by Fred. Nonnemacher
The Robins Dry Dock F. C. of Brooklyn was the club forced to bow to the superior playing of the steel Workers on Bethlehem Steel field on Saturday afternoon, the champions annexing another National League game by winning 4 goals to 1. The score by no means indicates that the Shipbuilders were completely outclassed, their aggressive playing quite frequently earning the plaudits of the spectators.
The champions lined up against the visitors with their full strength, having Harry Ratican, the star center forward, and Capt. Campbell back into harness. The long layoff of both players apparently did them no hard for they showed in excellent form and were a valuable addition to the team.
An unfortunate feature occurred late in the final period when Lavity, the Robins' right fullback, featured in a collision with McKelvey and suffered a fractured leg. McKelvey was rushing the ball toward the visitors' goal with Robertson making a desperate attempt to break up the play. Lavity came racing across the field to the aid of his teammate and in tackling collided with such force that both he and McKelvey struck the turf with a thud, both players remained lying on the ground when t heir teammates went to their assistance McKelvey recovered quickly, although he also suffered a serious bump on his leg. Lavity was carried off the field to the dressing room where it was discovered that his right leg was fractured below the knee. The Bethlehem Steel ambulance responded and after receiving medical attention he was placed on a stretcher and in this manner removed to Brooklyn to be admitted to a hospital.
McKelvey resumed play immediately after the accident but it was apparent that he was also injured more seriously than he let it be known. Manager Sheridan noticed his plight and called him off the field, the teams each finishing with 10 men.
Up to this point the game was bubbling with interest but the occurrence put a damper to the hard and aggressive play. Robertson, the visitors left fullback, gave an exhibition of probably the greatest defensive play ever witnessed on the local field. This little player, who was a member of the American team that journeyed to Sweden, was all over the field and was a big factor in holding down the Bethlehem score. Especially in the danger zone was his playing effective and many a forward movement was squashed at the time it looked like a score.
Bethlehem won the toss and attacked at once, rushing the ball towards the Robins' net. In the first two minutes of play a pretty pass to Millar resulted in a score when Bob, from 15 yards out, crashed the sphere into the net with such speed that goaltender Walker had no chance whatever to save.
This early success, instead of undermining the efforts of the visitors, seemed to inspire them to greater efforts and several times the ball was advanced threateningly toward the Bethlehem goal. After 35 minutes of play the Robins worked the ball by a clever run by Gradwell, who sent the sphere to Sullivan at the very mouth of the net. The latter responded with a shot that completely beat Duncan.
The even score was very short-lived, however, for within the next two minutes of play Ratican put the champions in the lead again. The gal was a clever shot and like the previous Bethlehem counter, Sullivan had little chance of stopping the sphere. The third goal came shortly before the end of the first half and resulted from a brilliant run by Fleming, whose lightening-like cross was trapped by McKelvey and returned to Ratican. The latter made good of the opportunity and advanced the Bethlehem count to three.
The same aggressiveness of both teams was apparent at the restart and although each team had several chances to score, no counters came until after the accident to Lavity. Time and again Bethlehem was in excellent position to put over another goal but their efforts missed the maker or had their play broke by the hard working backs. With 10 minutes to go, Butler got possession in midfield and cleverly eluded two opponents and shot hard for the goal. Goalkeeper Walker caught the ball but was unable to hold it and the sphere dropped into the net. No further scoring took place and the game, replete with cleverness on the part of both teams, ended in favor of Bethlehem. The lineup:
Bethlehem -- Robins
Duncan -- G -- Walker
Fletcher -- RFB -- Lavity
Ferguson -- LFB -- Robertson
Pepper -- RHB -- Donnelly
Campbell - -CHB -- V'Deneuyden
Butler -- LHB -- Duffy
McKelvey -- OR -- Garaldo
Forrest -- IR -- Coleman
Ratican -- CF -- Hayes
Millar -- IL -- Sullivan
Fleming -- OL -- Gradwell
Goals -- Millar, Ratican 2; Butler, Sullivan. Referee -- George Young. Linesmen -- Cave and Morrison. Time -- two 45-minute halves.