Frickley Athletic v Rossington Main FC

Recap

Frickley 0 Rossington Main 1

In keeping with the day’s commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Miners’ Strike, The Blues dug in and went toe to toe with a Rossington side who are in the playoff places. In the end, a single first half goal settled it in Rosso’s favour but they will count themselves very fortunate after nothing was awarded following a blatant foul in the penalty area.

Before kickoff, 4 Frickley legends from the mid 80s came onto the pitch to be presented to the 300 plus crowd – Gary Hatto, scorer of 135 goals for the club, Barry Gill, ex-miner and much loved ex-club captain, Colin Bishop, scorer of the Blues’ only ever FA Cup third round proper goal (v Rotherham United in 1986) and shot stopper extraordinaire Tommy ‘The Cat’ Meehan. With over 230 goals and almost 2000 appearances for the club between them, the rapturous applause was no less than they deserved. The Lane will never forget.

Back to the present, bedecked in our special one-off, 83/84-style commemorative kit, Keegan Townrow, Morgan James, Rylee Grove and Luke Walker came into the starting lineup to replace Antony Onoh, Luke Proctor, Alex Varley and Ash Butterworth.

Jamesy had an early sighter with 85 seconds gone, testing the keeper from 20 yards.

On 12 minutes, Rieves Boocock played a neat one-two with Grove, then struck a stinging shot but the keeper made a flying save.

Rosso almost immediately got a chance of their own at the other end but couldn’t keep it down in front of goal.

Rosso opened the scoring in the 16th minute when they headed a cross back into the danger area for ex-Blue Jack Harrison to nod the ball past Bradders.

The Elk had a snapshot that went narrowly over the bar and Bradders made a Jennings-esque save with his legs but that was it for the rest of the first half as both sides slugged it out for every inch of territory. HT 0-1.

The Azzurri almost levelled it within 2 minutes of the restart when Sky Walker flicked on a Zav Elkin throw and Boocock connected well to volley at goal but the keeper palmed it away.

Rosso had a spell of pressure, heading well over, curling a shot wide from the edge of the box and twice flashing the ball across goal.

On the hour mark, Bradders showed a quick pair of feet to stop a close range header. And shortly after, Rosso went one on one with Bradders but the forward ,could only steer his shot past the upright.

Bradders was forced into action again after a clearance ricocheted off a Rosso forward, back towards goal.

In the last 15 minutes, Rieves got a glimpse of goal but the ball got caught under his feet and a dangerous ball in by Walker came to nought.

Deep into injury time, Big Al got to a bouncing ball in the box first, heading past the keeper before being cleaned out by said custodian. Absolutely 100% stonewall penalty. Remarkably nothing given. Meanwhile, Jake Lockwood hit the loose ball into the side netting from a very tight angle. I can’t tell you what the officials saw but I can tell you that the Rosso players were still laughing at their luck at the full time whistle. FT 0-1.

We deserved more from the game than we got, ‘interesting’ officiating cruelly/wrongly denying The Azzurri a penalty and a chance to take a point at the death.

WEBMASTER MOTM – a dogged performance and with more creativity than of late. The Elk and Jake H were on the front foot, Townrow was solid, and Jamesy battled on bravely through the pain. Rieves deserved a goal and Walker lead the line with gusto. And The Colonel’s work rate was second to none. But the Glitterball is a joint award to Rylee Grove and Callum Bradbury. The Groverider put himself about all over the park and Bradders kept us in it at times (and you can’t argue with The Legends – see below).

TWITTER MOTM – Rylee Grove takes it from Richard Collier, Rieves Boocock and Jake Hemingway. Callum Bradbury and Zav Elkin also polled votes. Thanks to all who voted.

SPONSORS/VOLUNTEERS MOTM – Callum Bradbury was chosen unanimously by the 4 legends, Barry Gill, Gary Hatto, Colin Bishop and Tommy Meehan. Well done Bradders!

An amazing 304 through the gate. Thank you for your superb support on such a memorable day. The miners and Frickley will never be defeated!

The match sponsor was Readings of Harrogate and the match ball sponsors were Steve Kemp and John Eccles. We thank them all for their generosity and kind support.

To hear the thoughts of the gaffer, Pat McGuire, click here.

The Blues are next in action tomorrow, Tuesday 19th March, when we host Penistone Church, 7.45pm kickoff. Hope to see you all there…

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#coalnotdole #RIPDavyJones #SecondToNone #FFTD