South Yorkshire Times, October 20th, 1951
Midland Leaguers Meeting in F.A. Cup Prelimary Was Not a Classic
Frickley beat Denaby United with Something to Spare
If Denaby had continued in the way they started at South Elmsall there might have been a much different result. Quicker on the ball, finding their men better, they began as though they would outclass Frickley but their brilliance proved to be a flash in the pan, and Frickley won this F.A. cup preliminary round tie 4-1 (writes Arthur Morley).
Frickley turned the tables before the interval and showing superior opportunism won with something to spare. For Frickley it was their third consecutive success which coming after a runoff defeats, was a tonic for their supporters.
For the 290 Denaby followers the run was a disappointment after their early promise. The game was not a classic. Too much “feeling” crept into it in the second half but there could be no disputing Frickley’s superiority, they did not emulate Denaby’s example of trying to pay “clever” football with the greasy ball on the skiddy surface, but adopted direct methods which were much more suited to the conditions and paid them a dividend.
No individual “Stars”
There were no individual “stars” in the Frickley attack but all the forwards played well and made good use of their chances. Frickley had a strong half-back line and centre-forward Sarson was blotted out by MacDonald, whose opposite number in the Denaby intermediate line, A. Lee, also had a good game. Cooling (right-half) and Showler (outside-right) played well and Harston and Williams were sound backs.
Frickley’s more thrustful methods enabled them to switch from defence to attack mid-way through the first half, and Flynn gave them the lead after 25 minutes. A brilliant goal by G. Benson five minutes later put them in a strong position at the interval. When Rowney reduced the arrears ten minutes from the end Denaby appeared to have a fighting chance, for Frickley had not been so dominant for some time before. A penalty in the next minute converted by Vaux robbed Denaby of any chance they might have had. Their fate was sealed in the last minute when Flynn unmarked on the left wing ran up and centered for Watford to score a fourth goal.
The attendance was 1,812, who paid £119.