Mexborough and Swinton Times November 22, 1935

FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round

Below Par
Denaby’s Disappointing Display
Upset By Early Goal

Scunthorpe 4 Denaby United 1

The Denaby United supporters, who made the journey to Scunthorpe on Saturday in the hope of seeing their team pass on into the first round proper of the competition were sadly disappointed, but, truth to tell, the visitors, after yielding an early goal, never looked like going any further in the competition.

Scunthorpe’s win was well-deserved, but at the same time those who have seen Denaby in some of their earlier games this season realise that the visitors revealed only a glimpse of their true form.

Conditions were against Denaby from the start. The ground was soft and treacherous at the Denaby defenders found it very difficult to cover up on a pitch much bigger than their own enclosure at Tickhill square.

Then again Scunthorpe were much the bigger and heavier team, and the players did not hesitate to use their weight to the full. It was surprising that their opponents did not adopt similar tactics. Denaby were not allowed to exploit this to the methods which are their play in most of their previous games, and instead of adapting themselves to the conditions and trying to play a more direct and big as game they drifted through the match, apparently unable to rouse any enthusiasm. Only occasionally did they touch the form which has given them such a good record this season, but even then the finishing was not accurate enough, though it has to be admitted that once or twice a Scunthorpe goal was lucky to survive. But allow for these escapes for too many of the Denaby forward shots went wide or too high.

Disastrous Start

The game opened disasterously for Denaby. Scunthorpe set off in a manner which suggested they were out to see what shock tactics would do, and so successful were they that they took the lead before the game was five minutes old. Picken failed to catch a centre cleanly, and when Snaith barged into him drop the ball and fell to the ground, the Scunthorpe centre having no difficulty in putting the ball into the net. This goal upset Denaby and they never really recovered, though they warmed up and gave the Scunthorpe defence plenty to do subsequently.

Scunthorpe got another goal before the interval Lewis running up and slamming in a loose ball, which might well have been picked up, smothered, or cleared by the Denaby keeper or either of the backs before the Scunthorpe forward got to it.

Denaby did not deserve to be two goals down at the interval, for they had exerted pressure for long periods, but the Scunthorpe forward always look more dangerous when on the move probably cost Clark and Leek were not at their happiest. What a good work at times, but on the hall they did not cover Picken well enough, and the fact that the goalkeeper did not have a good day was not entirely his fault.

On the resumption the backs were still ill at ease, but their task was made more difficult by the fact that Denaby wisely staked everything on an all attacking policy, and with the are backs of the field the backs at some areas in situations to deal with when Scunthorpe broke away. As it was Scunthorpe added two goals, both of them from easy chances taken by Snaith. For the first is got from a rebound from the crossbar after Picken upfield to tip the ball over and then after Sam Hewitt had put the ball out of Young’s reach and scored for Denaby following a corner, the Scunthorpe centre put on a force when Picken pushed the ball out to him after making a full-length save.

Denaby’s Best Men

The only Denaby players who enhanced their reputations will be men, who played a clever and tireless game, and Barks, did some splendid foraging in midfield. Barks, however, neglected Guest sadly, and as the winger did quite well on those occasions when he was given the ball, this was a tactical error of some importance. Fleetwood was below par was often been for the ball in midfield, but he had little support from Fearnley, who could make no headway against the cool Crilly. It was not one of Hewitt’s best games, the Jeep played quite well in the best of the few overs which came his way, though his lack of pace was a handicap. Sykes made some belated attempts to pull the ball the game out of the fire by trying to force his way through, but this was a move doomed to failure from the outset against defenders of the size and calibre of Scunthorpe.

From Denaby point of view about the only satisfactory feature about the game was the gate, which realised £134 15s.