Recap

FC St Helens 9 (nine) Frickley 0

(FA Vase)

To (St) Helen(s) back! I’ll get my coat.

But before that, supporting a team that is finding it tricky on the pitch can actually be more rewarding than supporting a consistently successful one. Now hear me out….

Supporting a winning team is easy. Sticking with a struggling club shows commitment and develops resilience.

Shared frustration, humour and disappointment create a bond between fans who experience the challenging times together and become a community.

Small victories become huge. A win against anyone, a great goal or even a small improvement can feel significant when victories are thin on the ground.

You learn to appreciate progress rather than just results. Fans learn to recognise improvement, potential and individual moments of quality that others might overlook.

Hope never completely disappears. There is always the belief that things can change and that our time could be just around the corner.

When success finally arrives, it will mean so much more. Routine success simply cannot match that.

Ultimately, supporting a football team is about belonging, shared experience, memories, enduring the tough times and believing that something amazing might eventually happen. It’s not the winning but the journey itself that becomes the reward.

Now remember all that as you read the account of what happened in St Helens.

The Blues were down to the bare bones, thanks to injuries, suspensions and holidays, and players stepped up and played out of position. But it’s hard to sugar coat it, we were dumped out of the FA Vase, and suffered our heaviest defeat since the 12-0 at Worksop Town in September 2000 into the bargain.

We started fine, but Cable was incorrectly adjudged to be offside a couple of times which stifled momentum. He had a decent effort saved. And Andrew had a pair of half chances, one either side of the interval, but otherwise it was largely goalmageddon from St Helens:

• 16th minute – Edjangue made a great double stop but the ref awarded a penalty for an off the ball foul. Edjangue saved the spot kick but St Helens were first to the ball, squared it, hit the post then put away the loose ball. 1-0.

• 25th minute – St Helens shot blocked but incoming player lashed in the breaking ball. 2-0.

• 27th minute – St Helens crossed, the forward controlled it, rounded Edjangue then tapped in. 3-0.

• 40th minute – Ball over the top, the forward put it through the onrushing Edjangue’s legs. 4-0.

• 47th minute – Diagonal St Helens shot into the bottom corner. 5-0.

• 69th minute – St Helens got to the byline, pulled the ball back and drilled into the opposite corner. 6-0.

• 71st minute – It was almost a carbon copy of the previous goal. 7-0

• 74th minute – Ball across the box by St Helens, deflected to a player on the edge of the box who stuck it in the corner. 8-0.

• 87th minute – St Helens shot deflected off a Frickley boot, past Edjangue and into the net. 9-0.

The full time whistle spared The Blues the ignominy of conceding double figures. FT 9-0.

Back to the drawing board and the hard work starts all over again. So chin up, chest out and play for the badge. We’re Frickley, we always fight on!

WEBMASTER MOTM – I’m in awe of anyone who pulls on Frickley’s colours and crosses that white line, and I certainly don’t subscribe to the notion that there is any lack of effort. However, on this occasion, the Glitterball goes to the fans, The Blue Faithful. We travelled a long way, stuck it out to the end and gave The Boys in Blue our support when they needed it most. Solidarność, comrades!

191 through the gate, with a sizeable band of brothers and sisters from the warrior nation of SESKU. The club apologises for the performance but thanks you for trekking all that way and staying to the end, standing shoulder to shoulder with the lads.

The Blues are next in action on Saturday 12th September when we make the short trip to take on AFC Bentley in the Sheffield Senior Cup 2nd Round, 3pm kickoff. Hope to see you all there….

#forzafrickley

#FFTD