Rossington Main FC v Frickley Athletic

Recap

Rossington Main 1 Frickley 1

Once again The Azzurri were the better side for large parts of the game. But this time, despite some ‘interesting’ officiating, we came away with a well-deserved point from the short trip to Rossington following an entertaining one-all draw.

The Gaffer made 2 changes from Saturday with McCormack and Holden coming in for Thwaites and Stobart.

In a near carbon copy of Saturday’s game, The Blues dominated play but were restricted to Gilly’s early looping header into the keeper’s hands in the first 20 minutes.

Rosso came back into it with a couple of chances in quick succession. A mix up at the back gave them an open goal but the ball rolled wide. And after a Rosso foul in midfield (nowt given) they shot but Hewitson tipped it against the post and it was swiftly cleared.

Around the 30-minute mark, The Boys in Blue had two excellent shouts for a penner. Williams was barged to the deck in the box, Stonewall but not given. And Gilly had his heels clipped in the area. Nothing doing there either.

6 minutes before half time, the home side took the lead against the run of play. Adam Hewitson was impeded as Rosso headed onto the post from a corner then scrambled it in but the goal was allowed to stand. HT 1-0.

Both teams had half chances in the minutes after the break. The half time pomelos were giving Les Bleus the energy to keep up the pressure.

Just after the hour, the hard work paid dividends as The Azzurri drew level. One of Keano’s howitzer long throws came back to him, he steadied himself, crossed and Callum Brook powered in a bullet of a header.

Ian Clarkson also gets a pre-assist as our coach driver extraordinaire had just gone relieve himself, saying that they always score when he’s in the WC. The lads must have spotted him going and did the honours. Sponsorship from Volvic incoming.

The two protagonists traded blows for the remainder of the game. Hewitson stuck out a paw to make a good stop and Rosso shot across the face of goal a couple of times.

At the other end, Gilly had a shot blocked and Varls teed up Louis Thwaites but his shot was deflected into the side netting.

The hosts were fortunate to finish with 11 men after a badly mistimed attempted tackle on Williams by ex-Blue Paul Sherburn. Sherbs is a super lad but that was a red yet was only deemed a free kick and no card of any colour. Then Hughesy’s marker went through him from behind, necessitating the subbing of the aforementioned sub, but remarkably the officials saw nothing, not even a free kick offence.

In time added on, Rosso had a great chance to win it but missed a sitter from a corner, hitting the post from a few feet out. FT 1-1.

A gutsy performance with sustained intensity. And we’re on the board. Blues legend, The Surgeon Jonny Margetts, was in attendance and told us how impressed he was. High praise indeed. Apologies though that we forgot to ask how his dad’s lawn was doing.

WEBMASTER MOTM – Do that every week and we won’t go far wrong. Lots of decent showings all over the park including Varls, Harls, Gilly, Cool Hand Luke and Jack Cairney. Plus a special mention for Brooky, a defensive rock and now joint top scorer 😉 However, I’m awarding a joint Glitterball to Keanan Mannings and Zav Elkin Sheppard. Keano was instrumental in our goal and his heatmap would just be the entire pitch shaded red. And Zav ran his blood to water, with more crosses than on my O-Level Woodwork exam – and that only got a grade E. Bravo, boys!

TWITTER MOTM – final result not in yet but at the mo Keanan Mannings narrowly leads from Callum Brook, Zav Elkin Sheppard and Jack Varley. Thanks to all who voted.

SPONSORS/VOLUNTEERS MOTM – Keanan Mannings was chosen by Joel Clarkson who said “Some of the pitch was covered by grass but all of it was covered by Mannings”. Well done, Keano!

317 through the gate with a goodly number of SESKU’s subjects crossing the border into South Yorkshire. Your support was peerless, thank you.

To hear the thoughts of Assistant Gaffer, Matthew Flanagan, click here.

We don’t have a game on Saturday so The Blues are next in action on Tuesday 13th August, when we travel to Tadcaster Albion, 7.45pm kickoff. Hope to see you all there….

#forzafrickley

#FFTD