We went into this game hoping for a win & 2 goals for Jacob Hazel & at times it looked like we would achieve both but ultimately ended up with neither. Frickley ended up pointless in a meaningless game - meaningless for the Azzurri as we knew we would finish 11th or 12th irrespective of results & meaningless for Mansfield as they were already relegated due to failing their ground grading (& having visited the ground for the first time I can see why). It's a shame because they've got a really nice social club.....but little else. Any atsmosphere created in the ground is instantly sucked out of it as the pitch has got a cycling track around it - which means that your nearest vantage spot is about 20 yards from the action. I don't know who came up with the idea of putting football pitches in the middle of cycle or running tracks, but it's silly & they need to stop. Mansfield / Grantham / Gateshead / Newcastle Town - they all make a morgue feel like an illegal rave by comparison.

So on to the football.....not much to report in the first half until Mansfield took the lead with a speculative shot, the type of shot that hits the net once out of 100, & the other 99 end up on the A617 to Clipstone. Luke Hinsley hit a good strike on 40 minutes but the keeper saved well.

It took 10 minutes of the 2nd half to get back to parity as Tyler Walton took his goal well. Haze then blazed wide when he had a good chance but just after the hour our defence got themselves into quite a tangle which allowed Mansfield to restore their lead. Hugo pulled off a great save to keep it to 2-1 but that was that with regards to meaningful action.

So Frickley end up in mid table - having only lost 6 games since Mc & Youngy took over in December but the draws during that period took away our brief flirtation with the play offs (which have been rendered more or less meaningless anyway by the nonsensical PPG factoring).

WEBMASTER MOTM - not a great spectacle for the Tifosi, none of the players lacked effort but we didn't have that a player who could lift the level above OK. Special word for Jameel, playing his 175th game for the Blues. Youngy was solid at the back, Sam Liversidge continued his recent strong showing, & although Haze didn't get his 99th & 100th goals it wasn't for the lack of trying. I'm giving the Glitterball to Tyler Walton who looked like the player most likely to unlock the Mansfield defence

TWITTER POLL MOTM - Tyler won the Twitter poll too with Haze coming in 2nd & Sam & Youngy polling votes too. Thank you to everyone who voted yesterday & throughout the season. I'll be collating the votes to come up with the April Player of the Month & also to come up with a Twitter Poll Player of the Season.

The final game is always a bitter-sweet affair, irrespective of the result or final league position. It means that we've seen some players playing for the Azzurri for the final time....but that is tempered with the excitement of seeing new faces next season. Mc confirmed in his interview after the game that today marks the start of his preparation for next season!!

So thanks to everyone involved with this season - the players, management team(s), the Board, the volunteers, fans, Ian & John for organising away travel, Onion Bag (for his sublime photo shoots, such as the one attached - superb again OB) & anyone else who I might have missed but most of all to my buds Ken & Meds who have made the likes of Gresley away palatable!

As-salamu alaykum to you all

So, what are we all up to in the dead period that we laughingly call Summer? I know that Stevie P & Stainless Steel like to redden their balls (they're cricket fans, not nudists) but what are the rest of you up to? Send your Summer plans to the Frickley Twitter page (@Frickleyafc) & use the hashtags #reddeningourballs or #notreddeningourballs. I've got a crazy Summer ahead thanks to our amazing NHS as they try to sort out my arthritic knee & I also commence a bowel cancer screening programme. See kid, you're not the only ones who know how to enjoy yourselves.....

We've loved, we've laughed and cried
We've had our fill, our share of losing
And now, as tears subside
We find it all, all so amusing

To think we did all that
And may we say, not in a shy way
Oh no, no, not us
We did it our way

BECAUSE WE ARE FRICKLEY!!!!

SEE YOU ALL IN AUGUST

#FORZAFRICKLEY