Frickley Athletic v Yorkshire Amateur

Recap

35 minutes in & we’re 1 nil up (our first goal of 2022) & coasting…..

Then comes the turning point – Kegan makes a very rash challenge & gets a straight red (he’s acknowledged & apologised for it – takes a big man to do that publicly). 5 minutes later a silly bit of shirt pulling in the box & a penalty gets awarded & converted & it’s 1 each.

2nd half, kicking into the wind with 11 men was going to be hard, with 10 much harder & with 9 (after sub Joe Stacey got a bad injury) impossible

Bobby Faulkner & Josh Okpolokpo made their debuts & new signing Patrick-Prosper Fini (most recently at Hereford) was on the bench & Joe West was back after a long lay off & Aiden Smith made his home debut in goal. But for every yin there is a yang & we were without Piteu Crouz (injured following his return from Cameroon), Nathan Whitehead (injured), Rod Orlando Young (injured), Rio (returned to Alfreton), Chappers (injured & receiving treatment back at Rotherham) – that was before the game even started then we lost Kegan & Stace The Ace during the game. Someone, somewhere doesn’t like us!

Here’s what Garforth rapper 9 Point thought about it:

Yorkshire Amateur eventually eased to a 4-1 win but they had to work for it as 3 goals came in the last 20 minutes at a windy Westfield Lane.
Fresh from 2 recent wins against high flying Liversedge and Shildon the visitors had hit the post in the first minute, But with their first foray into the opposition half, The Blues were ahead. A 6th minute Tyler Williams free kick was controlled by Dev Morton and whipped across goal for Brad Wells to apply the final touch.
Frickley then continued their ascendancy, the best opportunity falling to Josh Scott but he couldn’t get any power into his shot. A free header for Adam Priestley was Ammers the nearest the visitors came.
The home side were down to 10 men just after the half hour mark when Kegan Everington saw red for a two footed tackle.
Despite this, Ammers were level against the run of play in the 41st minute when they were awarded a controversial penalty. Nathan Cartman converted.
The second half started with a scrappy passage of play with the wind no doubt playing its part.
The first significant action being a Frickley cross that narrowly evaded the outstretched boot of Wells in the 55th minute. Shortly after, Luke Dean’s wind assisted shot hit the angle of the goal for Ammers.
Ammers took the lead in the 70th minute when Casey Stewart scored with a low shot from a narrow angle. Then extended it 5 minutes later with Luke Sharry’s glancing header from a free kick out wide.
The home side ended with 9 men when Joe Stacey was helped off late on. Ammers took advantage as Sharry put away his second from the edge of the box with 6 minutes to go.

Back to me – so we take our medicine & try again next Saturday, away to Liversedge. All the players put a right shift in & if we finish with 11 on the pitch we win – but we didn’t & we didn’t.

This is no time for faint hearts – we need to circle the wagons & everyone (players, management team, fans) needs to go into siege mentality mode. We saw some good stuff yesterday for an hour so let’s keep doing the good things & try to minimise the not so good

WEBMASTER MOTM – it was good to see Bomber Wells back to his usual self, running his nuts off & scoring. Big Dev stood out again. Holli & young James Matthews impressed in midfield. But the best player on the pitch by a country mile was Bobby Faulkner – outstanding debut. He just loves defending

TWITTER POLL MOTM – everyone loves a goalscorer but they also love a young lad giving it absolutely everything & the Twitter Poll was tied between Wellsy & Bobby with Big Dev tucked in behind them & Holli in 4th. Thank you to everyone who voted. All votes contribute towards the Player Of The Month award

155 through the turnstiles – thank you for your support in these testing times

Interview with the Gaffer to follow

Next up we are away to Liversedge on Saturday – no supporters coach for this one but we’d still love to see loads of Azzurri at the game. The players need your support, so come on let’s back them