Frickley Athletic U23’s 2
i2i Utd U23s 1
The mighty Edwin Starr once sung about ‘Eye To Eye Contact’ & last night we made contact with i2i (United) at the Wezzie
Another day, another game against a team in the top 4 (in the last 3 weeks we’ve played the teams in 1st, 2nd & 4th – we were 3rd at the start of play) & another very strong performance – up top the boys were creating chances for fun, midfield did all the box to box graft & craft & our defensive unit were tighter than a nuns wimple.
Our young guns continued their tough run of fixtures when 4th placed i2i Utd visited Westfield Lane last night.
The home side were forced into a couple of changes to the starting 11 with Alfie Studd coming into centre midfield (& he epitomised the graft & craft ethos of our midfield) with Mason Kilmartin dropping into the back 4 (& he took us back in time with a Bobby Moore-esque performance) & the inform Dwight Addai getting his deserved 1st start in the wide left position (he was hugely impressive before injury took him out of the game & gave the opposition defence a chance to untangle themselves).
It was Dwight Addai who started the brightest, causing havoc with his close dribbling skills & his good work created 2 headed chances for Joe Cooney who unfortunately couldn’t find the back of the net.
In a tight opening 20 mins it was going to take something special to open the scoring, up stepped the home sides talented skipper, Harry Alexander, who received the ball just in his own half & quickly burst past 4 players in midfield to delightfully exchange passes with Atley Jackson (what a quality pass it was Harry didn’t have to break his stride) to fire a 1st time shot passed the advancing keeper – it was superb to see the lads playing an old fashioned quality 1-2, something you don’t see much of in these days of rabonas etc
The home side were now creating the better chances & Bailey Cowsell had a snap shot superbly tipped over the bar, the half time came in what could be best described as a tight 1st 45mins with hosts just shading it on attempts on goal.
Second half was very similar to the first half with both defences & midfield on top, chances were few, James Nicklin, Ben Jennings, Wilfey Woodham & old guard Mason Kilmartin were all on their game in Frickley’s defence & it would probably going take another bit of magic to break through at either end.
Substitute Joe Wilson had a great chance when he was clear on goal only to see the opposition GK make a great save to deny him, unfortunately Harry Alexander blazed the rebound over the unguarded net.
The magic came with 15mins to go when Bailey Cowsell controlled the ball out of the sky to play in Atley Jackson who skillfully side stepped 2 defenders to coolly slot the ball home into the bottom corner, 2-0 – excellent skill from both players, & a shout out to Cowsell, usually the poacher but showed us that he is a creator too.
Game over at 2 nil? Unfortunately not, similar to last week the home side failed to keep the spirited visitors out as they conceded a late free kick on the edge of the box which was duly dispatched into the top corner of the net, bit harsh on Dylan Sefton who had kept goal well throughout & marshalled his defence well
Thankfully we were able to control the final 5 mins & deserved the 3 points (which moved us up to 2nd in the league), on chances created.
The Bob Smith MOTM award went to midfield dynamo Alfie Studd who made numerous ball winning challenges and kept it very simple when in possession. Well done Alfie !!
We are away at Albion Sports U23s next week if you fancy a ride out
