Sheffield 0 Frickley 4

Blues cruise....

Well, what a spiffing night of football that was......the Blue Juggernaut worked through the gears & won the game in cruise control.

Gav was on babysitting duties (maybe) with The Iceman replacing him (more of him later) & the bench was full of Young Guns (Stan increased the average age by about 15 years....) - Fab Bailey, Callum Doherty, Morgan Armit & Aleksandr Starcenko - Starman is 16 years of age, I've got socks older than him.....

Frickley went straight on the gas, full throttle, & never took their foot off it - Danny Frost has a number of chances to score in the opening forays but was denied by the fulsome figured Sheffield 'keeper (who had an absolute blinder by the way) but on the 1/4 hour Hopewell battled well, stuck the ball out to Rocksteady Teddy who got to the byeline, pulled it back & Jacob Hazel scored with a tap in. Hazes 15th of the season & he's now scored in his last 6 matches. Next up, more Haze - ball comes in, partially cleared, Haze chests it down & pings in a shot, keeper saves well for a corner.

Duggie delivered some lovely ball - corner in & the towering Jameel has a header saved & from the clearance same 2 players combine & Jammer hits the side netting this time. Richie Patterson broke through about 3 tackles, kept his feet, fed Frosty whose first shot was well saved (again) but the second one ended up in the onion bag after 30 minutes. Straight from the kick off, Frosty again this time setting up Haze whose shot was pushed out for a corner.

Sheffield really struggled to get out of their own half, such was our dominance, & in most cases their 2nd touch was a pass back to the overworked Guardian of the Gloves. Haze & Iceman were the main protagonists & the defence couldn't cope with their pace & movement but the support that they got from midfield & defence was a pleasure to watch. Frosty really had his afterburners turned up to the max.

HALF TIME - SHEFFIELD 0 FRICKLEY 2

Straight on the front foot, more waves of attacking play - even Hopewell picking up a knock didn't disrupt the shape & he was replaced by Callum Doherty, & similarly when Frosty went off, with Fab Bailey coming on.

3 nil shortly after, Haze pings the bar with a shot, another partial clearance, defence can only watch as a pinpoint pass splits them & Haze with a clinical finish from range. Number 16 for Jacob.

At this point a boxing referee would have stopped it - but that would have robbed us of the absolute joy of a Duggie corner which was met by Fab Baileys towering powering header into the net - he's clearly been taking lessons from Jameel.

Final subby of the half - RPatts off & replaced by The Starman. Patterson was the engine of the team & it purred like a well maintained Roller.

FINAL SCORE - SHEFFIELD 0 FRICKLEY 4

A superb performance to move into the next round - Sheffield are clearly a team in transition & maybe aren't the strongest opposition at the moment but you can only beat the team in front of you & we did that resoundingly. I don't wish this to sound disparaging towards Sheffield but 4 nil flattered them - their keeper was their MOTM by a country mile, which brings us on to.....

WEBMASTER MOTM - the entire playing & coaching squad.

Many thanks to all the Frickley fans who travelled in numbers once again & it was lovely to meet our good friend Finchley Tiger.

Next up, we're at home to Corby in a league game at the Wezziecana on Saturday. See you there.