South Yorkshire Times February 6th 1965
Hit for One Over Eight
Grantham Town 9, Denaby United 1
The last time Denaby Manager Les Cowley visited London Road, Grantham, it was as a goalkeeper, and he left with three cracked ribs. Saturday’s excursion was no less painful for him and his side.
Two factors came into Denaby’s 9-1 defeat; the first their own slowness, the second the skill and deception of Grantham centre-forward Hill, who got, I thought, eight of his side’s goals – some say seven, and give credit for one to inside-left Wood. It matters little.
Hill had the quality of quicksilver. No matter how hard Denaby squeezed, he still popped up, found a gap, eluded centre-half Hinton, who looked unhappy and harassed throughout the game.
HILL scored his first three minutes after the start, a tricky shot which caught Cooke on his knees, and bounced treacherously over his head. His last came eight minutes from the end. In between Hill hit the net in the 26th, 33rd, 47th, 60th, 70th (penalty) and 80th minutes. JOWETT punctuated the sentence in the 56th minute.
STIFF MARKING
The details are irrelevant. They added up to the fact that Denaby were always one and a half moves behind their opponents. In the face of swift marking, and swift tackling, they hesitated . . . and were lost.
To be fair, United could themselves have had four, even five, goals, and that would have been a just reward for their valiant fight. Thompson did well to save Hayden’s 14th minute shot, the best seen from the Denaby forward line in many a match. Smith headed over three minutes later, and hit the bar after 57 minutes. Three minutes after that Harvey and Smith missed the same cross on the line, and Whittaker hit the bar two minutes from time.
As it was, Denaby had to make do with a single well-taken goal from centre-forward HARVEY – he’s played and distinguished himself in almost every position except goalkeeper. He hit into the top of the net three minutes from time.
A word too for left-back Foster, rarely panicked – a cool, thoughtful player. His tackling is precise and scrupulously fair, a rare phenomenon nowadays.
Teams and ratings:
GRANTHAM: Thompson 7, Barnard 7, Akers 7. Jowett 7, Barnard 7, Brown 7, Storrow 7, King 7, Hill 9, Wood 7, South 8.
DENABY: Cooke 6, Wroe 6, Foster 7, Smart 6, Hinton 6, Woodger 6, Smith 6, Hayden 6, Harvey 7, Whittaker 7, Cox 6.
REFEREE: Mr. W. Cockcroft (Manby) 6.