Sheffield Daily Telegraph – Monday 16 November 1908
Denaby Going Strong.
Denaby United 3 Sheffield United Reserve 0
The visit of Sheffield United Reserve to Denaby saw the home team emerge from an even opening eventually leave the Sheffielders hopelessly “tailed off” in the hunt for points.
Denaby won by three goals to nothing, and the shooting of their forwards was much superior to that of Sheffield, who seldom troubled Hancock with a shot at close quarters. Certainly the defeated were handicapped through the early second half retirement of Mellors, for the lengthy goalkeeper had previously brought off several brilliant saves. But, allowing for his absence, the form of the visitors was patchy, and a long way removed from their standard of previous seasons.
H. Johnson was the pick of the defence, Smith being too easily beaten to be reliable. Shelton and McGuire were good half-backs; but the forwards, of whom Bromage was best, could never get the ascendancy over the Denaby intermediate line, which was really the deciding factor the game. On the whole, Denaby played good football, and the success of Padley, centre-forward, who got two goals, after weeks of clever play without himself finding the net, was almost as popular with the crowd as was the victory itself.