Thursday 10th November 2011, at Birch ParkNorthern U19 Alliance, Central Division
Bottesford Town (0) 0
Frickley Athletic (0) 3
Matt Semley 54, Jack Portman 63, 90+4
Admission £2, No programmes (printer not working),
Attendance 37 (unofficial headcount)
Bottesford Town: William Ball, Louis Brackrnbury, George Cook,Joe Hendy, Matthew Keena, Thomas Pearson, Kieran Petch, Patrick Shaw, Jake Shephard, Dominic Stones, Mike Watson.
Subs, Thomas Cooke, Joe Dobbs, Daniel Porter, Jordan Simon
Frickley Athletic: Thomas Barker, Matthew Blakey, Jordan Bray, Sam Hawley, Jack Portman, Liam Schofield, Matthew Semley, Ben Severn, Nenad Smiljanic, Brett Souter, OLiver Steeple
Subs, Nick Guest, Terry McCombe, Liam Sanger
The Lincolnshire sausage they serve at Bottesford was voted as the best football ground cuisine in the whole universe, by this very blog, and the catering facilities here are even open for Sunday morning Intermediate League matches, so I went without my tea, saving myself for what is always nothing less than a gastronomic treat ... and on arrival at Birch Park, I alighted from my motor conveyance with eager haste and took in a deep deep breath to savour the aroma of the impending sizzling platter and the caramelized onions that would be accompanying it, but, err ... nothing!Arrgh!
"No food tonight".
I was mortally wounded.
And bloody starving too!
Frickley's victory tonight, puts them 6 points clear at the top of the league and it wasn't hard to see why they are favourites to win the NU19A Central section.Nor why some of these players are being fast tracked into Athletic's first team squad ... on the strength of the few times I've seen them play, I'll predict that Jack Portman, Nenad Smiljanic and Brett Souter are more than capable of playing at a higher level any time soon too, as well as Ollie Steeple and Matt Semley who have already signed first team forms for the Blues.
Bottesford had several players I'd seen before when they were playing with Scotter United and Mr Colin Picken of that esteemed parish was in attendance, giving me the low down on the North East Lincs sides strengths and weaknesses, along with the 'Frickley Massive' (using the fixture as an opportunity to visit a 'lady friend' in Cleethorpes ... the old Romeo) and a Lincoln City blogger who is really a secret closet Frickley fan ... unlike yours truly ;-)
Dominic Stones, who has featured in the Poachers first team, was also playing.
In common with their first team two nights ago, Frickley's Under 19's must have been wondering what more they had to do to take the lead in a first half that saw them dominate the game for the most part.Semley, Portman and Hawley all came close to breaking the deadlock for the Blues, while Mikey Watson missed with a close range effort at the other end.
It transpired that Watson had been playing with an injured toe when he had to come off to get it strapped in the second half, so you can just about excuse him for that one.
It needs to be said, I do prefer the plain blue shirts Frickley were wearing tonight, with their easy to read numbering on the back, to those Sheffield Wednesday style striped things the first team wear.
Referee's Assistant Jennifer Pullen, she knows more about football
than Andy Gray and Richard Keys put together
than Andy Gray and Richard Keys put together
On 54 minutes, Matt Semley, fresh from his cameo appearance as a first team substitute on Tuesday, put the visitors ahead and it was pretty much one way traffic from then on in.
A solo effort from Jack Portman on 63 minutes left the home side chasing shadows, as a few of their players heads visibly dropped and they seemed to lose any kind of cohesion and rhythm they'd ever had.
Ironically, with the game already beyond them, Bottesford rallied late on and took the game to the visitors, but Frickley were tight at the back and weren't going to come undone tonight.
A solo effort from Jack Portman on 63 minutes left the home side chasing shadows, as a few of their players heads visibly dropped and they seemed to lose any kind of cohesion and rhythm they'd ever had.
Ironically, with the game already beyond them, Bottesford rallied late on and took the game to the visitors, but Frickley were tight at the back and weren't going to come undone tonight.
And the winner of the knobbly knees competition winner is ...
Deep into stoppage time, Terry McCombe put a cross in to Jack Portman who hit the ball sweetly into the top left hand corner of the net, as a grand finale to a very convincing win for the Yorkshire side.
Next up ... Wem-ber-lee! On Saturday, England v Spain.
