Frickley Athletic v Bottesford Town

Recap

Frickley 1 Bottesford Town 1

Ben Hall’s injury time equaliser saw The Blues salvage a point from a scrappy, disjointed game against fellow strugglers Bottesford Town.

The only change from last Saturday’s starting eleven was the inclusion of Nathan Moss in place of Isaac Jeffreys. New signing midfielder Callum Beaumont was named on the bench. Signed from Horbury Town this week, Callum has quite a bit of Blues pedigree, playing for our U23s as well and being the son of U23s boss Martin Beaumont and the grandson of ex-Blues manager Frank Beaumont.

The opening minutes were very cagey. Bottesford keeping the ball a little better than The Blues in in the early stages.

The only moments of any note were the clearance of a 10th minute cross by Ben Hall that resulted in a corner. Brandon Murillo got on the end of the set piece but side footed over the bar from close range.

And in the 27th minute, Lloyd Smith shot at goal, it looked to be catching practice for the Bottesford keeper but he spilt the ball awkwardly before recovering it.

Just after the half hour, a nice through ball allowed Lloydy to charge towards goal, dragging the ball back and smashing his shot against the bar, it came down on (or fractionally over?) the line and spun back out into play. No goal awarded – where’s a Russian linesman when you need one?

As happens when the cards are against you, Bottesford went straight down the other end and scored. The visiting forward’s shot hit the unfortunate Elliot Owen and the deflection crept past a prone Harrison Davison-Hale into the net.

And that was it for the first half aside of Nathan Moss whipping the ball across goal but evading everyone on the stroke of halftime. HT 0-1.

After the break we had to endure the torture of Bottesford time wasting, feigning cramp and kicking the ball away (don’t worry, we’d have done the same in that situation).

It took until the hour mark for The Boys in Blue to conjure up something to threaten the Bottesford goal then created three chances in quick succession. Sub Wade Ripley twisted and turned in the box but nothing doing then Big Al dragged a shot from the edge of the box narrowly wide. Wade found Elliot Owen on the penalty spot but he could only volley over on the turn.

HDH kept The Blues in the hunt with a flying save from a Bottesford free kick in the 70th minute and soon after, Bottesford broke through but shot straight at him.

The Azzurri didn’t give up. With a couple of minutes remaining, Wade fizzed the ball into the mixer but it was cleared and moments later the ball was in the net but the ref indicated it was a foul on the Bottesford keeper.

Deep into time added on, it was looking bleak but then up popped Ben Hall. Bored of penalty box pinball, GBH decided to smash it in the bottom corner instead. Some modicum of relief ensued. FT 1-1.

Not exactly a game of quality but The Azzurri showed character in the way they kept going to the very end. And that point, whilst not quite the three that we needed, might be a vital one in the final reckoning, maintaining as it does a nine point gap between ourselves and Bottesford in 19th place, the second relegation spot.

WEBMASTER MOTM – the execution didn’t quite match the unquestionable commitment but they never gave up and got some reward. The frontmen, Lloydy and Big Al ran and battled all night, and Rich Collier was always in the thick of it. Wade Ripley injected more urgency into the attack when he came on. And I liked the fact that Beaumont immediately got stuck in, getting a yellow card within minutes of entering the fray. Proper Frickley that is. Ben Hall was given a tough evening but manfully stuck to his task and took his goal superbly. The defensive unit was strong, HDH made a crucial save in the second half, and Murillo and Owen were their usual no nonsense selves. So it is that the Glitterball goes to one of that unit’s members, Lewis Binns. He epitomises dogged defence. Bellissimo El Binno!

TWITTER MOTM – The public love a goal scorer so Ben Hall shaded it over Lewis Binns, with Wade Ripley and Rich Collier in after that. Harrison Davison-Hale and Brandon Murillo also polled votes. Thanks to all who voted.

An amazing 200 souls through the gate. Thank you for your unbelievable support.

We are next in action on Saturday, 11th February, when we travel to table-toppers North Ferriby, 3pm ko. Hope to see you all there!