First Defeat

Hot Stuff At Scunthorpe

At Scunthorpe, Denaby met the stiffest opposition they have encountered this season and had to do it, unfortunately, without Seth King and Adams. King, who was off through bereavement, was replaced at centre-half by Rigby, and Ilagg came in at inside-left for Adams, who was still unfit after the injury received in the Boston match.

Scunthorpe deserved their 3-0 win but a good deal of merit was shown by Denaby’s weakened side. At times their quick-moving attack, led by Hinchliffe, had the Scunthorpe defence in a tangle, but they missed glorious chances—two in the first quarter hour by Hinchliffe, who gave Scunthorpe plenty of trouble throughout. He continually plied his colleagues with well-judged passes. Aistrup did not control the ball too well and Denaby did their best work in the first half, Hinchliffe and Potter keeping the team well together. Under the circumstances they combined admirably, but King’s absence was obviously felt.

After twenty-five minutes Denaby left the Scunthorpe defence standing, but Hinchliffe, at only ten yards, shot wide with only the goalkeeper to beat. Denaby’s bad luck continued. In the next few minutes Smalley dribbled through, beat three defenders and gave Scunthorpe the lead with an exceptional goal. The Denaby defence did good work but from an opening made by Reed and Smalley three minutes before the interval, Mills put Scunthorpe further ahead.

Scunthorpe opened the second half aggressively but the Denaby defenders were quick to the tackle and allowed the attackers little scope. Scunthorpe were never very dangerous in this half and developed a more robust style which caused the quality of play to suffer. An improved Denaby attack troubled Scunthorpe, and the team put in a great effort in the later phases of the game. They went very near scoring on several occasions, Mills got Scunthorpe’s third goal just before the end.

The better team won, but the margin of victory was governed by luck rather than the comparative merits of the teams.