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Saturday 7th February - Frickley Athletic 0-2 Vauxhall Motors

Jon Hood, Paul Marquis and Lee Morris all returned to the starting line-up, although Lee Pugh was unavailable due to illness and both Steve Robinson and Duncan Richards were suspended. Antony Jackson was considered fit enough for a place on the subs. bench.

After an uneasy start from both sides the Blues forced a couple of corners which were dealt with by the visiting cover. A quick Vauxhall break saw Carl Spellman's low angled drive go across goal. Lee Morris then had the Blues first good good chance when he beat Tom Betts to a high ball forward by Wayne Benn to let fly with an angled drive from the left of the box that forced Vauxhall 'keeper Tim Dittmar to dive full length to his left to push the ball away. Hood then did well to parry a 20 yard shot from Carl Nesbitt before on 29 minutes Mark Vickerage was fouled near the left corner of the Vauxhall box. As Dominique Krief prepared to take the free-kick the Assistant Referee waved over the Referee who proceeded to send off Vauxhall's Wayne McDermott for an off-the-ball incident. When Krief finally took the free-kick Dittman pulled off a great save to block Vickerage's header. As the first half drew to a close the Blues forced another series of corners but didn't seriously trouble the Vauxhall goal.

Early in the second half Peter Cumiskey was sent clear but as he pushed the ball past the advancing Hood he clearly dived, attempting to win a penalty but the Referee wasn't impressed and waved away his claims. Cumiskey was then involved again as his left wing cross evaded Hood and was met by Spellman at the far post but his header struck the outside of the post. And Cumiskey was involved again when his 25 yard free-kick was placed straight at Hood. The Blues responded with some good work by Dan Sheriffe seeing him play the ball into the box for Morris but, unusually for him, his shot went tamely wide of the right hand post. Frickley then had claims for a penalty waved away when Vickerage appeared to be pushed in the box as he looked to latch onto a flick on from Morris whilst Krief shot inches wide of the right hand post from 20 yards with Dittmar well beaten. Sheriffe then got away down the right and sent over a cross which Dittmar did well to claim off the head of Morris. Dittmar then quickly launched the ball up field where Terry Fearns got the better of Phil Lindley to lob the advancing Hood from the edge of the box to give the visitors the lead on 71 minutes. Robbie Lawton then beat Hood to a through-ball but Hood forced him wide and Lawton's cross into the box was too long and was easily cleared. Substitute Dale Rimmington then played a good ball in from the left to Morris whose hooked shot was brilliantly tipped over by Dittmar. Gary Hatto' free-kick from the left caused Dittmar to miss the ball under pressure from Morris and Sheriffe hooked it goalwards only for the ball to be cleared off the line. Benn then had a free-kick from the right which was met by a powerful header from Morris but Dittmar again denied him and Dittmar then denied Rimmington, blocking his 18yard shot following a goalmouth scramble. As the Blues pushed forward looking for an equaliser it was no surprise that they left gaps at the back and in the last minute Fearns sent Lawton clear for him to beat Richardson for pace and pushed the ball past Hood to tap into an empty net.

One encouraging sign from the day was the increased attendance of 228 for a game which would usually only attract a gate of around 170ish. This is probably due to the greatly increased publicity given to the game (and the following home games) by John Longbottom and Jack Broome and their army of leaflet delivery people who have put a lot of effort into raising the club's profile in the locality. Hopefully, today's performance and results won't deter the 'extra' fans from coming again in future. 

Frickley Athletic : Hood, Richardson, Fawcus (Rimmington 57), Lindley, Benn, Marquis (Jackson 76), Sheriffe, Krief, Morris, Vickerage, Hatto. Unused sub. Needham. 

Vauxhall Motors : Dittmar, Betts, McDermott, Robinson, Roberts, Lynch, Nesbitt, Lawton, Fearns, Spellman, Cumiskey (Griffiths 85). Unused subs. MacCauley, McCann 

Att: 228

Ref : Mr  C Reeves

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