16-12-39: Grimsby Town (a) 5-5 (HT 1-1) Crowd (500)

Match Report: Yorkshire Post 18th December 1939

FOUR GOALS IN SIX MINUTES AGAINST LEEDS UNITED Soccer's Day of Record Scoring

A widely varied programme of Association matches which included Cup-ties, friendlies and regional League engagements, brought a record number of goals on Saturday. Not one of the senior matches in England or Wales ended without a score, and the aggregate for 43 games was 212-a total surpassing the previous highest for a similar number of games. On January 2, 1933, 43 League encounters yielded 209 goals. On a day of remarkable happenings, there was nothing to surpass those at Grimsby, where Leeds United shared ten goals with the home team. Ten minutes from the close United, with a lead of five goals to one, seemed to have the match won, but Grimsby rallied with such, zest that they swept the United defence almost off its feet and scored four goals in six minutes, the equaliser coming in the last minute of play. The second half produced all the thrills. In the first Grimsby did most of the attacking. Johnson scored, for them, and "Newman", a forward whose identity was not revealed, for United. In the second half the Leeds forwards showed, cleverness and dash and inspired by sparkling play on the wings from Cochrane and Brown, the line became cohesive and thrustful. Cochrane, Brown, McGraw and Cochrane again rattled up four goals in twenty minutes. It was Betmead who rallied Grimsby's forces, and when seven minutes from the end Hall put Holmes through to score, Betmead and Hodgson threw their weight into the attack. Ward got another goal two minutes later, Betmead a fourth in another two minutes, and then Johnson the equaliser. It was a whirlwind finish that delighted the crowd of fewer than a thousand. Cochrane and Brown were United's stars. The Irishman was often too tricky for the burly Hodgson, who has seldom been made to look so ineffective. Brown had pace and judgment, and repeatedly outmanoeuvred Vincent. "Newman" was the schemer but McGraw also, did good work.