i2i City 1
Frickley Athletic U23s 3

Last week we asked ”can they do it on a cold, wet, windy, foggy Monday night in Emley……’ & this week the question was ‘can they do it on a colder, wetter Thursday night in Headingley’ – the answer was emphatically ‘YES THEY CAN!!’

The Young Azzurri gave a scintillating display of football from gun to tape to put the hootin’ & hollerin’ I2I City to the sword – a performance that reminded us of peak Invincibles from a few seasons back & gave us a 3-1 victory, a scoreline that flattered the opposition.

This was typified by Tyler Sheard, wearing the 3 shirt so nominally a defender……but he was everywhere, defending (obvs), driving forward into midfield & spending plenty of time in the opposition box (& probably a bit disappointed he didn’t score) – an American Football squad were training on the neighbouring pitch & I think he’d have had a go at Wide Receiver if you’d have asked him.

But it wasn’t just The Tyler Show – everyone played their part. Bailey Cowsell, usually the archetypal Fox In The Box, was back helping out the defence. Ben Jennings almost got on the scoresheet (his mam says he needs a haircut BTW). The returning Ross ‘The Boss’ Nowodny was the pit bull in midfield. Tom Cotson put in a superb skippers performance…..I could go through the entire squad eulogising about them but we’d be here all day

Suffice to say it was the sort of totaal voetbal that would have had Rinus Michels crying tears of joy in to his pint of Lindeboom

& to top if all off we got to see the return of Josh Haigh – no finer sight than Haighy in a Frickley kit!

On another bitterly cold evening Frickley Young Guns traveled to Headingley Leeds to play i2i City, looking to get back to winning ways after 2 defeats either side of the festive break.

We welcomed back Ross Nowodny & Josh Haigh, after over a 12 months absence, to our already talented squad, which included 8 U18’s in the starting 11 with another 3 on the bench. Add to that we had ‘veteran’ striker Bailey Cowsell & the outstanding Atley Jackson to compliment a very strong looking squad.

Frickley got off to a flying start & were soon creating several good chances to opening the scoring, Bailey Cowsell & Harry McCudden both had clear chances cleared with blocks & last ditch challenges.

A superb passing move involving over half the team saw Harry McCudden cross to Atley Jackson who superbly laid the ball off to the on rushing right full back Ben Jennings who was unfortunate to have his shot saved by the GK legs (it was at this point that Bens mam said he needed his hair cutting……)

It was a question of if not when & we did take a deserved lead when influential Atley Jackson skillfully beat his man on the right hand side to cut inside and cross for defender Lincoln Gleadall to fire home from close range. We soon (also deservedly) doubled our lead when Lincoln Gleadall broke clear from defence to find Harry McCudden who passed infield to Atley Jackson who played an delicious through ball for Bailey Cowsell & he doesn’t miss from those positions – 2 nil just before half time.

The hard working Tyler Sheard had a great chance to score a 3rd goal on the stroke of half time when he burst through after a great pass from skipper Tom Cotson, but somehow he stabbed the ball wide from 6 yards out.

With the referee about to blow his whistle for half time, the home side got a lifeline when an over hit back pass put Alfie Denton under extreme pressure & his attempted chest control resulted in the on rushing striker cooly slotting the ball home against the run in play. This was harsh on Alfie as earlier in the half he had sent the I2I centre forward for an absolute hot dog, a lovely piece of skill

Half time we lead 2-1.

The second half started very similar to the 1st with Frickley pushing forward to increase their lead, which they did when Tyler Sheard burst forward on the left hand side to feed Atley Jackson who cut in from out wide to fire an unstoppable right foot shot into the far corner 3-1.

With half an hour to go Frickley introduced the returning Josh Haigh which was great to see and he was unfortunate not to score on his return, he had one goal ruled out for offside & he struck the cross bar late on.

Lucas Brown was at the heart of everything along with his midfield partner Tom Cotson who was unfortunate not to score Frickley’s 4th when he struck a long range effort which was superbly tipped over the bar by the home keeper.

On another night we could have scored more goals admittedly but overall the Young Azzurri gave an outstanding all round team performance, everyone contributed in a very dominant display.

The Paul Mann Of The Match was not surprisingly awarded to Atley Jackson who was outstanding throughout & unplayable at times (Atley was magnificent but honestly I think you could have given it to any / all of the squad)

Weather permitting Frickley U23s are at home next Thursday as we host i2i City in the reverse fixture – if the boys play like this again, you need to get yersens to the Wez to watch, you will not regret it