Mexborough and Swinton Times March 26, 1926

A Futile Afternoon
Poor Marksmen at Denaby.

Denaby United 0 Newark 0

Denaby United and Newark spent 90 futile minutes in trying to score goals on the Denaby ground on Saturday.

Frankly, only two efforts deserved goals. The first was a shot by Skeels fairly early in the second half which beat everyone, but hit the upright and rebounded into play: and the other was near the finish where Allen made a hard, low shot at the towering Winfield, who had dealt with ridiculous ease with the remainder of the Denaby shots, directed high as they were. But his first low shot of power nearly caught him napping – it did catch him napping, many of the opposing spectators firmly believe. He let the ball slip through his hands, but recovered quickly smuggled it away. The Denaby players nearly mobbed the referee, in their eagerness to convince him that the ball had been over the line, but he had made up his mind to the contrary.

A goalless draw was, perhaps, a fair reflection of the quality of the fowards finishing. But judging on the balance of play Denaby should have won by many goals. They attacked almost continuously in the first half with the wind behind them; and, in the second half, though Newark took a slightly bigger part, they never threatened to shake the steady Denaby defence.

The halfbacks were the dominating people in a game in which neither set of forwards was ever allowed to develop teamwork. The Denaby attack was weakly led, though both Pearson and Fawdon had a try at the job, and Thompson made use of the ball when he got it. Skeels was not so well used as usual. They Newark attack never got properly working, for though Panther was an industrious and scheming leader, his wings could not get the better of the Denaby wing half backs.

The Denaby attack, though well supported by the halves in many a sustained assault, simply could not get the ball under control, and the shooting of Belsize was extremely poor. Winfield’s great reach certainly made several shots from the Denaby frontline appear trivial things, but even allowing for that one has to find the Denaby forwards guilty of serious weakness in their finishing.

As a team Denaby were reasonably superior. Bisby was the coolest and most effective player of the 22, his anticipation and clearances marking him once more as a rapidly developing player. We doubt if there is a more polished defender in the district at present, among the Midland League clubs.

Teams: –

Denaby United: Bromage; Ogley, Bisby; Croot, Riley, Windle; Thompson Fawdon, Pearson, Allen, Skeels.

Newark: Winfield; Gamble, Dallison; Lindley, Lumley, Spray; Watson, Smith, Panther, Dwane, Whitehead.