Grimsby Borough 2 Frickley Athletic 1 (PSF)

Recap

Grimsby Borough 2 Frickley 1

The Blues were given a stern test by a Grimsby Borough side who played some decent football before being narrowly beaten by two goals to one. However, 144 days after our last game – the longest the club has gone without playing since 1943 – we have finally started our pre-season programme!

A confusion over kit clashes saw the Blues playing in their numberless sky blue training tops but no matter the Frickley starting eleven was Tom Nicholson, Nyle Blake, James Hugo, Nathan Hotte, Jack Smith, Chris Salt, Kegan Everington, Jack Wightwick, Brad Grayson, Jonny Margetts, Tyler Williams with Alfie Eccles-Smith, Conor Green, Josh McLauchlan and Kyle O’Reilly on the bench.

Both sides were feeling their way into the game for the opening quarter of an hour with chances at a premium. Grimsby had the ball in the net soon after but an offside was rightly spotted by the officials.

The next 15 minutes saw the Boys in Sky Blue in the ascendency with Brad Grayson and Margs linking up well and Ty Williams and Nyle Blake giving the fullbacks a torrid time.

Just after the half hour mark though, Frickley keeper Tom Nicholson was called into action at the other end, making a smart stop with his legs.

In the closing minutes of the half, Margs was in the thick of it, beating the defender to the ball before toe poking it straight at the keeper. Then came the best chance of the half when Tyler’s shot was parried away, straight into the path of Margs. The ball never fell quite right for him but he had two bites at it, the first hitting the bar and the second being smothered by the keeper. HT 0-0.

Less than 30 seconds into the second period, Nyle Blake created a gilt-edged opportunity in the six-yard box for Brad Grayson to stab goalwards but the keeper stopped superbly on the line.

In the next few minutes, sub keeper Alfie Eccles-Smith experienced the highs and lows of custodianship. A top notch full length save in the 47th minute was followed by a fumble under pressure that allowed Grimsby to roll the ball into an empty net, opening the scoring in the 58th.

The Azzurri managed to level affairs 20 minutes later from a corner. Chris Salt guided the ball towards goal and fellow defender Jack Smith applied the final touch to put it over the line.

However, a minute later Grimsby were back in front. A sweeping move down the right ended with Alfie making a fine save but the ball was palmed into the path of the onrushing Grimsby winger who made no mistake in tucking it away. Despite an end-to-end final 10 minutes, that was how it stayed. FT 2-1.

It was a fast and feisty game with lots of flair on show. Plenty of minutes and miles in the tank will do the lads no end of good. The gaffer was pleased with what he saw whilst giving him odds and ends to work on in training. And it was simply great to be back at it, coz as we all know, football is the most important unimportant thing!

WEBMASTER MOTM – everyone put in a shift and the lads’ fitness was outstanding. I could make a case for most but to these eyes, the standouts were Chris Salt who would have headed away boulders if you needed him to, Tyler Williams who was tireless in his running down the left flank and Jack Smith who seemed to be everywhere, scoring our goal too. But the first Glitterball of 2020/21 goes to Nyle Blake! He took a bit to get into the game but when he did ‘Ny-onel Messi’ was a threat every time he got on the ball and his skillz were second to none. Bellissimo sir!

Finally, the only thing missing from the game was you, dear reader! Someone once said that football is nothing without fans – well, you were much missed and we can’t wait to see you back, cheering the lads on. Till then, we’ll keep doing our best to bring you all the gen…