South Yorkshire Times, May 16th, 1970
Last Gasp Goal Rocks Denaby
Denaby United 2, Lincoln United 3
The Lincolnshire poacher, masquerading under the name of visiting centre-forward Hayes, snatched victory for Lincoln United in the dying minutes of this Yorkshire League game last Thursday.
It was the beginning of the end-of-term blues for Denaby. They never stamped their authority on the game, and only Jimmy Wiggles looked as if he was willing to run himself into the ground. The general air of benevolence reached a peak when Peter Whitehead handled a corner for no apparent reason, and Lincoln wing-half Davis crashed the penalty against the cross-bar.
Denaby took the lead with a gem of a shot from Harold Sapey. England was cutting in from the left when he was tackled and the ball ran loose to Sapey. The Denaby player-manager moved forward a few yards and then unleashed a tremendous drive that left Cooper floundering on his goal line.
On Top
Denaby were on top and with Sapey prompting in midfield looked likely to run up a good win. Lincoln’s short-passing game was going astray, and they were running into the offside trap with alarming regularity.
Wiggles and England worked a great chance for young Ken Bowden, with twenty minutes on the clock, but inexperience saved Lincoln, for the lad passed when a streak of ruthlessness would have nudged him into shooting. Wiggles’ shot was blocked on the line.
The mistake proved costly for Lincoln began to play with more composure, and in Davis and Brumfield they had two good link men. And a solid line of big defenders were able to keep Denaby’s smaller forwards at bay. Peter Whitehead had the misfortune to turn a Brumfield shot into his own goal to give Lincoln the equaliser and just before half-time a lovely move across the park ended with Hayes laying the ball back for Davis to ram in a second.
Fruitless
In the second half Denaby struggled to find the key to the Lincoln defence. It certainly wasn’t through high crosses tried with depressing consistency and headed out with equally depressing consistency. Without big Howard Morley, it was a fruitless pursuit. The equaliser came when Bennett surged up field and laid an inch-perfect pass to Sumpner who slid the ball past Cooper into goal.
But Lincoln were not to be shaken off. and with Hayes running intelligently they pressed for a goal in the last quarter of an hour. It finally came with the referee looking at his watch. Hayes cracked in a fierce drive after Brown had done the spadework
Teams
Denaby United: Whitehead (K), Wiggles, Toyne, Pettit, Bennett, Whitehead (P), Sumpner, Willey, Bowden, Sapey, England. Sub: Reynolds
Lincoln United: Cooper, Portas (G), Basckombe, Davis, Smith (T), Lee, Brown, Brumfield, Hayes, Portas (M), Smith (G), Sub: Bateman.