Carlton Town vs Frickley Athletic

Recap

Another Donny Rovers striker takes the headlines….

If ever anyone needed a dictionary definition for the phrase ‘a game of 2 halves’ then this was it.

Frickley gave us their best 45 minutes of the season in the first half & stormed to a deserved 2 nil lead courtesy of loanee striker debutant Rieves Boocock (more of him later) but conceded within the first minute of the restart (an unfortunate OG from fellow debutant Nathan Newall – who had an otherwise outstanding game) & then it was backs to the wall stuff for the remainder of the game but we couldn’t hold out & Carlton scored twice more through ex Blue Tyler Blake.

Another shuffle of the pack due to suspensions, injuries & unavailability saw Joel Fiern come in at right back, Newall (a Friday night signing from Guiseley) at left back, Todd Jordan came back into the team, with Rieves Boocock playing up top. Sam Cable returned from injury & was on the bench.

It was the Rieves Boocock show once the team got going – he had 2 wormburners, one saved & one wide – before good team play set him up & he hit a screamer inches wide.

On 37 minutes, Jack Mc made a great break down the left, got into the box & his shot was saved but only into the path of the rampant Boocock who crashed home the follow up. 2 minutes later he’d doubled his & our goals – with some excellent individual play, picking the ball up, running at the defence & hitting a thundering shot into the onion bag (not you Jerry). He almost made it 3 with a shot that was palmed over the crossbar.

WIthin minutes of the 2nd half restart we had conceded as Newall diverted a cross into his own goal.

The Blues tried to reset & Johnny Pugh was brought down in the box – nothing given – & Currie hit the follow up just over.

Carlton applied more pressure & we started to defend deeper & sadly for us we gave up 2 further goals.

We carried on – Todd Jordan & Sam Cable both had efforts go just over & Russon hit one over at the death.

So, no points but the players gave it everything. The younger players (& we’ve got plenty of them!) did all they could, particularly Fiern, Newall & Boocock (& Russon & Carrick when they came on) but we seemed to collectively run out of gas around the point where Carlton . came into the ascendency.

WEBMASTER & MEDIA TEAM MOTM – everyone gave everything but I’ll try to pick a few stand outs. One player who doesn’t get many plaudits is Jake Currie & he put in a very good shift in yesterday as an attacking midfielder & occasional target man. He took an absolute battering but got no protection from the officials. Joel Fiern was quality at stand in right back. Johnny Pugh did well. The defensive combo of Harrison & Liversidge (& later Jordan) looked strong. But the stand outs for me were Newall & Boocock & despite me being a contrary chuff I’ve got to give it to Boocock – virtually unplayable in the first half. Well done sir

TWITTER POLL MOTM – Rieves took the Twitter poll by some distance. Newall, Currie, Pugh & Jack Mc also polled. All votes will count towards the August Player of the Month award – I’ll be collating all the votes to come up with the overall award so thank you to everyone who has voted.

Last season it was on loan Donny Rovers striker James Morris who made the headlines as stand in keeper, this season an on loan Rovers striker makes news at the other end of the pitch

A quality photoset (again) by Onion Bag

118 through the gate with good numbers once again following the Azzurri – thank you for your support.

A final footnote – some of you will be aware that a long standing Frickley fan was taken ill before the game. Thanks to the fast actions of Lauren (our physio) & a Carlton fan (& the Carlton physio who stood in for Lauren briefly), his prognosis was better than it would have been. A club official & volunteer stayed with him last night & picked him up & brought him home this morning. This is why, despite us getting relegated in 2016/17 & despite us being ‘Richard Osman & Alexander Armstrong’ at the minute, there is no other club I would want to support.