Steeton AFC v Frickley Athletic

Recap

Steeton 0 Frickley 3

The weather was gloomy but the performance was bright as The Azzurri sailed to an easy on the eye 3-0 victory on the plastic at Steeton.

It’s holiday season so Pat and Blake had to shuffle the pack a bit for this one. So it was that the opening 10 minutes were a cagey affair with both sides settling into the game.

On 12 minutes, The Blues had seen enough, a raking move sent Rieves Boocock clear on the right before he squared the ball for Eliel Maville-Anku to slide in and bury it from eight yards out.

Six minutes later, The Boys in Blue went further ahead when Keanan Mannings threw in, Varls flicked on and Boocock headed in from close range.

The Blues continued to push forward and EMA laid off a pass from The Elk into the path of Rievesy B but his shot rolled wide of the post.

Les Bleus took their foot off the gas a little, allowing Steeton to show some of their moves. Callum Bradbury had to be on his toes, pulling off two or three tricky saves and an absolute stunner, tipping an angled volley over the bar. HT 0-2.

In a mirror image of the start of the first half, nowt to tell in the opening 10 minutes (and beyond) of the second either.

Other than a blocked Boocock shot, there was barely a chance to be had but a solid defensive performance, all danger successfully averted.

In the last ten minutes, Big Al and Cleggy fired shots from distance, across Steeton’s bows.

Then in the final seconds, Fletch sent a big looping ball into the box and Big Al sent an equally big looping header into the bottom corner of the net to conclude the scoring. FT 0-3.

Don’t let the scoreline be fooling you into thinking Steeton were a pushover. Steeton put Thackley to the sword last week by four goals to one so they’re definitely no mugs. But recycling incoming – it’s preseason so the result is meaningless, but the win seemed a fair reflection of the afternoon’s events… 😉

WEBMASTER MOTM – A sterling display, 3 quality goals, ‘nuff said. The team performance makes it hard to pick clear standouts, and substitutions were like for like, consistency throughout. But no sitting on the fence here, so EMA, Rievesy and Big Al were live wires, El Binno and Keanan were silky smooth in the engine room and Bradders was golden gloves. The Elk, Fletch and Thierry HE showed us some top fullbackery, and Jonesy was old skool grit personified. However, the Glitterball goes to Alex Varley who was so cool at the heart of the defence that he had to be treated for frostbite when he came off! Viva La Varls!

To hear the thoughts of the manager, Pat McGuire, click here.

The Blues are next in action on Tuesday when we travel to Oulton to play Nostell Miners Welfare, 8pm kickoff. Hope to see you all there….