Mexborough and Swinton Times August 31 1928

Wath’s Need.

Denaby Find The Weak Spots.

Wath 0 Denaby United 1

Wath lost their first match of the season -as they last season—with Denaby.

Itwas cheering to see a good crowd and some good football. The beginning was scrappy but gradually the teams settled down and for 12 minutes Wath had a slight advantage.

Denaby then scored their only, and winning goal. It was a. great surprise. Kelly passed out to Jenkins, who was unmarked.

Jenkins put in an excellent centre and TURNER, running in, gave Whittaker not the slightest chance

From then Wath were the better team to the interval. They used good combination but when they had the Denaby goal at their mercy they blundered and failed. Over eagerness was the chief cause. One glaring instance was when Hargreaves with an open goal over-ran the hall—he was not more than two yards out and Birch was unplaced. At that period the Denaby tackling was rough-and-ready. In. the second half Denaby were decidedly the better side. They worked hard and well with Ogley a sound leader.

Wath were handicapped ; Dawber was injured early in ‘the half and was a passenger for the rest of the game. Smith, who was tried at centre-half, strained a thigh muscle, and Dennis had to take over the position. Through these injuries—which meant a general change-round—the side was disjointed. But Denaby did not have, matters all their own way. Near the close Birch missed a shot by Ernest Murden.  Moore rushed up, the ball was only two two yards out, and Taylor just managed to push it away from Moore with his toe. It was a near thing.

At the other end Whittaker (picture) made- among his many saves-two, which were magnificent, notably one of a glorious shot by Turner.