Denaby Utd – North Shields 3 Denaby 0 – Davey Saves United From Heavier Defeat

5 March 1960

South Yorkshire Times, March 5th, 1960

In Top Form in North-East

Davey Saves United From Heavier Defeat

Denaby United can thank Lady Luck and goalkeeper Davey for keeping the North Shields score down to reasonable proportions in the Midland League fixture at Appleby Park, North Shields.

For United were mighty lucky to leave Tyneside only three goals down. The credit for thwarting Shields time and time again goes to Davey who pulled every trick out of the bag to foil the free scoring Robins attack.

No matter whether he had a clear view or was unsighted, Davey knew where to stick his arms and legs to block any stray shots.  The three shots which got past him would have beaten almost any goalkeeper, and certainly if the rest of the team had displayed the same courage and anticipation as Davey, United would have made more of a fight.

Cohesion Lacking

United’s trouble was in attack.  Outside right Sapey proved a forceful and spirited player but the line as a whole lacked cohesion.

Occasionally Nicholson and Slater produced some bright touches, but the bite was missing and consequently too much weight was thrown on an already overworked and harassed defence.

For most of the game, United were under an incessant bombardment and they did extremely well to hold out until the 53rd minute when Dixon scored.

Nine minutes later Watson made it two before Friel squandered a glorious chance of putting United back into the picture. Denaby gained some measure of success with fast tackling but against the lively Shields attack, United panicked too often under pressure.

Five minutes from time, Prior rubbed salt in the wound by converting a penalty kick.

Teams

North Shields: Gray, Chilton, Cook, Elwell; Brennan, McCullough, Ingham, Dixon, Watson, E. Johnson, Prior.

Denaby: Davey, Williams, Collinson, Hirst, Johnson, Bourne, Sapey, Nicholson, Shaw, Slater, Friel.

Referee: Mr. W. Robinson (Darlington).