Recap
Frickley 2 Hallam 1
Our only home preseason friendly was to have been a showcase game against a Rotherham United XI. With bumper crowd and Millers legend, Lee Frecklington on show, commemorative programme all but written, it was going to be a good ‘un. Then, as we’ve become accustomed to, Covid in the Millers’ squad intervened and Rotherham had to pull out. Game off. Boo!
But then our friends at Hallam from the NCEL Division One agreed to step in at the last moment. Game on. Yay!
The next obstacle was that the game was
played on the hottest day of the year so far!
With temperatures hitting 34 degrees centigrade – officially
scorchio! – it was evident from the state of the players by the end of the prematch warm up why football is a winter game. I lost 10 lbs just sitting in the stands.
Nonetheless, both sides put on a helluva show, considering the conditions. Les Bleus largely controlled the first half, with Joe West charging forward from fullback to crack in the opener. Brad Wells was virtually unplayable and inevitably doubled the advantage just before half time.
The second half was unsurprisingly a little more sedate affair by the Boys in Blue, as heat and substitutions took their effects but Hallam obviously hadn’t received the memo and played their way back into the game. Hallam got an admittedly soft penalty (ball to hand) but wasted the opportunity, blazing the spot kick high over the bar, taking out a passing satellite in the process. Undaunted, Hallam scored to make the final few minutes even sweatier but the Blues saw it out for another win.
And, as ever, it was great to see ex-Blues Richie Patts, Salty and Chris Woods gracing the hallowed Wezzie turf again.
Frickley AthleticHallam FC 
