Emley AFC v Frickley Athletic

Recap

Emley 4 Frickley 1

The Azzurri ultimately fell to a 4-1 defeat at Emley. You could be forgiven for thinking the scoreline wasn’t too much of a shock against the league leaders. But we were down to 10 men and had an outfielder in goal for 89 minutes. Those 10 fought like demons and prevented it becoming a much bigger deficit.

Injuries, recoveries, returns and the like lead to a shuffling of the pack so Big Al Keita, Luke Walker and new signing Antony Onoh came into the starting lineup.  Meanwhile, Calum Proctor, Jake Hemingway, Matty Hughes, Nathan Fletcher and Patrick McGuire himself, made up the bench.

We’ve had better starts. Keeper Callum Bradbury got a red card for handling the ball outside the area after just 84 seconds, despite Bradders having his arms pinned against his body. It wasn’t the last example of interesting officiating that we’d see.

The skipper Richard Collier immediately showed why we call him The Colonel by stepping up, donning the gloves and taking his place between the sticks. His promotion to General is under consideration.

The Colonel was quickly into action, making a very decent stop before the home side hit the bar a minute or two later.

On the quarter of an hour, Jamesy hit a swerving shot from range that was held by Emley’s custodian.

Then Emley hit the post as part of a goalmouth scramble resulting from a corner but somehow The Boys in Blue kept it out.

The Azzurri continued to frustrate the hosts. Emley netted but were offside, they flicked a free kick wide and a free header was directed straight at The Colonel.

In the 40th minute, The Colonel decided this goalkeeping lark was a bit too easy so he had a flap at a tame long shot, just to ramp up the tension you understand, requiring him to desperately recover. The ball looked a good couple of feet over the line but nothing given.

After holding out for so long it was a disappointment, if not a great surprise, when Emley scored twice in the last 5 minutes of the half. The first was put in from 30, maybe even 40, centimetres out. The second came from a cross from behind the byline, headed back  before a low shot that beat Collier. HT 2-0.

The second period was barely 10 minutes old when the home side extended their lead with a tap in after crossing from a borderline offside position.

The Blues let the highflying Emley know, if they didn’t already, that they weren’t having the 3 points without a fight by reducing the arrears in the 66th minute. Big Al went on a tricky run, nutmegging his marker, and causing chaos in the 6 yard box with his low cross. The home defence didn’t deal with it and Rieves tucked away the loose ball.

With 15 minutes to go, Emley broke away after a suspect Frickley corner and scored another suspiciously offside looking goal. When you’re top of the league, you get the rub of the green.

When Fletch came on as one of the second half substitutes, he made his 50th appearance for the club. Well done, bruv.

With 3 minutes of the 90 left, Big Al skinned the defender, hit it early but his shot hit the keeper’s legs. FT 4-1.

The Gaffer demanded a reaction after last week’s capitulation against Hallam and he got just that. The lads played for the badge, showed what it means to play for this amazing club and made us all extremely proud. We go again next time.

WEBMASTER MOTM – every single one of the side, subs included, were warriors and never took a backwards step. Keegan, Varls and BMDub did all they possibly could. Debutant Tony Onoh was a definite ‘oh yes’, a fan fave already. And if Zak Kersey, Jamesy, Rievesy and Big Al were the hardworking  creative outlets then Skywalker was the muscle. It was also great to see Jake H back from injury and to see Fletch rack up his half century. But the Glitterball can only go to one man and that man is Richard ‘The Cat’ Collier. A true leader and not a bad keeper either. We salute you, Colonel!

TWITTER MOTM – Richard Collier takes it from Zak Kersey, Big Al Keita and Brandon Murillo. ‘All the team’ and Callum Bradbury (thank you, Deryn) also polled votes. Thanks to all who voted.

SPONSORS/VOLUNTEERS MOTM – Richard Collier was chosen by Jacob Liddle. Well done, Colonel!

381 through the gate with decent numbers from SESKU. Thank you for getting behind the lads and spurring them on!

To hear the thoughts of manager Pat McGuire, click here.

The Blues are next in action on Tuesday 6th February when we travel to Golcar United for a 7.45pm kickoff. Hope to see you all there…

#forzafrickley