Ryde v St. Helens Football Match

FOOTBALL 8 April 1912
Partlands ground, Ryde

It seems hardly possible that a village like St. Helens could put a team on the field able to beat any team that a town like Ryde could muster, yet such is the case.  On Monday last the St. Helens Blue Stars beat the homesters at Partlands by 4 goals to 2.  The visitors were not such an immensely better team;  there being very little indeed to choose between them, and in the opinion of some no doubt the homesters would be the favourites.  One very noticeable fact about the match, which was a friendly, was the large gate, caused by a larger number of supporters of the visitors, than is usually the case.  Those who played particularly well in the Ryde forward line were Keating, Reeves and Brown, whilst the defence was good.  For the visitors H. Henley, Westmore, and Tolley played well and Paulin, the left back, formed an insuperable barrier, clearing well.

Winning the toss and having a stiff breeze in their favour, the homesters opened the scoring within five minutes of the start of the game.  A. Brown sent in a nice pass which Keating followed up by running in and scoring; but before a quarter of an hour had passed receiving a pass from Taylor, H. Henley ran through and very smartly equalized. Henley sent in two more goals and then in the second half Ford, the Stars right wing man sent a lovely flying shot over the homesters heads.

Despite a good many tries the homesters could not get by the visitors.

Note:
Full report of the match can be read in the IW Observer, issue 13 April 1912, page 5.

Source: IW Observer
Image: Postcard Paul Kingswell Collection
Article: Ann Barrett