Glossop North End vs Frickley Athletic

Recap

There’s an old saying ‘After the Lord Mayors Show, comes the dustcart’ – supposedly said about a disappointing or mundane event occurring straight after an exciting, magnificent, or triumphal event. Well, we got the Lords Mayor Show last Saturday at Lincoln & what followed at Glossop last night was…..another Lord Mayors Show! Whilst Saturdays Show was all about gold & ermine, last night was more about stainless steel, cast iron & granite – or, as we know them, Brad Wells, Michael Hollingworth & Nathan Hotte….

A bit of a shuffle of the pack – with Liam King, Zeph & Currie unavailable, Todd Jordan & KOR came back into the squad.

Despite the recent weatherbombs, the majority of the pitch was in very good order – apart from the 6 yard boxes which looked primed for having potatoes planted in them & were actually roped off until just before kick off.

The Blues were straight on the attack, Brad Mc had a header saved & then Haze had 2 good efforts go just wide. On 15 minutes we hit a ball from midfield which the Glossop defender tried to nod back to his keeper. However the keeper was clearly distracted by the marauding Wells & the King Edward patch & he made a right hash of collecting the ball which was now travelling at 0.1 miles per hour – leaving the Beast the simple task to filling the onion bag (not you Jerry).

Glossop showed their first bit of attacking intent with a long range shot that crashed against our crossbar & was cleared.

Back up at our end Margs had a great chance to score but his shot was fingertipped out for a corner – I was already celebrating the goal (as you may have heard on commentary). As often happens you sometimes get punished & Glossop went straight down & scored just before half time.

More attacking right from the Get-Go in the 2nd half – Nathan Hotte powered a shot against the far stick early on. On 56 minutes, Liam Hughes swung in a free kick, which pinballed around in the box briefly before Margs stepped in & leathered it home from the edge of the box – his 20th goal of the season & his 17th for us.

Shortly afterwards The Surgeon powers into the box, is wrestled to the ground WWE style, stonewall penner – even the home fans were appealing for it. Nothing given.

Repeat of the above on 69 minutes, with 1 significant difference – it was given. Margs gets up off the deck & blasts home for 3-1, his 4th in 2 games

The Azzurri completely neutralised the game from that point with great game management – not even the sending off of Liam Hughes could disrupt things. Jacko made a fairly simple save but then a melee took place. We were at the wrong end to see the details but pretty much everyone at that end of the pitch (home & away fans alike) said the Glossop attacker went in with his boot raised – yet Liam was shown the red card! Apparently for headbutting someone in the stomach…..now anyone that has seen 6 foot 5 inch Hughesy will know that he’d have to be a black belt in yoga to achieve that. The most telling thing is that the liner ran onto the pitch to inform the ref about the raised boot & Hughes not being involved but was waved away & ignored.

Anyway, such is the quality of this team that if you lose Hughesy, you sub Tom Davie on – & he never put a foot wrong. His first 5 touches were all booming clearances.

Still time for Haze to create another good chance & for Margs to complete his hat trick from a delicious through ball by young Josh Mc but The Surgeon shot over (uncharacteristically).

3-1 was the final result & a very good victory against a decent Glossop team – they are a good set of people at GNE. This was a result that was really earned & merited.

The Gaffers thoughts on the game

WEBMASTER MOTM – we were very much the sum of our parts last night with every player being at least an 8/10. Outstanding by the defensive unit (including Tyler & Nyle when we went to a back 5 in the 2nd half). The front 3 switched position constantly & much have been a nightmare for defenders (& potato enthusiasts). But the Engine Room takes the plaudits for me – Holli & Hotte were off the scale. At one point we had a 5 man midfield – & it was them 2!!! So it’s a rarity – a joint award for Michael & Nathan, well done Gents.

TWITTER POLL MOTM – once again proving that strikers are the eye catchers, Margs wins it by a distance. Holli comes in 2nd with Hotte & Tyler also polling votes. Thank you to everyone who voted.

167 though the gate with probably around a third of those being Frickley fans – incredible turn out once again. Thank you for travelling.

Next up, we are at home on Saturday for a league fixture against Kidsgrove