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Tuesday 25th February - Lancaster City 4-0 Frickley Athletic

The Blues suffered a heavy defeat at Lancaster City in a game which was heavily influenced by an inept performance from Referee Paul Brabin. Frickley were up against it even before a ball was kicked as Phil Sharpe was deprived of the services of Gary Reece, through work commitments, and Chris Gowen who suffered a fractured jaw in an incident on Saturday evening and is likely to be out for around 6 weeks. This forced Gary Hatto to drop back to left full-back whilst Steve Woolford started in midfield. Chris Newton was dropped to the subs bench in favour of Lee Morris.

The game itself hinged on 4 incidents. The first, after 11 minutes, saw Woolford's header send Curtis Bernard clear down the right. He cut inside and cut the ball back past goalkeeper Mark Thornley and across goal to the unmarked Morris who somehow blasted the ball over the bar from inside the 6 yard box. Then, just minutes later came the second incident. A deep cross into the Frickley box evaded everyone, leaving Hatto and Lancaster's Brian Welch to chase the ball. Hatto got there first and hooked it clear over Welch but was clearly blocked by the City man as he tried to break away only for Brabin to rule that Hatto was the offender and awarded a penalty, even booking Hatto into the bargain. The Lancaster manager even commented to Phil Sharpe that he was about to shout at the referee as he thought he had awarded Frickley a free-kick for obstruction! The penalty was eventually scored comfortably by Michael Yates after 15 minutes.

The third incident came on the stroke of half time when Hatto committed a foul on Yates on halfway. It was questionable whether the offence warranted a yellow card but Brabin promptly showed Hatto his second yellow and hence his early bath. The fourth incident came on 79 minutes when Frickley substitute Newton found himself in space in the box and, with the score still at 1-0, had a glorious chance to equalise but saw his angled drive go inches wide of the left hand post. As happened in the first half, the home side scored just minutes later as Andy Whittaker headed in from close range despite Mark Samway's gallant effort to keep it out. 

Earlier, Frickley had come close to equalising on 25 minutes when Bernard got between 2 defenders and pushed the ball past the advancing Thornley only for Paul Sparrow to get back and clear from in front of goal. Whittaker had two chances for the home side just before half time as he headed straight at Samways from 6 yards on 39 minutes and a minute later got completely clear but Samways blocked his low shot with his legs. 

Within minutes of the restart Whittaker went close again as he headed narrowly over the bar and on 66 minutes City's Ricky Mercer headed straight at Samways from a right wing corner. Frickley had been content to absorb City's pressure and try and counter but they went close on  73 minutes when Woolford shot wide from 20 yards. Sharpe then gambled by replacing Robinson, who had taken a knock, and putting on Newton whilst pushing Richards further forward to leave just 3 at the back as Frickley sought an equaliser. The gamble could well have paid off had Newton scored with his chance on 79 minutes but after Lancaster extended their lead on 83 minutes through Whittaker, Lee Clitheroe side-footed the third from 18 yards after picking up Welch's pass whilst in the last minute Whittaker followed up to score after Andy Fensome's shot was blocked by Samways.

Frickley Athletic : Samways, Richards, Hatto, Robinson (Newton 76), Jackson, Marquis, Hancock, Woolford, Bernard, Morris, Lindley. Unused subs. Hull, Sharpe.

Attendance : 206

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