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Monday 26th December - Frickley Athletic 0-0 Wakefield-Emley

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The Blues fought out a goalless draw against Wakefield-Emley in today's Boxing Day 'derby' game. Both sides had a goal disallowed for offside whilst Gary Ingham and his opposite number Andy Woods both made a couple of good saves and the referee waved away Frickley's claims for a penalty late on following a clear hand-ball inside the Wakefield-Emley box.

With Phil Lindley serving a one-match suspension Gary Marrow brought Lee Pugh back into the midfield whilst James Stansfield passed a late fitness test but Matt Daly was unavailable for selection.

The visitors enjoyed the better of the opening exchanges, although Simon Collins did test Andy Woods with a quickly taken 25 yard free-kick but the shot was straight at Woods. With ten minutes gone Alex Callery was cynically brought down just outside the box by Christian Fox but, surprisingly, the referee opted not to caution the offender. However, just seconds later Steve Robinson was cautioned for an equally cynical challenge as Wakefield-Emley attempted to break following a free-kick and Nicky Heinemann quickly followed him into the referee's book. 

The Blues began to settle, started to enjoy more possession and went close to opening the scoring with nearly 20 minutes gone. Martyn Woolford's cross from the left was sliced in to the air by Robert Tonks and Rob Pell reacted quickly to lift the ball over the advancing Woods from 6 yards but the ball landed on the roof of the net. Pell soon went close again as he controlled a long free-kick from Gary Ingham to turn and fire in a dipping 25 yard shot which Woods did well to push over the bar. On 37 minutes Pell thought he'd given the Blues the lead when he fired through Woods' legs from 8 yards following Callery's pass but he was adjudged to be offside. Minutes later Wakefield-Emley were a little fortunate not to be reduced to ten men when Matthew Hoyle elbowed Heinemann as they jumped for a high ball. The assistant referee indicated to the referee the use of an elbow but Hoyle received just a yellow card.

Early in the second half Callery had a good run from his own half to the edge of the Wakefield-Emley box but his final shot lacked power and was comfortably dealt with by Woods. The Blues were again enjoying a lot of possession but the visitors had a great chance to take the lead when Damien Reeves found himself sprinting clear following a long clearance but Reeves' low shot was brilliantly saved by Ingham diving to his right. At the other end Pugh's 20 yard shot was straight at Woods but, despite all their possession, the Blues were struggling to carve out any clear cut chances. On 70 minutes Wakefield-Emley then had the ball in the net but this time it was their turn to have the goal ruled out for offside as Reeves' through ball sent Fox and Hoyle clear into the Blues box' but after beating Ingham Fox opted to pass to Hoyle who was clearly offside as he rolled the ball in to the empty net. The blues had strong claims for a penalty turned down after 80 minutes when Robinson's long throw caused havoc in the Wakefield-Emley box leading to a defender clearly knocking the ball away from Callery with his arm directly in front of the referee who waved play on. Substitute Andy Evans put a low 18 yard shot just wide of the right hand post for the Blues with minutes left to play but it was too little, too late.