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Saturday 31st July - Pontefract Collieries 0-1 Frickley Athletic

The Blues finally got a first pre season victory under their belts with a hard fought 1-0 win over Northern Counties East League side, Pontefract Collieries.  After Friday night’s game against Doncaster Rovers and with Phil Sharpe away, Gary Hatto took the opportunity to field a side comprising of fringe and under 19’s players.

The match started at a fast pace with the Blues having to cope with some very physical challenges by the Pontefract front line, led by former Frickley player, Ian Dring. In the 10^th minute Dring followed through on Andy Pitman, with the Blues' keeper requiring several minutes’ treatment. Dring continued to case problem and in the space of a couple of minutes he was closed down by Plant when clean through, then Pitman came out well to block at Dring's feet.

The Blues then had a narrow escape when a corner eluded Pitman and struck the far post only to be cleared. Frickley began to claw themselves back into the game and in the 40^th minutes Tom McClockin flashed a shot narrowly wide from a good position 10 yards out,

In first half stoppage time Frickley took the lead slightly against the run of play. Another poor challenge led to a free kick being awarded some 25 yards out and Matthew Plant stepped up to curl the ball into the bottom left hand corner.

Hatto made a number of changes at half time with Matt Jollie, Jamie Thompson and Daniel Burton all getting a run out. Soon after the break good work by Jollie on the edge of the box led to Thompson having a shot clawed away only for Burton to hit the follow up against the post from an acute angle. The Blues started to dominate the game now with some good movement and passing down the right. Burton in particular showed pace and trickery in turning his man inside out before his cross was cleared.

On 75 minutes Jollie made a great run down the right hand channel to feed Thompson whose cross was just missed by McClocklin at the far post. Minutes later, Frickley forced a corner on the left and Plant rose to smack a header against the bar, the ball looped up and as Rimmington seemed certain to score he received a clear push in the back which was missed by the very lenient referee. In the final ten minutes the Blues pushed for the second goal and Rimmington broke clear only to be scythed down by the last Pontefract defender. Remarkably the ref who was at least 50 yards away, waved play on.

As the game entered the final minutes tempers boiled over. Dring, who had been fouling and moaning all afternoon, went over the top on Thompson and 16 players then indulged in a spot of handbags. Unsurprisingly the ref, who must have forgotten his pencil, failed to book anyone.

Overall, a decent performance in difficult conditions that bodes well for the future. 

Frickley Athletic : Andy Pitman, Chris Harrison, Chris Fawcus, Gary Fisher, Matthew Plant, Curtis Mellows, Lee Wilkinson, Dale Rimmington, Micky Evans, Micky McDonald, Tom McClocklin. Subs: Matt Jollie, Jamie Thompson, Chris Dunn, Daniel Burton.

Report by Gareth Dando

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