Frickley Athletic vs Maltby Main

Recap

A strong Maltby side gave Craig Spink’s men a stern test in this first preseason friendly and the visitors eventually hung on for a narrow win. But in preseason, the priorities are building match fitness first – that’s a tick then, performance second – which was improving as the game went on so half a tick, and result a distant third – well, we did win the second half.

As is the nature of these games, there were a lot of new faces on show in Frickley’s 1st half team of Jackson, Howard, Bodle, Jordan, Belinga, Hogg, Cable, Burton, McMenemy, Currie, Hazel. The Maltby side had a familiar look, with its handful of ex-Blues in the shape of Cam Rigby, Waide Fairhurst and Stone Cold Steve Hopewell.

The first shot of preseason came from who else but Jacob Hazel, Haze putting the ball well over after 4 minutes. Just a minute later, Jack McMenemy nipped in, rounded the Maltby keeper, drove the ball goalwards and into the danger area before being cleared by a defender.

Maltby should have taken the lead in the 10th minute when Tom Jackson rushed out of his goal and felled the Maltby forward but Waide Fairhurst dragged his spot kick wide of the upright. Interestingly (?), the last time Waide played at the Wezzie, for Sheffield FC in the last home league game of 17/18, he also missed a penalty.

However, it wasn’t long before Maltby were ahead, an 18th minute cross into the box was acrobatically pushed away by Jackson but fell to Gavin King who made no mistake from 8 yards. 1-0 to Main.

The Maltby pressure continued with a couple of near misses for Cam Rigby and Steve Hopewell before they doubled their lead in the 35th minute. Rigby’s slide rule pass from the left wing found Robbie Foster, on as a sub only 2 minutes earlier, and he slotted the ball under an advancing Jackson for 2-0.

The Blues started to push back in the closing minutes of the half but a long range Jack McMenemy effort was all they could muster before the break. HT 0-2.

As to be expected in preseason, there were a few changes at half time, 11 to be precise, so Frickley’s 2nd half team was Bowring, Mears, Harrison, Carrington, Carrick (Konateh), Feirn, Triallist, Smiljanic, Pugh, Rooke, Simpson.

The second period started brightly with chances at both ends within the space of a couple of minute. Les Bleus had the better of the ensuing minutes but it took until the 65th minute before they could reduce the arrears. Kyle Simpson caught the Maltby keeper off his line with an outrageous lob from just over 20 yards to pull it back to 2-1.

The next 20 minutes were a midfield battle with Frickley in the ascendency but without creating anything clear cut. It took until the 85th minute before Nenad had a cheeky shot from out wide on the right that almost caught the keeper out again.

In the final moments, Maltby nearly extended their lead twice. The first attempt saw Frickley stopper Lewis Bowring make a superb reflex save, palming the ball around the post. Then Maltby hit the post in a goalmouth scramble, from the resulting corner, before the danger could be cleared. FT 1-2.

This was Maltby’s second preseason game and it showed, as they were little sharper and had gelled more as a team than the Blues in the first half. It was noticeable that the Blues were stronger in the second half when the nucleus of the side was from the U21s with the experience of playing together and the greater team understanding that that brings. All in all, a worthwhile exercise and again we’re grateful to our friends at Maltby for stepping in at the last moment to give us a good run out.

WEBMASTER’S MOTM – As it was different sides in each half, I’m going to award one motm for each half (it’s my internet so I’ll do what I want). In a tricky first half, Ben Bodle was always on the move and Jake Currie was industrious but Jack McMenemy was a constant threat so he takes the first half Glitterball. In the second period, Shaun Carrington and Jack Harrison were composed at the back, and subsequently Lewis Bowring had little to do in the Frickley net but what he did do, he did very well. Brad Mears was tireless as well, as he scampered up and down the flanks, and he was named motm by match sponsors, BRM Solicitors, but the second half Glitterball goes to Nenad Smiljanic for an assured performance in midfield, pulling the strings as he did. Congrats to all.

There was a decent crowd turned out for a friendly, we thanks you all for your kind support and it was good to see you all after the summer break. We go again on Friday evening against exotic opposition, East Stirlingshire, 7.45 ko. Hope to see you there.