Mexborough and Swinton Times January 20, 1928

After Seven Years.

Wath’s Fine Win At Scunthorpe

Scunthorpe 0  Wath 2

Scunthorpe; Unwin; Severn, Holland; Skull, Murphy, Moore; Wainwright, Maw, Simms, Allen, Foster.

Wath ; Whittaker; Bratley Wheatley Gawber, Bedford, Dennis; Moore, Hargreaves, Williams, E. Murden, L. Murden.

Referee; W. Bull, Gainsboro’.

Wath have reason to be proud of their win over the champions at Scunthorpe on Saturday. During the seven-years they have been members of the competition they had never previously got a single point on the Old. Show round; and on Saturday Scunthorpe were at full strength.

The secret. of -Wath’s success lay not only in their strategy, but in the will to win which showed all through the game. When facing the wind a the first half they paid more attention to defence than attakk—In fact is was safety first with them to the interval.

Afterwards they took full advantage of the strong wind and set up attack after attack. The feature of the game was the display of Whittaker, (picture) who was injured in the first five minutes but pluckily played on, though in pain, and made many remarkable saves.

While intercepting a pass from. Simms to Allen he fell on the bull and wrenched his neck. He resuming after attention and immediately stopped a terrific shot by Murphy.

Maw, Scunthorpe’s amateur forward, made two bad mistakes when well placed and Wath were twice keep during scrimmages in front of their goal at the end of half an hour.

Whittaker brought off two excellent saves just before the interval and afterwards saved from Maw when a goal seemed certain.

Wath then set ‘about goal-getting, and after first rattling the crossbar with a great shot WILLIAMS got the ball in the net. L. MURDEN Scored the second during a scramble. Then Whittaker was in the picture again. A penalty kick was given against Wheatley for handling and Simms made a fast rising shot from the spot. With one hand Whittaker diverted the ball over the crossbar—a wonderfull save—but then fell and again hurt his neck. He was then in. great pain and had to be assisted off. Wheatley took his place in goal. Whittaker resumed after five minutes or so and kept his charge safe till the end—but it was a hit of real heroism. I understand Whittaker is only 22: if he escapes further injury more should he heard of him.

The Wath backs were dour, and the wing halves played well, but the other outstanding man was Bedford. He had Simms under control all the time and was the strength of his side in defence and attack. Williams led the attack well, but L. Murden was the more dangerous forward. The Scunthorpe forwards were moderate in comparison and Skull was easily the best half. Both hacks have done better than they did on Saturday. Little fault could be found with Unwin.

The attendance was poor, only 1,000 paying for admission.

Whittaker, has recovered from his injury and was yesterday reported fit to play tomorrow