Our U23s vs riasa bradford u23s – a brief match report

Riasa Bradford U23s 3
Frickley Athletic U23s 1

Last time out our Young Azzurri scored 10 – but on Wednesday night they could only manage a tithe of that due to a combo of better opposition, a little profligacy in front of goal & ‘interesting’ officiating (quite rightly we’re not allowed to say incompetent any more, so we won’t) & ended up on the wrong end of a 3-1 result

Unfortunately Frickley Young Guns came up well short when they visited Riasa Bradford the other night. Despite a bright opening 10/15 mins in both halfs the visitors didn’t offer much in all areas of the pitch & the home side deserved the victory. Having said that Bailey Cowsell had 2 good chances to score before Riasa scored their 1st goal, but both chances were saved by the home GK.

The hosts took the lead when one of their players was left unmarked at the far post from a corner to fire home unchallenged, then after confusion in defence Riasa was awarded a penalty when Dylan Sefton up ended their striker in the box. To be fair to Dylan he superbly saved the resulting corner but the penalty taker pounced on the rebound to make it 2-0 on the stroke of half time.

The second half was similar to the 1st with Frickley pushing to try to get back in the game, Lucas Brown had a great chance after cutting in from the left he curled the ball just past the far post.

The hosts soaked up the pressure and broke out of defence to cross from the right for the on rushing striker to score from close range 3-0 game over you would have thought….

The returning Sub Harry McCudden came on with half an hour to go & he scored another contender for goal of the season when he cut in from the right to fire & unstoppable left footer into the far top corner some goal to brighten up a pretty miserable performance.

Frickley didn’t give up (they never do!) & another goal might have made things interesting but it wasn’t to be, Riasa saw the game out and deserved the 3 points.

Bob Smith MOTM went to Tyler Sheard who ended up playing 3 positions and he typically gave his all wherever he was on the pitch & Frickley could have done with a few more performances like his. Well done Tyler 👏

No game till the New Year now when we will host i2i Utd on January 15th so big thank you to our superb Media Team for their outstanding coverage so far this season (right back at ya Martin, Tony, Paul & Super Bob & all the players – you given us some outstanding football to cheer in 2025)

Thanks to all the parents/supporters for cheering us on, special mention to Donna Jennings & Sue Nicklin for all the work they do to help us off the field, we do really appreciate everything you all contribute to Frickley U23s.

Hope you all have nice festive break & we look forward to seeing you all in the New Year.

Martin, Tony, Paul & Super Bob