Frickley Athletic v Swinton Athletic

Recap

A great philosopher once wrote “Naughty, naughty, very naughty. Ha ha ha ha ha”

Another great philosopher, Andy ‘Man Of’ Steele, once said “if you can get through these types of game with a win, no injuries & no bookings, that’s the best that you can hope for” – well, we were almost there. Tom Davie & Brad Wells both came off – but both were precautionary.

Storm Brendan couldn’t prevent the game from going ahead so it was left to Hurricane Margetts to wreak havoc. Brendan still had a bit of puff left in him, enough to hold up the ball at times but not enough to halt Frickleys march to the semi finals.

Will Sutton, a product of our U21s, came into the squad – & made his debut when he came on for Holli in the 2nd half (& he gave us his thoughts after the game, as did Assistant Gaffer KO’R)

Some familiar faces in the Swinton line up too – Sir Nicholas of Darkenbauer, Shawn Mitchell (who measured his Frickley career in minutes, not games) & Ellis Hancock (bastion & captain of our U21s)

It was fairly midfield for the first elements of the game & Frickleys first effort came from a great cross by Haze & Margs crashed a header against the bar, then Margs hit an excellent free kick which was met with an equally excellent save & both Haze & Brad shot over from the edge of the box.

The opening goal came on 40 minutes, a Jake Currie corner was headed home by Jonny Margs & that was the score at half time.

The Azzurri got into their stride quickly in the 2nd half & with only 3 minutes of the half gone, Haze broke through the defence & calmly struck it past the keeper. Our 2nd goal & Jacobs 115th.

That was pretty much it as far as the result was concerned.

20 minutes later, Margs showed the kind of footwork that got ‘Strictly’ Sherbs his nickname as he danced into the box & waltzed off with another goal to his name – his 16th or 17th for us (depending what records you read) & his 20th or 21st of the season in total (ditto).

He still wasn’t finished as shortly after he broke into the box & his shot hit the far post, bounced back into play & was cleared

3 nil was the final score – not the prettiest of games but it says 3 nil in the papers & we’re in the semis.

Things that I learned from the match – that things aren’t always what they seem. When the Swinton 7 took to the pitch wearing leggings that were half Keith Weller & half Nora Batty & a shirt that was slightly too small for him, I didn’t have him down for a baller – turns out he was the best player on the pitch!

Also, as I left the Wezzie I said to my fellow Media Tarts that Margs had had a fairly quiet game by his standards. Then I was reminded that he’d scored 2, hit the bar & hit the post…….

God knows who put me in charge of this stuff!

WEBMASTER MOTM – the back line completed another shut out, meaning another clean sheet & TJ having a night off. Cuz & Holli did all the graft again. But I’m giving the Glitterball to Margs – just to prove that I’m not afraid to say that I was wrong!

TWITTER POLL MOTM – backs up the above, Margs takes it from Haze with Cuz & Nathan Hotte just behind them. Thanks to everyone who voted.

91 votes cast & 92 attended the game – so what can we do to get that 1 person to vote????

Next up we are at home to Stamford on Saturday in a league game, kick off 3pm. Come on people, get down the Wezzie & support the boys