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Saturday 24th February - Blyth Spartans 1-3 Frickley Athletic

With Nick Richardson having ruled himself out of the game due to work commitments and Steve Robinson also unavailable at the last minute due to a family illness, manager Phil Sharpe brought Chris Fawcus and Mark Vickerage back into the starting eleven, with Michael Blythen returning to the subs. bench along with Dale Rimmington and Sharpe himself.

After the team bus arrived barely 20 minutes before kick-off the Blues made a slow start to the game and could have been a goal down within sixty seconds as Duncan Richards cleared Anthony Woodhouse's header off the line following a corner. Gary Hatto could count himself lucky to still be on the pitch with the game not even 15 minutes old as he committed a particularly rash challenge just minutes after being booked for a similar incident. The home side continued to threaten but the Blues went close themselves on 14 minutes. Phil Lindley sent Dan Sheriffe away down the right and he won a corner. Hatto's flag-kick found Lindley in the box but his shot on the turn from 12 yards struck Sheriffe almost on the line. The loose ball fell to Hatto, whose ball back into the box beat 'keeper Craig Turns and came back off the far post before being cleared. Marc Shackleton was called upon to make the first of several fine saves on 20 minutes when  he tipped Richard Forster's header round the post following a free-kick whilst at the other end Lee Morris had a back post header from a Richards cross caught under the bar by Turns. The home side took the lead on 28 minutes when Fawcus needlessly gave the ball away on half way, enabling Blyth to break down their right and send over a cross which the unmarked Lee George converted at the back post. Another defensive mistake minutes later by Lindley saw Woodhouse sprint clear but Shackleton denied him by deflecting the ball for a corner.

The Blues drew level within a minute of the restart following Morris forcing an error from Forster whose back-pass was well wide of Turns, allowing Morris to retrieve the ball out on the right, play it back to Richards whose cross to the far post was met by the head of SHERIFFE, with Turns carrying the ball over the line. Two minutes later SHERIFFE hit an unstoppable looping shot from 20 yards which dipped over Turns and into the net to give the Blues the lead. Morris had a chance to wrap the game up on 63 minutes when, although looking clearly offside, he found himself clear of the defence but as he bore down on goal Turns came out to deflect his shot wide for a corner. Blyth now started to threaten again but Andrew Leeson saw his close range header pushed over the bar by Shackleton on 68 minutes whilst five minutes later Shackleton pulled off a double save to deny both Gareth McAlindon and Woodhouse from close range. The Blues effectively sealed their win on 76 minutes when Shackleton's long clearance was flicked on by Morris into the path of Sheriffe who burst between two defenders to find himself clear in the box where he was brought down by Turns. Turns found himself on the receiving end of a harsh decision as he also received a red card for his trouble, leaving HATTO to step up and score from the spot past the stand-in 'keeper. Both Morris and Sheriffe saw 18 yard shots clear the crossbar afterwards before they were replaced with Blythen and Rimmington with 4 minutes to play.

Frickley Athletic : Shackleton, Richards, Fawcus, Lindley, Benn, Pugh, Vickerage, Krief, Morris (Blythen 86), Sheriffe (Rimmington 86), Hatto. Unused sub. Sharpe 

Att: 296

Ref : Mr  R. Lockhart

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