Patched up Blues take a point

Frickley Athletic’s five-match winning streak came to an end at Marine on Tuesday night, but they came from behind to earn a point.

Karl Rose’s men went into the game in their best form of the season with four straight league wins and a cup semi-final success in a hectic spell that has brought them success despite playing so many games in such a short space of time.

But perhaps the exertions of playing eight matches in 18 days finally caught up a little with the players when they travelled to Marine.

With Jameel Ible suspended and Tyler Williams struck down with tonsillitis it did not help their cause either that three players, Louis Bruce, Tom Davie and Ross Armstrong, got stuck in traffic travelling over from Hull and missed the players’ coach. Their absence led to a start for the returning Simon Lenighan and for Chris Wood up front. Luke Hinsley shook off ankle injury to play but most surprisingly manager Karl Rose stepped into the breach to take his place in the back three. It was not a surprise in the circumstances that with a hastily reshuffled side they fell behind early on to a fifth minute goal by Charlie Barnett who bundled in a near post corner.

But Frickley showed their determination to continue their fantastic run when they hit back to level on 17 minutes through striker Jacob Hazel as the ball fell nicely to him after the home keeper had failed to clear under pressure. Hazel controlled the ball on the edge of the box and curled a controlled finish into the bottom corner to bag his 22nd goal of the season.
Tom Davie, Louis and Ross arrived after 20 minutes and Bruce quickly came on to replace Karl Rose who played well considering it was his first start in around 5 years!

The second half saw Luke Hinsley go close with an acrobatic volley following a lightening break by Jake Hazel. At the other end Seb Malkowski pulled off a tremendous save at the foot of his near post to keep the scores level. In the end the draw was a fair result from an entertaining game.

Frickley: Malkowski, Akeroyd, Jeff, (Armstrong 84), Lenighan, Cyrus, Rose (Bruce), Parkinson, Gooda, Hazel, Hinsley, Wood (Davie 56).