Frickley U23’s 1
i2i City U23s 1
Get your Collins Dictionary down from the bookshelf & use it to Google the phrase ‘one way traffic’ & it simply says ‘Frickley U23s vs i2i CIty U23s 27th March 2025’…..
We were all interested to see how the Young Blues would respond to last weeks somewhat chastening defeat – & they responded magnificently, playing their best football of the season – but a mixture of good keeping & defending, even better luck & our own profligacy in front of goal meant the game ended in a draw.
The game was so one sided that at one point during the 2nd half Dylan Sefton joined our award winning Media Team in the stand to discuss wrestlers of the 1970s – Safehands Sefton is a massive Honey Boy Zimba & Brian ‘Goldbelt’ Maxine fan so he clearly knows his stuff – eventually returning to the hallowed sward of the Wezzie to join the impressive defensive unit
Looking to get back to winning ways we were pleased to welcome back the superbly talented Wade Ripley (some of you may remember watching him ‘rip’ defenders a new ‘un for our first team) to the starting line up along with Harry McCudden who was making his debut after impressing with Frickley U18’s.
In a tight opening 15 mins both sides were struggling to take any control of the game, with a lot of misplaced passes, then the magic man Wade Ripley danced his way past 4 defenders (oh, we have missed watching him play) to unfortunately see the opposition GK save his goal bound effort. This would be a common feature of the game with i2i City’s stopper making several great saves in a memorable night for him, but midway through the 1st half the Young Azzurri took a deserved lead when debutant Harry McCudden drilled in a left foot shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
The hard working & talented Atley Jackson (who impressed the Media Team all night) combined with Harry Alexander to see his thunderous shot superbly saved through a crowded area, & with half time approaching defenders Ryan Clements (who was the stand out player in an outstanding defensive unit), James Nicklin, Ben Jennings & Wilfey Woodham were all defending well in restricting the visitors to several half chances.
The 2nd half started with a flurry a good chances – the impressive Joe Wilson played in Wade Ripley twice in a matter of minutes only to be denied by the visiting keeper, who was starting to have one of those nights. Midfielder Alfie Studd was doing a lot of unselfish work in midfield covering his teammates as we pushed forward to get a deserved 2nd goal. Harry McCudden had 2 more chances to double the home sides lead, 1 saw another good save low down & the other went inches over the bar. Joe Wilson was causing havoc now and superbly fired across the box low & hard which Wade Ripley somehow couldn’t connect at the far post. Was it going to be one of those nights?
You can start to imagine the script, our boys were unable to get their second goal due to great goalkeeping & poor finishing & they needed to keep the back door locked to gain all 3 points. Unfortunately the inevitable happened – i2i break clear & cross for the on rushing striker to score from 6 yards, 1-1 with 5 mins to play.
You had the feeling though that the home side still had a chance to go & win it, this came in the dying minutes when the 2 outstanding players combined, Wade Ripley found Atley Jackson just outside the 6 yard box, middle of the goals surely this was it? Atley fired a well struck shot goal bound that somehow struck the shoulder/arm of the advancing GK & quite magnificently he saved the day again with his best save of the night, outstanding from him.
The whistle blew & home side were left frustrated but probably only had themselves to blame (& the visiting GK of course!).
Paul Mann MOTM went to Atley Jackson, who just pipped the returning Wade Ripley – he was at the heart of everything good going forward & worked hard when out of possession. Well done Atley 👏
A disappointing result given the amount of possession that we had – & also considering how well we played when we had the ball – on another night it’s a cricket score!
Next game – we’re home again next Thursday v RIASA Leeds, 7.45pm kick off – come on down & watch these boys doing their stuff
