Frickley Athletic 1 v Nostell Miners Welfare 0 - Northern Under 19 Alliance

11 v 11 ... Nostell MW in red v Frickley Athletic in yellow

Monday 9th January 2012
at the Tech 5 Stadium, Westfield Lane, South Elmsall
Northern Under 19 Alliance, Central Division
Frickley Athletic (0) 1 Nenad Smiljanic 70 pen
Nostell Miners Welfare (0) 0
Admission £2, Attendance 47
A fairly evenly matched first half, in which third placed Nostell cancelled out the league leaders for long spells and a bit of a stalemate ensued, which wasn't helped as a spectacle at times by the stop/start nature of the game.
As the first half wore on, Frickley began to make head way and take the game to their neighbours, but by half time, despite creating a couple of good chances, they hadn't yet found a breakthrough.
At the interval, on a surprisingly mild January night, despite the goalless scoreline, I was still having a good time anyway, putting the world to rights with the two Frickley John's and a little bloke who'd just walked in from a photo shoot, where he'd been modelling kids clothes for Grattan's catalogue.
Anybody that tells you the rest of us are also familiar with the fashion industry and have our own portfolios with Big Fellas, the oversized gents outfitters who sponsor the Frickley Athletic social club, is fibbing.

The second half was very one sided, played almost exclusively in the Nostell half of the pitch as the young Blues, or Yellows tonight for some reason, put the visitors under the cosh.
In the second half, Frickley Under 19's turned into a microcosm of their first team in recent games, by creating chance after chance without being able to apply the finishing touch.
On 70 minutes Nenad Smiljanic scored the only goal of the game with a well struck penalty kick.
From then on in, the 1-0 scoreline doesn't reflect the dominance and lion's share of possession the home side had.
It was one way traffic, but try as they might, Frickley, time after time, where always just a whisker away from killing the game off.
In the end a well deserved win, but the margin of defeat flattered the visitors in the second half.

Talking of one way traffic.
Arrgh!
When are the swine-hounds that are responsible for the maintenance of the A1, going to get whatever it is they are doing to the A638 southbound slip-road finished?
Another night out and yet another detour through down-town Doncaster to pick up my route home.
Stop it, this joke is wearing very thin now!

Next up - Tomorrow night. On tour with the Beefcake Posse', for Thackley v Retford United, Baris NCEL League Cup 3rd Round.