FA TROPHY REPORT: FRICKLEY ATHLETIC 1 BRIGG TOWN 2

BY BOB TAYLOR

Brigg travelled to face Evo-Stik Premier League side Frickley Athletic in the F.A Trophy First Qualifying Round with plenty of self- confidence to extend their recent unbeaten run of results to six games and they did not disappoint. 

The team which started the game was unchanged from the mid-week eleven which had won the three league points at home to Eastwood Town. Danny Buttle was still on the injury list but the recovering Paul Grimes and Ollie Fisher were available on the substitutes’ bench along with Liam Wright, Tyler Collishaw and Billy Iggleden.

Frickley won a free kick on the right wing in the first minute and Luke Jeffs played the ball deep into the Brigg penalty area but it was headed clear by Michael Jacklin. Brigg responded with an attack down the left wing winning a corner kick from Anhony Bowsley, which was well defended but played back into the goal area catching Elliot Broughton off-side. Brigg’s bright opening period was rewarded with a goal after six minutes of play. Jordan Thewlis was proving to be a threat to the home team’s central defenders and worked his way past Joe Wilcox to the left goal line before playing the ball across the face of the goal for RYAN PACZKOWSKI to direct it into the back of the net from close range with a deflection off Luke Jeffs.  Elliot Broughton pressed forward again in the next minute from a throw-in on the left deep into the Frickley half but the ball was played away with a counter attack down the home team’s left wing earning a free kick from which Gavin Allot headed narrowly over Rob Zand’s goal.  Brigg almost doubled their lead a few minutes with another free kick played into the goal area by Anthony Bowsley but Jordan Thewlis headed just wide at the far post. Brigg’s confidence continued to grow and Ryan Paczkowski found space to hit a thirty yard shot just over the cross bar. When Frickley won another free kick outside the penalty area, Rob Zand parried the ball clear but at the other end of the pitch, Anthony Bowsley’s shot was inches wide. The home team began to win more of the ball in the last fifteen minutes of the first half but their main threat came down the left wing with high crosses played into the Brigg area aimed at Luke Hinsley and Gavin Allott but Scott Hellewell and Michael Jacklin stood commandingly firm at the heart of the Brigg defence.  As Brigg  continued to search for openings to increase their lead, Jordan Thewlis worked his way past the home defenders again but his cross along the face of the goal was cleared. Then Liam Dickens and Elliot Broughton combined well to force a corner kick on the left but the ball was played back out to the former to strike another shot over the home team’s cross bar. As the game moved into added time at the end of the first half, Brigg won the ball on a quick counter attack with Jordan Thewlis heading clear for goal as the referee blew his whistle to conclude the half.

The home team started the second half much more positively with the slope of the pitch now in their favour and the setting sun in the face of the goalkeeper and defenders. In their first attack of the half, Matty Bloor showed their intent by driving a shot wide from a left wing attack. After only four minutes of play, the “Blues” scored an equalising goal. It came from a high cross into the penalty area, mis-judged by Rob Zand and allowing LUKE HINSLEY the chance to head the ball into the back of the net. The initiative swung to the home team as they pushed forward for more reward but Brigg defended the lead tenaciously. Ollie Fisher replaced the injured George Zuerner after sixty- five minutes and Paul Grimes was on for Elliot Broughton ten minutes later. In the seventy eighth minute, Brigg forced a counter-attack down the right wing with OLLIE FISHER pushing well forward to catch out home goalkeeper Tom Woodhead in a wrong position to fire the ball into the far corner of the net from thirty yards out. Brigg rode their luck in the later stages when another strike from a right wing corner set piece hit the cross bar and another Gavin Allott shot went across the face of the goal but on the ninety minutes of play, they fully deserved their hard earned victory. 

They now face Loughborough Dynamo in a league match away on Tuesday evening.

Brigg Town:    Zand, Ashton, Matthews, Bowsley, Hellewell, Jacklin, Zuerner, Dickens, Paczkowski, Thewlis, Broughton. Subs:    Fisher (63) and Grimes (75) for Zuerner and Broughton;  Wright, Collishaw and Iggleden not used.

Attendance:  136.