Mexborough & Swinton Times – Friday 07 April 1933

Montagu Cup

Through At Last

No Second Reprieve for Owston

Thurnscoe Defence Shines

Thurnscoe Victoria  2, Owston Park 0

The Montagu Cup semi-final between Thurnscoe and Owston Park which was abandoned five minutes from time with Thurnscoe leading 1-0 on February 18th was replayed on Saturday at Goldthorpe.

No convenient blizzard came to the aid of Owston Park this time and they were beaten 2-0, though they made a good tight of it and showed themselves a clever team. When Thurnscoe won the toss and started with a steady wind in their favour they were expected to do most of the early pressing but Owston opened with a confidence born of their previous reprieve and swept up the field several times in threatening style. That they never got right through was due largely to the watchfulness of Lunn and Hopper. The former played an especially fine game and his swift tackling in the first ten minutes prevented more than one dangerous raid from developing. It was fortunate for Thurnscoe that they had such an experienced and capable defender as Lunn to oppose Johnson, the Owston captain and easily their best player. Johnson made many adroit moves and was always a potential source of danger, but Lunn was never perturbed by his most unexpected manoeuvres and backed up his coolness by strong kicking and shrewd positioning.

After his own dashing style Hopper gave invaluable support and though there was a hit-or-miss quality about his kicking he stood up to the bull like rushes of Smith pluckily and effectively.

Thurnscoe also had a “pull” in goal, where Nettleton inspired much more confidence than Bryan. His actions were always decisive and he had a safe pair of hands, whereas Bryan was a little shaky at the start and his play lacked the aggressive quality which characterised Nettleton’s goalkeeping. Roberts was the only one of the Thurnscoe halves who compared favourably with the Owston trio from the constructive point of view, but Fawcett was very effective as a stopper in the middle, frequently getting the ball away in the air with his head. Higgins bad a very good day though he did not place the ball with the precision shown by Roberts. He tackled well and allowed the opposing wing little scope, while when he got the ball he generally drew an opponent before parting. Shaw was the schemer of the Thurnscoe forward line which was inclined to be disjointed. He did not accomplish a great deal in the first half hut industriously persevered in his efforts to provide openings in the second and his passes nearly always had a purpose behind them. Mace was well watched and never got going properly, while of the others Whitehead was the best as well as the most vigorous and determined. Birch was out of place on the right wing, and Jackson was rather unreliable and missed ono or two good chances on the left flank.

A Dangerous Leader.

An accident in the pit on the day before the match had deprived Owston of the services of Barry, their regular centre-forward, but Smith, who took his place though his opposite in almost every respect, was by no means an inadequate deputy. Big, heavy and fast though somewhat clumsy, he was dangerous from start to finish. Once or twice he was a little unlucky not to score, while there were occasions when he had only himself to blame for his failures but on the whole Lunn and Hopper are to be complimented for holding bum. He never gave them a moment’s peace, but they prevailed in the end.

To compensate for the absence of their clever little centre-forward Owston were strengthened by the return of Hatter at centre-half. He served his forwards much better than Fawcett, and Crooks and Wells were also good constructive halves and generally used the ball to advantage. That their efforts did not meet with reward was largely due to the inability of the wingmen to circumvent the Thurnscoe defence. Johnson, who worked the ball so neatly, was much cleverer than any of his colleagues but apart from the dash of Smith he could command little support and languished for lack of it against a defence which rarely allowed him much room in which to work. Horne was the better of the Owston backs though Beardsley was a very strong defender. Jackson eluded Horne several times in the first half but afterwards was mostly kept out of the game by him. Both goals were several times in real danger of falling during the game though only two goals were scored.

Quite early on Chapman swung the ball across and from a few yards out Smith sent it tamely into Nettleton’s hands, while Shaw and Roberts both shot inches over the bar for Thurnscoe, and when Bryan fumbled a long kick on the goal line there were appeals from Thurnscoe supporters behind, for a goal.

Owston conceded the first goal under rather unfortunate circumstances. Smith rushed at Higgins and crashed into him as he was clearing. The Thurnscoe half-back rather unreasonably, so it seemed, appeared to resent this and the two men nearly came to blows. Immediately after this incident Hopper went down heavily after an extra vigorous challenge by the Owston centre-forward who was perhaps unlucky in this instance to have come under the notice of the referee just before. At any rate the free-kick against him was quickly taken by Fawcett who sent the ball down the middle to MACE. The centre-forward had his back to the Owston goal but round and flashed the ball into the net much too suddenly for Bryan, who dived too late.

With the wind in their favour Owston did more pressing but Nettleton, Hopper and Lunn were unyielding and though Smith went close with one or two hard drives and missed inexplicably from a few yards out when he had only the goalkeeper to beat, the Thurnscoe goal remained intact. The biggest threat of an equaliser camo from corners, for man for man Owston could give Thurnscoe a few inches and Nettleton had to be very smart to clear on several occasions.

A goal by Shaw three minutes from the end knocked all the fight out of Owston who were convincingly beaten in the end. Whitehead cleverly beat Horne and sent the ball right across to Birch, whose well placed centre SHAW had no difficulty in kicking past Bryan.

The “gate” receipts were £25.