Recap

PSF2 – Club Thorne Colliery 2-3 Frickley

The Azzurri made it 2 wins from 2 in their 2026/27 preseason campaign with an entertaining 3-2 victory away at Club Thorne in a game that had just about everything.

The hosts edged in front on 12 minutes. A prone Thorne player tried to head the ball whilst it was a few inches from the ground and got a little kick on his melon. So when the ref pointed to the spot it looked a soft penalty. Thorne cared not and made no mistake from 12 yards to take an early lead.

Les Bleus patiently worked their way into the contest and almost found an equaliser on 28 minutes. Winning a free kick around 25 yards from goal, Willo stepped up and crashed a superb effort against the crossbar with the goalkeeper beaten.

The deserved leveller arrived in the 37th minute. Willo produced a pinpoint cross into the box where Jayden Roberts timed his run perfectly before deftly guiding the ball past the keeper.

Just 2 minutes later, The Boys in Blue nearly completed a rapid turnaround. Andrew threaded an excellent pass through to Willo, but the ball just got caught under his feet at the crucial moment as he prepared to pull the trigger. HT 1-1.

In timeworn preseason fashion, there were a number of changes at the break. The renewed Blues came out for the second half determined to maintain their momentum and created several good opportunities.

On 51 minutes, Flanagan brought the ball down beautifully on the edge of the area but lifted his shot over the crossbar. Barely a minute later, he found himself in almost identical circumstances, only to hit his effort wide.

Lucas Brown was next to go close in the 54th minute. Racing through on goal, he rounded the keeper but could only find the side netting from a narrowing angle.

Frickley continued to press and, on 58 minutes, Andrew improvised cleverly with a flick of the outside of his boot, but the Thorne custodian was equal to it.

The Blues needed some heroics at the other end on 68 minutes when Radz was perfectly placed to clear a goal bound effort off the line and keep it all square.

That intervention proved crucial because just a minute later The Azzurri went ahead. Cleggy delivered an inviting cross into the area and Flanagan powered a header into the onion bag.

Thorne responded quickly. After heading into the side netting on 71 minutes, they drew level in the 73rd when a swirling cross somehow evaded everyone inside the box before nestling in the top corner to make it 2 apiece.

The contest continued in an end to end manner before Les Bleus found what proved to be the decisive moment in the 81st minute. A corner was swung into the danger area where Radz climbed highest, sending a looping header over the stranded keeper and into the net to restore The Azzurri’s advantage.

There was still work to do in the closing stages. Thorne headed onto the roof of the net on 86 minutes. Then Allinson preserved Frickley’s lead with a solid stop, pushing away a late long range drive that turned out to be the last kick of the game. FT 2-3.

It was another good display, better than Mexico v England or Argentina v Egypt, and with no VAR interference. So if anyone tells you preseason friendlies are dull, they clearly didn’t see this one.

WEBMASTER MOTM – lots of promising showings out there. Radz, Roberts and Flanagan with well taken goals, Edjangue and Allinson commanded the penalty box, Gadge, Kilner and Dacre were rocksteady. But the Glitterball goes jointly to Luke Williams and Charlie Clegg. Both got assists for the second game on the spin and were pulling the strings like puppet masters. Word up, Willo, and cool, Cleggy!

The SESKU hordes made up the majority of the attendance, so it is that we thank you for such loyal support on a school night!

The Blues are next in preseason action on Saturday 11th July when Gainsborough Trinity are our visitors for the first preseason game at The Wezzie of 2026/27, 2pm kickoff. Please note the earlier ko time. Hope to see you all there….

(Pic courtesy of Chris Lewis)