MIDDLESBROUGH FOOTBALL CLUB

PAGES FROM HISTORY

PRE-LEAGUE FOOTBALL - [ENTERED DIVISION 2 1899]

South Durham and Cleveland Mercury, September 1894.

MIDDLESBROUGH V. SCOTTISH BORDERERS.

    The Scottish Borderers, who failed to put in an appearance at Middlesbrough last year, opposed the town club on the Linthorpe-road ground on Saturday. The following were the teams:--

    MIDDLESBROUGH, - Goal, Kitson; backs, P Bach and T Bach; half-backs, Pearson, Grey, and Piercy; forwards, Hewitson, Murphy, Appleton, Johnson, and Collinson.

    BORDERERS, - Goal, Whiteside; backs, Inglis and McQuay; half-backs, Whalley, McKenzie, and Campbell; forwards, Crosby, Kerr, Nicholson, Mullen, and Stewart. Referee, Mr. H. Boldison.

The home team won the toss, and Nicholson kicked off in the presence of about 1,500 spectators. The Middlesbrough team at once asserted their superiority and invaded the visitors’ goal, but the grass was so long that accurate shooting was quite out of the question. Tame and uninteresting play resulted for some time till Hewitson by a smart bit of work notched the first point for his team. Following upon this success, several fruitless corners were awarded the homesters, but Collinson ultimately succeeded in adding another goal. At times the visitors broke away, but lacked combination, and the match by half-time had resolved itself into a mere farce, Collinson having scored again for Middlesbrough, and Pearson adding a fourth point. Half-time:--

                       Middlesbrough ...................4

                       Borderers ..........................0

Restarting the visitors paid a brief visit to the home citadel, but were easily repulsed, and play again settled down in the vicinity of the visitors’ territory. Whiteside saved cleverly on more than one occasion, but he was poorly supported, and Appleton soon added the fifth and sixth goals, and the game terminated in a ridiculously easy victory for Middlesbrough, the score standing --

                       Middlesbrough  ..................7

                        Borderers .........................0