South Yorkshire Times, September 22nd 1933

Handicap Defied At Mexboro’

Flattering Victory Margin

Mexborough  0  Denaby United  3

Fate dealt Denaby a severe blow in the first minute of their game at Hampden on Saturday when Aistrup, their right half back, split his head open in a collision with the boundary fence, and though he resumed after being attended by a doctor and ambulance men on the ground he was soon compelled to retire for good, leaving his team to fight out a vital cup-tie with only ten men.

However, having set Denaby with their backs to the wall at the start of the match, fate seemed to relent and all the subsequent luck of the game ran in favour of the visitors, who in spite of the fact that they spent the greater part of the afternoon busily defending got away with a 3-0 win.

Denaby’s first goal came from the first direct shot they got in, while previously Mexboro’ had been within a hair’s breadth of scoring half a dozen times. The referee was too far away to be in a position to award a goal when it appeared that the Denaby goalkeeper had been charged over the line with the ball in his arms in the second half, and on another occasion when the visiting goalkeeper was yards away from his goal one of the backs headed away from right under the crossbar. Mexboro’ had a penalty awarded against them for a rather doubtful, and in any case very harmless, case of handling. One of the Denaby backs brought the Mexboro’ centre-forward down heavily and illegally and the referee placed the ball practically on the eighteen yards line for a free kick. These are only a few of the incidents which indicated very clearly before the match was over that it was not Mexboro’s lucky day.

However, too much stress should not be laid on the luck of the game. Denaby took their chances, played up gallantly under a decided handicap, and on the day were deserving winners though the margin of victory distinctly flattered them. Seth King (picture) played a grand game and has rarely been seen to better advantage since he joined Denaby. He set a fine example by his coolness to the younger members of the side and made some wonderfully timely clearances. Yardley, the Mexboro’ centre forward, never seriously troubled the ex-Sheffield United player, who did not even pay him the compliment of shadowing him. Matt Taylor covered very sagely behind, and young Skelton played up to him in fine style and showed any amount of spirit. Hudson was calm and alert in goal and one of the finest things in the match was his full-length save of a magnificent cross-shot from Ralph Burkinshaw in the first half.

Well as they played, the Denaby defenders did not overshadow their forwards, although they were given more opportunity of proving their worth When the forwards did get going they were a tricky set, although there were only four of them, Potter having dropped hack to fill the place of the injured Aistrup. McLean was the most mercurial of all, though when Burkinshaw crossed over to attend to him towards the end of the game be got considerably fewer chances. Haggar’s cleverness was not in any way diminished by his playing inside, instead of on the wing, and Siddall worked with a will in his exacting role of right-wing and inside-right combined.

The Mexboro’ halves were the dominating trio, but though Burkinshaw made one or two praiseworthy efforts they could not be expected to do the forwards’ job for them as well as serve them with the ball. They gave their side territorial advantage, but the forwards could never manoeuvre so that they had enough room in which to translate this advantage into goals. Thackray, Dotchin and Bolan did well enough as individuals but the line lacked thrust in the middle and there was weakness on the left. Chapman and Winstanley were determined becks but occasionally their comparative lack of experience was manifest. Chapman did some really good work, however, and is something of a stylist into the bargain. Wilkinson was too convincing in goal but made a splendid effort, which was all but successful, to save the penalty. Burkinshaw was easily the beat man in the team and was, with King, the cleverest footballer on the field.

The game had barely been in progress 28 minutes when Denaby took the lead, McLean getting clear away for the first time to send in a high cross-shot which passed over Wilkinson’s head into the far corner of the net. A clearance by Barrow which struck a Denaby forward and put Haggar in possession gave Denaby their second goal, though Wilkinson seemed at fault when he allowed the Denaby forward’s centre to pass across in front of him to ADAMS, who had only to tap the ball into the net. Both goals came from the rare raids which Denaby contrived to make in between long spells of Mexboro’ pressure. Winstanley seemed to be harshly penalised for handling when Denaby were awarded their penalty. SIDDALL, who is very good at this sort of thing, made sure from the spot. but a great leap by Wilkinson was nearly rewarded, the ball being deflected just instead of over the crossbar. very definitely had most of the play but it would he ungracious not to admit that they merited their win. The receipts were £104 0s 6d.