Thackley AFC v Frickley Athletic

Recap

Thackley 2 Frickley 1

The Blues fell to a second defeat in a week in a feisty affair at Thackley and injuries to Nathan Fletcher and Brandon Murillo further soured the afternoon. Goals either side of half time put the home side in the driving seat. Al Keita’s late goal gave us a chance of salvaging a point but in the end it wasn’t enough.

Benno brought in Fletcher to replace the unavailable George Green but the game was only a few minutes old when Fletch was poleaxed by a nasty tackle that meant new signing from Knaresborough midfielder Javan Benjamin had to be thrown into the action rather sooner than anyone anticipated.

Otherwise, the Boys in Blue started the brighter of the two sides, with Keita and Brandon Burke both having a couple of first half opportunities in front of goal.

At the other end, Tom Greaves and Aiden Chippendale are the most potent strike force in the division with 16 goals between them. They were largely blunted by the defensive unit but lose concentration for a moment and these sort of players will punish you. And that’s what happened in the 29th minute as Chippendale charged across the face of the penalty area before lashing a shot past Chaz Preston to open the scoring and make it 17!

Chippendale had two more chances before the break but fired wide and over. HT 1-0.

Ten minutes into the second period, Murillo appeared to catch his studs in the turf and tumbled to the ground, obviously in tremendous pain. After a long delay, the injury had took the wind out of The Azzurri’s sails, as so often happens, and we struggled to get back into our stride.

Thackley took advantage and extended their lead in the 72nd minute. A throw in was needlessly conceded and a Thackley forward was able to shoot across goal. The shot was spilt right onto the foot of Thackley’s Lewis Waddington who had the simplest of tasks, tapping the ball in from 2 yards out.

Les Bleus rallied and, with 11 minutes of normal time remaining, sub Szymon Czubik and Brandon Burke combined to lay the ball in the path of Al Keita on the edge of the box. The Hawk made no mistake, passing it into the corner of the net.

With their Azzurri dander up, a Frickley header was cleared off the line, and Czubik continued to be in the thick of it. His low curling shot was pushed wide and he had what looked like a stonewall penalty waved away when he was sandwiched by the keeper and a defender.

It turned out to be a false dawn as momentum faded and the game petered out into a series of niggly fouls, injury stoppages and runs to the corner flag. FT 2-1.

The officiating was at best ‘interesting’, and we lost our way for significant periods of the game – the execution not matching the intentions. On the plus side, we allowed very few goalscoring chances, far less than we created, but the difference was that Thackley took theirs and we didn’t. However, the game and result was overshadowed by Brandon Murillo’s injury.

At time of writing, Brandon is in hospital suffering from a broken leg (fibia) and awaiting further treatment. We wish Brandon a speedy recovery and send him all our love. Special thanks to our physio Sarah, Thackley’s physio and Richard, Neil and Penny, and anyone else who assisted Brandon or went to hospital with him.

WEBMASTER MOTM – not our best performance of the season but defensively we were strong for the majority of the ninety minutes, just two lapses leading to goals. Murillo was solid as usual until his untimely exit and El Binno was a rock at the heart of the defence. Kofi and The Colonel did what they do in the engine room, ably assisted by new boy, Javan B. The Hawk and Gristy were tireless runners up front and Czubik was lively when he came on. But I’m giving The Glitterball to Brandon Burke. He ran for fun and had his best game in a Blue shirt. On another day might’ve had a goal too. Bonzer BB!

TWITTER MOTM – El Binno took the popular vote with Brandon Burke, Al Keita and Kofi Appiah in behind him. Thanks to all who voted.

218 through the turnstiles, Thackley’s highest home attendance of the season so far, with a good number of Blues fans in attendance. We thank you for your amazing support on a tough afternoon.

And thanks again to Joel ‘Gubba’ Clarkson for another top drawer performance on commentary.

We go again against Winterton Rangers on Tuesday evening, 7.45pm ko, in the NCEL League Cup. Hope to see you all there….