medals were presented to both teams by the lord mayor of manchester, councillor miles e. mitchell. the "manchester guardian" was disappointed with the professionals, whose forwards could not finish, whose creative players were ineffective, and whose defensive players were not up to the standard of their amateur counterparts and failed to communicate with their goalkeeper. in contrast, bellamy crossed well, and the "indefatigable" macey "set an example to every player on the field in the matter of shooting." they were well supported by a "hard-working set of half-backs, who stood on no ceremony, and persisted in their tackling with the relish and vigour of terriers", bryant in particular, whose play both defensive and constructive impressed, "and [whose] ground passing was something of a model", and by a confident pair of full backs in e.h. gates and frank twine. bryant wrote some years later that macey "gave the finest exposition of inside forward play i have ever seen, and quite overshadowed the more famous bolton wanderers' inside forwards, david jack and joe smith." the result of the match was so unexpected that it found a place in a 1999 compilation of "football's strangest matches".