Maltby Main v Frickley Athletic

Recap

As the mighty Rick Astley once sang:

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you

Well our fans definitely haven’t given up – as witnessed by a massive turn out at Maltby yesterday

The players definitely didn’t let us down – giving us a display of power & skill which by rights, given that they’ve only been together for a matter of weeks, shouldn’t have been possible

First half was a largely midfield battle with only a few half chances yielded but none taken

The second half was much more watchable & profitable from a Blues (playing in Mint) perspective – with the excellent Green pulling all the strings in midfield, ably supported by the intelligent Collier & Kofi as the enforcer, Frickley were able to take control of the game. The chances started to come – a header just wide from a corner, Keita creating 2 opportunities for himself & Green doing likewise.

Matty Hughes & Keelan Grist came on for Czubik & Green & this was to prove pivotal. As the game entered the 90th minute goalless it looked like we were heading for a nil nil……but Hughes & Lethal Lee Bennett hadn’t read the script. Matty put the afterburrners on down the right hand side, cut inside & squared it to Lethal who smashed home from around 12 yards out – he doesn’t miss them

2 main talking points which could have impacted the result – firstly a very early contender for ‘most obvious penalty not awarded’ when a Maltby defender almost picked up the ball & ran with it! Their keeper handled less confidently than he did! Nothing given. Then the ball was played through to a Maltby attacker who was so far offside he was in Oldcotes Village Hall when he got the ball – however the excellent Charlie Preston in our goals pulled off a worldy

So it ended 1 nil to the Azzurri which was definitely the right result as far as most of the supporters were concerned

Now Wayne has alluded to this a couple of times already – there are going to be bumps along the road this season & we have to accept them with Grace……or Evelyn (one for the Medwell family!) – but after last season I think we’re allowed to go a little crazy when we win!!!

WEBMASTER MOTM – a very solid team performance. Preston was assured with his handling & pulled off a great save. Ben Hall only joined the club this week but looked like he played for us forever & Binns was excellent at left back. Varley & Murillo were outstanding in the centre of defence. Keita, Czubik & Bennett gave the defenders all they could handle & more. But midfield is where we won the game – with the silky skills of Green & the non league Kante performance of Kofi but I’m giving the first Glitterball of the season Richard ‘The Colonel’ Collier, he was the midfield anchor that allowed George & Kofi to give their stellar performances

TWITTER POLL MOTM – this is the important one as it is voted for by the fans after the game. & it was a very close run thing but The Guvnor George Green takes it from Rich Collier with Alex Varley & Brandon Murillo just in behind them & Lewis Binns also polled votes. These votes will be aggregated with all the votes received in August to give us a Player Of The Month with a presentation in early September. So thank you to everyone who voted.

167 through the gate – with probably half of those being Frickley supporters – excellent support as always

Here is the Gaffers thoughts on proceedings

Next up, a very difficult trip up North as we visit Whickham in the FA Cup on Sunday 7th August 1pm kick off