Denaby Thriller

Denaby United 2 Doncaster Rovers Reserves 4

For three quarters of the time this game was a thriller – always fast and colourful in spite of the heavy going and greasy ball. For the first 20 minutes of the second half Doncaster underwent a minor siege by the Denaby forwards, but their defence and the uncertain foothold for accurate shooting help them through it, and in one of their rare breakaways it was Doncaster who forged ahead after the interval score of 2-2. Their fourth goal came from a penalty kick.

The best goals came in the first half. It was a tremendous boost to Tickhill Square enthusiasts when Denaby went ahead in the second minute. A long clearance by Godfrey went out to Burton who rounded Squires and pushed the ball to Moseley, who was better placed to the left of the Doncaster goalmouth. Moseley’s centre was never met by Strachan, who touched it in with Bridgeman at the other end of the net.

Doncaster were lively and combine well, but they found few loopholes at this early stage and there was a good deal of end-to-end play before they equalised. Woodbine making one of his few solo runs, took the ball through to provide an opening for Gregory to score.

The second goal came eight minutes later from a solo run by Marriott.

Denaby equaliser came after 25 minutes. Burton was brought down and the freekick was taken by Attwell. As the ball sailed through Padgett glanced it into the net. Froggatt roused the crowd with some grand work in the Denaby goal before half-time and before the end of this half Denaby were constantly shooting in but to a great extent due to the greasy surface there was little power behind their shots.

For the first 10 minutes of the second of it seemed that Denaby would forge ahead, but in one of Doncaster rare sorties, Squires made a goal for Marriott, who gave them the lead. It was still anybody’s game it was not until 15 minutes from the end that by Croft got Doncaster fourth goal from a penalty. Padgett once had the ball into the net but was blown offside.

Denaby had a very serviceable halfback line in Shephard, Wheat and Atwell. Burton, as usual, never wasted a ball and Moseley was often conspicuous in Denaby’s many sorties. The whole side put in a good deal of attractive football.

Squires stood out in the Doncaster halfback line; Marriot was an energetic leader. Bridgeman got through a good deal of work with conspicuous success in the Doncaster goal.