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Tuesday 10th December - UniBond Chairman's Cup 1st Round

Frickley Athletic 2-1 Whitby Town

Both sides made changes to their starting line-ups with the Blues being without Paul Marquis, Andy Evans and Chris Newton from Saturday. New signing Steve Woolford started in midfield and Craig Marsh came into the defence alongside Antony Jackson. Ryan Williams and Jon Wordsworth (remember him? - only joking Jon!) were both on the bench after missing games through injury.

The 70 hardy soles who braved the freezing conditions almost saw the Blues take the lead in the second minute but David Campbell managed to scramble the ball round the post from Curtis Bernard's close range effort. However, the visitors were soon on the attack. In the ninth minute Mark Samways pulled off a great save to deny Stefan Zoll after he was left on his own in the box whilst on 25 minutes Zoll blazed over from 25 yards. On the half hour Lee Ure cut in from the left and put his angled shot narrowly over the bar but the Blues came back into it before the break. Some good football led to Craig Elkin having a low 15 yard shot turned around the post. From the corner the ball came out to Nigel Henstock who shot just wide.

The second half saw much more goalmouth action, with the first 20 minutes being mainly Whitby. Samways easily saved a 20 yarder from Aaron Wilford on 49 minutes before Graham Robinson lobbed well over after picking up a poor punched clearance from Samways. Michael Laws then headed over following a right wing cross and Richard Dunning then got clear down the right before shooting past Samways but Jackson got back brilliantly to put the ball wide of the post from around 3 yards out. Whitby's front players were moving well off the ball and causing the Blues' defence problems and it seemed only a matter of time before they scored. The Blues did manage to break out of defence on 58 minutes when Lee Morris flicked the ball on for Bernard but he was flattened mid-way inside the Whitby half. From the free-kick Woolford sent a looping header just wide of the left hand post. A minute later Samways saved well from a Dunning header after the full-back was left on his own in the box just 8 yards out. Whitby finally got their reward on 64 minutes when Zoll broke into the box and cut the ball back for Robinson to tap in. Frickley responded with Henstock shooting inches wide of the left hand post but on 67 minutes Samways pulled off a great save to deny Zoll from point blank range which kept the Blues in the game. As the game wore on the Blues pushed more and more but without really creating any clear chances until the 81st minute when they were awarded a corner. The ball was only half cleared to Bernard who shot goalwards from 18 yards and LEE MORRIS headed in from 4 yards. Whitby keeper Campbell then sliced a back-pass to Bernard who lobbed inches wide of the right hand post from 25 yards whilst at the other end Samways got down well to save a 20 yard free-kick from Stephen Swales. With the game looking like entering extra time - which the Blues faced playing without a recognised goalkeeper as Samways was due at work at 10pm on nights!- Woolford headed agonisingly over the bar with a back header whilst in the 4th minute of added time Henstock shot fractionally wide from 17 yards. Then, some five minutes into added time, Morris sent the ball over from the right, Barnard turned it back into the danger area from the far post and ELKIN fired into the roof of the net from 6 yards.

Frickley Athletic : Samways, Richards, O'Brien, Elkin, Jackson, Marsh, Henstock, Woolford, Morris, Bernard, Gowen. Unused subs. Williams, Wordsworth, Hine

Whitby Town : Campbell, Reid, Dunning, Laws, Williams, Wilford, Ure, Robinson, Zoll, Veart, Wright. subs. Swales, Darlow & Nixon

Attendance : 70 

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