Recap

Frickley 2 Bottesford Town 1

The Blues mounted a heroic rearguard action to grind out a tense victory over Bottesford Town, after being controversially reduced to 10 men for the entire second half.

The Azzurri were immediately on the front foot. With less than 2 minutes gone, Destiny whipped a low ball across the 6 yard box, only for every Blue shirt to miss it by a stud’s length.

Bottesford replied with a free kick headed well over. And Kilner’s timely tackle on 15 minutes averted danger, as did Booth’s safe handling of a speculative long range effort.

The Azzurri soon reasserted control. In the 18th minute, Robbo set Destiny away, the forward’s first attempt smacking off the keeper before he rounded him, only to fire his follow up into the side netting.

A minute later Radz was bundled over in the area, but the ref waved play on. Not the last ‘interesting’ piece of officiating that we’d see.

Booth had to punch clear a tricky Bottesford cross on 24 minutes, and the loose ball was driven wide. And Bottesford tried their luck from distance but it flew well wide.

From then on, it was pretty much one way traffic towards the visitors’ goal. Robbo burst into the box and squared for Destiny, whose shot from close range cannoned off the upright. Just past the half hour mark, Destiny returned the favour, threading a pass through to Robbo whose wormburner also came back off the post. But within half a minute, Robbo controlled a pass, turned and the ball sat up for him to hit it from around 20 yards, and it arced over the keeper into the net for his 10th goal of the season.

The Azzurri weren’t done. Destiny lashed over from a tight angle on 38 minutes, Cleggy forced the keeper into a sharp low stop a minute later, and moments before the break Destiny flicked on a cross for Robbo, who hit the side netting.

Then came the flashpoint. Deep into added time, Cleggy slid into a tackle, taking the ball cleanly but upending his opponent. Initially, the ref seemed set on awarding only a free kick, but after a crowd of Bottesford players surrounded him, he produced a red card for what he now deemed a ‘reckless challenge’. It wasn’t. The decision was met with disbelief across the ground. Frickley went into the break a goal up but a man down. HT 1-0.

The Azzurri were playing down the slope after the restart but faced an uphill battle with 10 men and the away side bringing on an extra attacker to try and make their advantage count.

Bottesford pressed intensely, hemming The Blues in. Yet on 54 minutes, the game took another twist. The visitors rolled the ball back to their keeper but Tom Alngohuru charged down the clearance, gathered the rebound, steadied himself and slotted home to double the advantage.

However, Bottesford halved the deficit just past the hour when a rapid counter attack was going nowhere but the forward went looking for contact and took a theatrical tumble in the box to win a spurious penalty. Duly dispatched.

Destiny almost restored the breathing space soon after when he nicked the ball from a defender and shot into the side netting again.

On 67 minutes Love was scythed down. From the resulting free kick, the keeper spilled the ball and Radz was quickest to react but his shot was blocked.

Bottesford continued to press while The Blues continued to defend like demons. Booth was rounded on 71 minutes but Love stormed back to hack clear. Another chance fizzed wide a minute later, and a free kick was headed wide with a little over 10 minutes to play. Butch and Andrew entered the fray for Woolly and Destiny as legs began to tire.

The closing stages were frantic. As the clock ran down, ever more slowly it seemed, a Bottesford volley from a corner cleared the bar. And Robbo rifled a shot across the face of goal.

The drama didn’t abate. 3 minutes into time added on, Bottesford’s number 8 barged over Nick Leadbeater, our goalkeeping coach who’s still recovering from being on crutches until recently. It was a needless act of aggression, inexplicably earning only a caution to the disbelief of those present.

In the 5th minute of stoppage time, Booth was beaten by a header but the massed ranks of Blue defenders were there to clear it off the line and seal a memorable win. FT 2-1.

The Blues might’ve finished the night outnumbered, under siege, and running on fumes, but Frickley fight to the death (#FFTD remember?!) and we weren’t surrendering those 3 points to anyone. And that’s 4 wins on the trot now, with 10 wins and 3 draws from 17 under Woolly, to climb into the top half of the table at the close of play. Not bad, not bad… 😉

WEBMASTER MOTM – that was a performance (and result) shaped as much by resolve as by quality, as it had to be given the circumstances. Every single man gave all he had. Booth is proving a superb deputy for Sykesy between the sticks. Lindley was a tireless runner, as was Cleggy until he was grievously wronged. The front 3 of Alngohuru, Robinson and Destiny were simply a bloody handful who continue to produce the goods. Off the bench, Butch broke up play and Andrew defended from the front. And we see you, Woolly, mastermind and midfield general. However, after much internal deliberation, I’m giving the Glitterball to The Blue Wall of Sam Kilner, Tom Radley, Harry Gagen and Liam Love. Their commitment, concentration and discipline was second to none. Respect, RaGaLoKi!

TWITTER MOTM – Harry Gagen takes it from Liam Love, Lucas Robinson and Destiny Ifeanyi Nnenanua. Tom Radley, Cleggy and  ‘Every player’ also polled votes. Thanks to all who voted.

SPONSORS/VOLUNTEERS MOTM – The whole team was chosen by Andy Steele, for putting in such a collective shift. Well done, lads!

205 through the gate. Thank you coming out on a Friday night to support The Boys in Blue. You were the 12th man (or 11th in the second half)!

To hear the thoughts of the gaffer, Martin Woolford, click here.

To see the matchday programme, click here.

To see the goals, click here.

The Blues are next in action on Saturday 20th December when we travel to Tadcaster Albion, 3pm kickoff. Hope to see you all there….

#forzafrickley

#FFTD