforts were of no avail.
Early in the second half Fisher missed a chance. Denaby got into their stride again and a combined movement by Gilchrist and Siddall ended in the latter hitting the side net. Rose did well to save at the foot of the post from Gilchrist. Rose was called upon to save from Roberts and McLean.
After many attempts Barnsley managed to break through the Denaby defence and appealed for a penalty when King appeared to handle, but the appeal was ignored. In the last ten minutes Barnsley applied full pressure and scored in the last three minutes. Skelton, in attempting to clear, sent the ball against Taylor and it rebounded to the feet of Fisher, who scored with Kirby unsighte