Mexborough & Swinton Times, March 30
Midland League
Tale of Two Halves
Denaby Utd. 1, Frickley Col. 0
Twenty-five minutes of the second half had passed before the goal appeared and settled things. And it came in circumstances that took spectators by surprise.
From the restart the football had been ragged. Players went in for hearty kicking and headlong charges: all the delicacy and most of the skill had gone out of the game, and most spectators had reconciled themselves to it.
Meanwhile Denaby were showing their authority. Frickley spent a long time desperately penned in their own half. Suddenly, they marshalled their strength and swept down on the Denaby goal like the Assyrian cohorts, but gleaming in blue and white. There was a flurried tussle in the goalmouth and the ball was lifted over the bar.
Straightaway from the goal-kick the ball was sent on long flights upfield. The Denaby forwards were well up, and the Frickley defence was caught napping ARDON picked up the ball neatly and without hesitation submitted a fierce low drive that sang its way tunefully into the net past the helpless Brannan.
That was the only goal a large crowd got. And in its execution it was worth the money they paid. But it was a pity such crispness and quality were not the order of the day.
Though the second half was scrappy there was nothing inferior about the first half. The teams were evenly enough matched to set laboratory scales a problem and there was a whole series of entertaining raids from end to end carried out cunningly and tightly.