Goalkeeper Mark Wilkinson was the Blues hero, diving to his left to block a penalty by Lee McEvilly three minutes into injury time at the end of the second half, to ensure the first win of the season.

Frickley brought Peter Owen, a forward from Barnsley, into the line-up as they looked to finally kick start their season and they started well, dominating much of the first half. After only four minutes Chris Hurst sent Gary Duffty clear down the left but he had the ball taken from his boot end as he tried to cut into the box. Shortly afterwards Andy Hayward intercepted a poor header back by a defender but he made a complete mess of the situation, allowing the Burscough defence to clear.

It took 20 minutes for the visitors to have their first sight of goal but Talbot's shot went harmlessly wide of Wilkinson's right hand post. The Blues hit back with Hayward playing Duffty in on goal but his 10 yard angled shot bobbled wide of the far post with Owen just unable to reach it. Duffty was again unlucky when on 25 minutes when Hurst flicked on to Hayward down the right and his deep cross was met by Duffty but he was unable to direct it on target. A minute later Duffty had another chance when Hayward played a free-kick to him just inside the box but after turning his man he shot straight at the keeper.

Burscough came close to snatching a shock lead just after the half hour when West and Lafferty hesitated as Wilkinson came out to meet a long ball from the back but Talbot nipped between them to head past Wilkinson only for the ball to hit the left hand post and allow Laffterty to clear. This spurred the visitors on and they were awarded a free-kick 25 yards out after Talbot fell as though he'd been shot but Clandon fired wide. Then on 43 minutes Wilkinson was forced to turn a shot by Talbot round the post as Burscough threatened again.

The second half took a while to get going but on 59 minutes some neat football between Rob Hanby and James Watson ended with Owen having a weak shot straight at the keeper. It looked as though the miss could be costly a minute laster when a long ball forward found Talbot in space behind the Blues' defence but his effort went well wide. Burscough replaced Molyneux with Rudd on the hour and he was fortunate to last longer than a minute as his first input into the game was a nasty high challenge on Martin Fox after the ball had gone but the referee, Gary Brittain chose to only show the yellow card. The Blues replaced Watson with Cranston and he immediately upped the tempo a little with Hayward blazing over from 18 yards and then Joe McAreavey, who had replaced Owen, having a good run which finished with a shot just wide of the right hand post. Then on 73 minutes Frickley finally got the bit of luck they had been needing when Hanby was pushed in the box and HAYWARD stepped up to score from the spot.

Hayward ought to have had a second on 84 minutes when Hanby played a brilliant ball through to him which split the defence but he wasn't committed enough, allowing the keeper to collect the ball. On 86 minutes McAreavey beat his man down the left and sent over a deep cross which Cranston controlled and fired in from a tight angle but Blasberry threw himself to his left to block the shot.

The last few minutes of injury time saw Burscough push forward to try and salvage something from the game and the came close on 91 minutes when Bowen hit the top of the bar from about 12 yards after a bit of a scramble in the box. Then, 3 minutes into added time Lawless did a dying swan act in the box to win a penalty which Wilkinson brilliantly blocked. Almost immediately afterwards the referee blew the final whistle.

Frickley Athletic : Mark Wilkinson, Hilton, Fox, Lafferty, West (Matt Wilkinson 67), Hanby, J. Watson (Cranston 63), Hurst, Hayward, Owen (McAreavey 68), Duffty

Burscough : Blasberry, Hanson, Clandon (Lawless 77), Bowen, Nolan, Farrell, Molyneux (Rudd 60), Knowles, Talbot (Stanton 81), McEvilly, Birch

Attendance : 141