South Yorkshire Times – Saturday 07 January 1961
Inside-Right Smith’s Nine in Massacre of Shirebrook
Denaby United Hit the “Top Twenty” in Fantastic Victory
An absolute massacre which developed into a pathetically farcical representation of soccer puts into a nutshell Denaby United’s staggering 20-0 defeat of Central Alliance opponents, Shirebrook Miners’ Welfare on Saturday.
It was as if Denaby had deliberately chosen twenty goals as their target—and then went along and scored them, almost casually, in their own time. They were obviously a far more polished, far more experienced side, but it required no brilliant display of football tactics to grind the struggling Shirebrook into the Tickhill Square mud.
The visitors attacking—such as there was—was ragged, third rate stuff and Denaby’s police cadet goalkeeper, Whitehead, who was making his second senior side appearance, had the easiest afternoon he is likely to get this season.
The Shirebrook defence was no better. A completely unco-ordinated line-up showed only half-hearted attempts at keeping the attackers at bay, and the only player who showed any spirit at all was goalkeeper Jelf, who, after keeping his slate clean for the first 35 minutes with little assistance from his half backs and full backs, collapsed completely against the second half storm which produced 17 goals—to top them in the space of twenty minutes. By the time referee W. Keyworth blew for time, Jelf must have been a very weary and bitter man.
Highest in Their History?
Denaby United’s astounding 20-0 victory over Shirebrook Miners’ Welfare on Saturday gave the former Midland League club their highest number of goals in a single match in living memory. When the two clubs first met earlier in the season, Denaby were leading 8-1 when the match was abandoned because of bad weather conditions.
If any of our readers can recall a match in which Denaby scored more than 20, the Sports Editor will be pleased to hear from them.
Three-Nil at Half-Time
Nomination for Denaby’s man-of-the-match must certainly go to their wiry inside right Smith, who scored no fewer than nine of the goals. He opened after 35 minutes of missed chances and then got the second only a few minutes before left winger Swaby brought the half time tally up to 3-0.
The second half must have been the most fabulous, fantastic 45 minutes witnessed at Tickhill Square for years. SMITH scored another seven; SWABY another two; SLATER and KING added three each and SAPEY added a couple. With only a minute to go the score was 19-0. “Make it twenty” roared the delighted crowd and with hardly any opposition from the defenders a grinning Smith obliged.
“Twenty-nil! Certainly a popular ‘Top Twenty’ for the fans and a useful figure for the ‘goals for’ column in the League table. But the game was far too one sided to be a classic, and Denaby could hardly expect to pull off such a feat against a club of the old Midland League standard.
For the statistically minded, here are times and scorers of each of the individual goals: Smith (35), Smith (40), Swaby (44), Slater (50), Smith (52), Swaby (57), King (60), Smith (62), Sapey (63), Slater (65), Smith (67), Swaby (69), Smith (70), Sapey (75), Smith (78), King (80), King (82), Smith (84), Slater (86), Smith (89).
Teams—
Denaby—Whitehead; Whant, Collinson; Hirst, Johnson, Robbins, Saper, Smith, King, Slater, Swaby.
Shirebrook—Jelf; Brown, Marrow; Collier, Buttress, Brocklehurst; Welsh, Hopkins, Seebone, Doyle, Harston.
Referee—Mr. W. Keyworth (Leeds).