Frickley Athletic 1 Barton Town 0 (PSF)

Recap

Frickley 1 Barton Town 0

Frickley were excellent in parts & sloppy in parts as they overcame spirited opposition in Barton Town (who had ex Blues Noel ‘Bird Man’ Burdett & Charlie Fisher in their line up). Although we comfortably controlled the game, it was never a walk in the (country) park.

Early on, Assist-meister Chris Salt set up Nyle Blake with a great chance – Nyle-nel had 2 bites at the cherry but one was saved well & the second went wide (into the waiting arms of Terry Mc, who set the Gold Standard benchmark for Ballpersons yesterday). Next up Blake became provider as one of his exocet throws set up Margs but The Surgeon shot wide.

Then Margs was provider for himself, with a trademark burst into the box, only to be scythed down but the ref didn’t give the penalty – even the hordes of Pit Tip Ultras could see it was a stonewall penner from their elevated position.

Next up a cross was fired in from the left & was heading for the Barton onion bag (not you Jerry) when Salty incredibly cleared it off the line!! You just cannot stop him defending!!!!! & with that we went in for half time at nil nil (although both teams stayed on the pitch as a result of COVID protocols).

Speaking of Onion Bag, here is another excellent photoset by the legendary OB

Plenty more attacking intent in the 2nd half & we got our rewards. Jack Wightwick threaded a ball through to Nyle-nel. His cross was blocked but fell to James Hugo who returned the ball to Blake. His cross was met by Margs & the Surgeon pulled off some incredible skill to chest the ball over his covering defender & then smash home in a style not dissimilar to David Platt vs Belgium in Italia 90. See for yourselves here

The game ebbed & flowed a little more & Tom Nick stood up well & prevented Barton scoring when they had a 1 on 1 chance after a rare error by Jack Smith. Other than this, TN had his deckchair out all afternoon

We had another chance cleared off the line (by a Barton defender this time!) & that was your lot for the afternoon.

Frecks will have been delighted with some of our play, & other areas will give him & the coaching squad plenty to work on in training.

This was our first home game under COVID19 protocols & I’ve got to say what an exceptional job the officials & volunteers did. We had multiple balls at pitchside & the balls were cleansed every time they cleared the perimeter wall & there was never any interruption to play. A massive shout out to Lee Gray too who has done some incredible work behind the scenes to get us in a position to host a football game. The only thing missing, dear listener, was you – we miss you like the deserts miss the rain. You can be absolutely confident that when you’re allowed back at the Wezzie you will be coming to a safe & secure environment.

This is what goalkeeping coach Gav ‘Sax’ Saxby thought about the game & life as a keeper in general

& here is The Surgeon with his thoughts.

WEBMASTER MOTM – plenty to be pleased with. I thought Kegan Everington was excellent in midfield & he & Hotte will be a power house. Tyler & James Hugo spent almost as much time attacking as they did defending. You cannot take your eyes off Margs & Brad Grayson for a second & they were well supported by Wightwick & Blake. Jack Smith looked very good when he came on for the injured Davie & Chris Salt gave a typical Chris Salt performance at the back as well as being a presence when we were attacking. But I’m giving the Glitterball to the Pit Tip Ultras – we could hear them singing from afar even though they didn’t have the best of views!!

TWITTER POLL MOTM – backs up the above. The Ultras came out on top with Salty, Kegan & Jack Smith also polling. Thanks to everyone who voted.

Next up is a PSF away at Shildon in the North East next Saturday – behind closed doors sadly