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Friday 21st March - Frickley Athletic 2-3 Ossett Town

The Blues' suffered their first UniBond Premier Division defeat in nine matches as neighbours Ossett Town ran out 3-2 winners at Westfield Lane. However, they were helped by the 27th minute dismissal of Steve Robinson and some terrible refereeing from Ryan Newman which led to Ossett scoring three times late in the first half. The 10-man Blues made a fight of it with Jonathan Groome and Neil Towler giving the Blues hope and they almost snatched an equaliser in stoppage time but Lee Morris' 18 yard shot clipped the outside of the post.

Playing into a strong wind the Blues could have taken the lead within three minutes as Chris Hilton released Morris but his early shot from the edge of the box flew inches wide of the left hand post. The game was largely devoid of entertainment until Mr. Newman stepped in after 27 minutes. With Hilton and Morris already cautioned for the most minor of offences Robinson and Ossett's Craig Hall both contested a loose ball with both players lunging in, Robinson with two feet and Hall with one foot studs first into Robinson's midriff. Both players deserved a red card but Mr. Newman opted to dismiss Robinson and not even speak to Hall!! Within 7 minutes the visitors took the lead with a wind-assisted goal. Simon Baldry cut in from the left and floated the ball into the box with Jon Hood expecting the ball to go wide but it got caught in the wind and nestled just inside the far post. Five minutes later it was 2-0 as Aiden Savory was left in space on the edge of the box to fire an 18 yard shot beyond Hood. The game appeared to be over as just before half time Baldry sent over a dangerous cross from the left which glanced off the head of Danny Walsh and flew past Hood into his own net.

Billy Heath replaced Rob Pell with Neil Towler at half time as the Blues looked to make up their one man disadvantage by having the wind in their favour. It seemed to work after 54 minutes when Jonathan Groome rose to meet a free-kick from Dean Jones with a looping header from 18 yards which gave Jonathan hedge no chance. The Blues needed a swift second goal but Chris White prodded the ball narrowly wide from 10 yards, Towler had a goal disallowed for an earlier infringement in a goalmouth scramble and Groome fired narrowly wide from 20 yards as the Blues made light of their man disadvantage. Hedge was forced to push away a high bouncing back header from Morris after 77 minutes whilst Heath had one final throw of the dice by replacing White with Scott Turner. Within minutes Jones volleyed narrowly over from 12 yards following a Chris Gowen free-kick but with 4 minutes left former Frickley player Matt Daly misjudged a clearance from Jones to let the ball bounce over him. Towler was alert to pounce and steer the ball through Hedge's legs and into the net from the edge of the box. As the game entered stoppage time Hilton found Morris in space but his half volley from 20 yards clipped the outside of the left hand post after beating Hedge. 

 

Frickley Athletic		Osset Town
Jon Hood	1	Jonathan Hedge
Steve Robinson	2	Robert Tonks
Chris Gowen	3	Chris Fawcus
Jonathan Groome  54	4	Niall O'Brien
Phil Lindley	5	Matt Daly
Dean Jones	6	Sam Denton
Chris Hilton	7	Rob O'Brien
Danny Walsh	8	Craig Hall
Lee Morris	9	Aiden Savory  39
Rob Pell	10	Callum Flanagan
Chris White	11	Simon Baldry  34
Chris Davies	12	David Briggs (10, 88)
Scott Turner (11, 78)	14	Marc Thompson
Neil Towler (10, 45)  86	15	Sam Jackson
Attendance : 543
"Referee" : Mr. R. Newman