Frickley Athletic v Goole AFC

Recap

Frickley 3 Goole 1

Boxing Day’s Rumble in South Elmsall went the distance but 2 late goals for The Azzurri exposed Goole’s glass jaw and had them out for the count.

Richard Collier made the Boxing Day ring walk, coming in for the injured Morgan James, whilst Josh Haigh and Matty Hughes joined the undercard on the bench.

The Blues were almost caught cold (again) in the first minute as Goole lobbed Bradders but it went narrowly wide of the mark.

A minute later, it was Goole’s turn to breathe a sigh of relief as their defender almost turned in Big Al’s cross.

The Azzurri were ahead on points in the 5th minute though. A Keano throw in on the right was flicked on by Keegan and the bagsman Richie Patts was there to jab it past the keeper.

Around the 15 minute mark, Goole had a half chance that Bradders tidied up. Then The Blues went straight up the other end and Big Al put the frighteners on the Goole defence, testing the keeper with a low, hard drive.

Both teams bobbed and weaved for the next 20-odd minutes. Lloydy hit the post but was wrongly adjudged to be offside, otherwise no one was dropping their guard.

Goole spent 10 minutes down to 10 men as one was sin-binned.

2 minutes before the break, our Patts and their Potts, ironically both sides’ best players to that point, were forced of after a coming together at a 50/50 ball. El Binno entered the fray in place of Patts. HT 1-0.

After the break, Big Al was at the business end, seeing a shot well saved. Then from the resulting corner, Keano’s header was cleared off the line. Big Al pounced on the rebound but his shot was charged down.

On 56 minutes, Goole broke clean through but their forward went down as he rounded Bradders who didn’t look like he touched the ball. If Bradders has clipped the forward then it’s a red for him, if the forward has dived then it’s a yellow for him. But as nowt was given then it must have been a trip over one of those Wezzie bobbles, and chance gone.

The home side’s erstwhile failure to land a knockout blow gave Goole the chance of a sucker punch which came just before the hour when they found space and levelled affairs.

The Azzurri’s heads could’ve dropped but they didn’t, and the heavy sparring continued.

The Blues were still getting the upper hand. Zav shot from range, the keeper spilled it but held onto the angled shot from the follow-up. Lloydy had a free kick saved and saw a header pouched. And several Blues were involved in a combination when the ball ricocheted around the Goole box but not one could get their laces through it.

With 5 minutes remaining, it was looking like a draw was on the cards, then that fox in the box, El Binno, headed home Lloydy’s corner for his 3rd goal in his last 9 league games.

If Goole weren’t on the ropes before, they were in the 89th minutes when goal machine Keegan Townrow, non-league’s Steve Bruce, netted his 8th of the season from a Zav Elkin free kick.

The Elk still had time to get down the other end and brilliantly defend a Goole run by ushering his man out wide. FT 3-1.

The visitors certainly didn’t throw the towel in and The Blues made heavier weather of it than they perhaps should’ve. However, The Boys in Blue went the distance as usual, and did more than enough to get the majority decision.

WEBMASTER MOTM – it was Boxing Day so….

Bradders – Hands of Stone

Brandon M – Boom Boom

The Elk – Smokin’

Keano – The Golden Boy

Varls – Marvellous

Keegan – The Executioner

Zak – The Baby-Faced Assassin

Patts – Bonecrusher

The Colonel – The Duke

Big Al – The Hitman

El Binno – The Real Deal

Big Ank – The Lion

Haighy – The Radar

Rieves – The Fearsome

Hughesy – Dynamite

But the Glitterball has to go to Lloyd Smith – Simply The Best. Knockout stuff, Lloydy!

TWITTER MOTM – Lloyd Smith takes it from Richard Collier, Keanan Mannings and Keegan Townrow. Lewis Binns and Zak Kersey also polled votes. El Binno was also voted superest super sub. Thanks to all who voted.

SPONSORS/VOLUNTEERS MOTM – Lloyd Smith was chosen by the legendary Kyle O’Reilly for running the channels so well and every ball just stuck to him. Well done, Lloydy!

308 through the gate, our second biggest attendance of the season so far. Thank you for being in our corner and supporting your local club in such big numbers at Christmas!

To hear the thoughts of the Frickley’s version of Angelo Dundee, aka manager Pat McGuire, click here.

The Blues are next in action on Saturday 30th December when we travel to Golcar United for a 3pm kickoff. Hope to see you all there…

#forzaboxingday 🥊

#forzafrickley

Also, huge thanks go to young Travis Cooper (see accompanying pic) who raised a purse of £121 for the club with his Christmas raffle! Amazing, Trav! 🙏

Happy Christmas, folks!