Recap

Frickley 1 Sheffield Wednesday XI 4 (PSF3)

Frickley put in an improved performance against EFL opposition Sheffield Wednesday, eventually suffering a 4–1 defeat but not without showing plenty of fight and flashes of quality.

The game kicked off in front of a big crowd, and the Blues held their own in the early exchanges. Harry Gagen set the tone with a couple of vital interventions inside the first 15 minutes, helping keep Wednesday at bay.

The visitors’ breakthrough came in the 17th minute, when a cross from the left was met by the Owls’ captain, who fired home from close range. Just over 10 minutes later, Wednesday doubled their lead with a sharp low finish from a tight angle on the right.

Despite the pressure, Frickley had moments of promise. Robinson’s dangerous delivery on 30 minutes narrowly missed Cable, and Spence showed sharp instincts in closing down the keeper ten minutes later, almost forcing a mistake.

Wednesday continued to press, sending a few speculative efforts over the bar, and had a goal ruled out after a contentious early whistle from the ref following a foul in the build up. HT 0-2.

After the break, Destiny clipped a shot wide as Frickley looked to get on the scoresheet. But it was Wednesday who struck next, making it 3–0 in the 57th minute with a driven effort from the edge of the box. They nearly added another soon after, dispossessing the keeper but lifting the ball just over from distance.

The Azzurri’s persistence paid off in the 71st minute. Tom A whipped in a corner and Brian Trialist rose highest to head home.

There was frustration late on when it looked like Destiny was brought down while rounding the keeper — only for the referee to award a corner instead of a penalty.

Wednesday restored their 3 goal lead on 84 minutes with a composed side-footed finish, but Frickley nearly hit back again through Tom A, whose close range shot went just wide. FT 1-4.

A tough test, but The Boys in Blue more than held their own for large spells and will take plenty of positives from an entertaining game against a strong Owls side.

WEBMASTER MOTM – I’ll leave this to loyal fan Chris Howden who nailed it when he wrote on X “Best performance of pre-season so far, Gagen in the first half and Destiny in the second, both stellar. Cracking header from Triallist B for the goal as well.” So the Glitterball goes jointly to Harry Gagen and Destiny. Harry‘s timing in the tackle was top-notch and Des buzzed around, keeping the Wednesday back four on their toes. Nice one, boys!

A mighty 530 through the gate, our biggest home attendance since the playoff semi final against Stamford in May 2018! Thank you all for such an amazing turnout on a very warm evening!

To hear the thoughts of the gaffer, Tom Claisse, you’ll be needing a time machine coz I bogged up the recording and only got 8 seconds of it! It’s just preseason, I’ll need to up my organisation and performance…😉. What the gaffer did say was that there’s stuff to work on but he was pleased with the performance and he was proud of his side tonight. He praised Wednesday for their play and thanked them for bringing a team over. He also thanked all of the supporters for coming and making it such a great evening with a big crowd.

To see the full photo gallery by Pixel Perfect Photography, click here.

It’s a quick turnaround as The Blues are next in action less than 16 hours after the final whistle of this game when we travel to Grimsby Borough for a 1pm kickoff on Saturday 12th July. Don’t forget your bucket and spade. Hope to see you all there….

#forzafrickley

#FFTD