Cleethorpes 1 Frickley 2

Oh I do like to win beside the seaside

So, how do you follow up a 10-1 home destruction......with a dig in, last 10 minutes ram raid away at Cleethorpes of course!

On a chilly Autumnal August Bank Holiday Monday (the kagoule made it's first outing of the 18/19 season) the swirling wind made attractive football (& hard to come by - Hugo's clearances tended to find 3rd man on the adjacent cricket pitch - so it was always going to be attritional.

There were a number of changes from Saturday - Smith, Rowe, Burton & Allott came back into the starting 11 & Watt, Liversidge, Williams & Palmer (more of him later) were on the bench.

The home team had Tom Davie, Mark Gray (more of him later) & Sam Topliss (1 game for the Blues, thank you Steve Pearce) in their line up.

So most of the first half was played in midfield, mostly wondering where the swirling wind would take the ball. Frickleys best chance came when McGuire fed Gav who set up Haze but his shot hit the side netting.

HALF TIME - NIL NIL

The first significant action of the half saw Cleethorpes take the lead on 50 minutes.

Frickley started to come back into it, Gav cracked a shot goalwards but the keeper pulled off a good save.

Next came the turning point of the game, JB (who was playing his 50th game for Frickley) was replaced by Johno Williams & Dan Palmer replaced Tyler.

Within 5 minutes Dan went on one of his electrifying runs & Mark Gray tried to split him in half. Gray had already been yellowed in the first half & the referee had no option but to give him a voucher for an early bath. This meant the home team had to reshuffle their back line & this was the cue for Frickley to go for it.

DP had the first decent chance but couldn't get his shot off & the defence cleared.

Into the last 10 & the ball breaks to Haze on the edge of the box. 1 touch, 1 shot, 1 goal, 1 each. That was Jacobs 74th goal for the club & means that the club have scored for 52 consecutive matches.

Then a triple chance in the same move but good blocking, last ditch defending & a decent save keeps it at parity. Then Gav breaks clear but his shot is just wide.

Into the last minute & Frickley get a corner. Haze takes it & who do you want towering above the defence in these circumstances? Big Daddy Allott powers his header into the top right hand corner. 2-1 Frickley

The ref seemed intent on playing another 45 minutes of Fergie Time but the boys saw the game out without further panic.

Not a vintage performance but a good team knows how to win scrappy even when they aren't at optimum performance

WEBMASTER MOTM - not easy, no one hit the heights but everyone did their job. Hugo had another fairly quiet afternoon thanks to the defence. Gav never stopped running & scored his 118th goal (joint 4 highest for the club) & Haze made one & scored one. But the Glitterball goes to someone who was instrumental in making sure Frickley brought home the (vegan) bacon - doff your cap Jamie McGuire

Photo album courtesy of our good friend Onion Bag

Video (including guest appearance by Onion Bag Snr) courtesy of Frickley Athletic TV You Tube channel

442 through the gate with a very good number from South Elmsall AND His Royal Highness Barry Gill. Thank you to everyone who travelled & got behind the boys

Next up, AFC Mansfield visit the Wezziecana on Saturday. See you there