Match Report
FC United slumped to a first defeat of the season with a shocking 4-1 loss at bottom placed Frickley Athletic on Tuesday night thanks to a fantastic hat-trick by Gavin Allott.
The Reds capitulated in spectacular style after a taking a 1-0 lead in the 36th minute through Mike Norton. The hosts equalised seven minutes later through a Allott screamer from 25 yards before blowing United away in the second half by scoring three goals without reply.
In an extremely open game, there were chances at both ends throughout the match. However, once the West Yorkshire side edged into a lead they began to stretch United and exposed an out of sorts backline, which had been looking solid in recent weeks.
Allott was the obvious difference between the two sides but it was far from a one man team that undid United. Frickley looked hungrier for large spells of the game and set about taking the game to the Reds right from the off.
Indeed, such was Frickley’s dominance in the first half an hour, when United broke the deadlock it was against the run of play. A rarity for Karl Marginson’s side who all too often find themselves on the other end of that scenario. Brownhill swung in a corner and Norton ran from the edge of the box to the near post to power a header past the goalkeeper. A superb striker’s goal.
For the next five minutes, it looked like the Reds were going to settle into a rhythm and it could easily have been two. New recruit Andy Welsh took on the fullback to race down the right and pulled the ball back for Callum Byrne. The United playmaker should have scored put his shot was smothered on the line by goalkeeper Ben Simpson.
Before United had the chance to regroup, Allott had unleashed a spectacular long range drive over David Carnell and into the net for 1-1.
The second half started much the same as the first, with Frickley on the attack. Carnell and then Scott Cheetham both had to be alert to clear headers off the line from two different corners in quick succession. Down at the other end, Greg Daniels hit the post just before the hour mark after being played in by Welsh.
Just as it was beginning to look like Frickley were tiring and United had weathered the storm, disaster struck. With 25 minutes to go, Allott beat the offside trap to leave centre-backs Luke Ashworth and Chris Lynch floundering and he made no mistake after racing through to go one-on-one with Carnell. 2-1.
Five minutes later and it was 3-1. Frickley rampaged through FC United’s back four with ease to go two-on-two at the back. Sanchez Payne was the grateful recipient of an open goal as Brownhill was left trying to mark two attackers, it was played around him with ease and Payne slotted the ball home.
United tried to muster a fight back but they lacked ideas. Substitute Matt Walwyn hit the crossbar in stoppage time but even if it had gone in, it was always going to be too little, too late.
As it was, Allott put the icing on the cake for Frickey and compounded United’s misery four minutes into time added on by completing his hat-trick. With the Reds pushed high up the pitch going for broke, Allott raced away down the left and did enough to evade the back-tracking Dean Stott to slam the ball past Carnell at his near post for 4-1.
As games of football go, this was about as bad as it gets for FC United. Comprehensively beaten by a team that we had never lost to in the league before and had beaten 10 times previously out of 14 encounters. Allott was clearly the highlight of the game and off the pitch a great atmosphere was created by the supporters of both clubs.
A special mention to the 30 or so vocal local teenagers who created noise for Frickley throughout the match, exactly the sort of supporters who are missing from the top flight of the modern English game. A not so special mention for the people who bricked the official supporters’ coach as it left the ground after the game.
Website man of the match: Andy Welsh. No-one in Red really deserves the award but Welsh was United’s most threatening player with the ball at his feet. The winger could have offered himself more though when the ball was on the other flank.
Report by Matthew Haley
Match Report
FC United slumped to a first defeat of the season with a shocking 4-1 loss at bottom placed Frickley Athletic on Tuesday night thanks to a fantastic hat-trick by Gavin Allott.
The Reds capitulated in spectacular style after a taking a 1-0 lead in the 36th minute through Mike Norton. The hosts equalised seven minutes later through a Allott screamer from 25 yards before blowing United away in the second half by scoring three goals without reply.
In an extremely open game, there were chances at both ends throughout the match. However, once the West Yorkshire side edged into a lead they began to stretch United and exposed an out of sorts backline, which had been looking solid in recent weeks.
Allott was the obvious difference between the two sides but it was far from a one man team that undid United. Frickley looked hungrier for large spells of the game and set about taking the game to the Reds right from the off.
Indeed, such was Frickley’s dominance in the first half an hour, when United broke the deadlock it was against the run of play. A rarity for Karl Marginson’s side who all too often find themselves on the other end of that scenario. Brownhill swung in a corner and Norton ran from the edge of the box to the near post to power a header past the goalkeeper. A superb striker’s goal.
For the next five minutes, it looked like the Reds were going to settle into a rhythm and it could easily have been two. New recruit Andy Welsh took on the fullback to race down the right and pulled the ball back for Callum Byrne. The United playmaker should have scored put his shot was smothered on the line by goalkeeper Ben Simpson.
Before United had the chance to regroup, Allott had unleashed a spectacular long range drive over David Carnell and into the net for 1-1.
The second half started much the same as the first, with Frickley on the attack. Carnell and then Scott Cheetham both had to be alert to clear headers off the line from two different corners in quick succession. Down at the other end, Greg Daniels hit the post just before the hour mark after being played in by Welsh.
Just as it was beginning to look like Frickley were tiring and United had weathered the storm, disaster struck. With 25 minutes to go, Allott beat the offside trap to leave centre-backs Luke Ashworth and Chris Lynch floundering and he made no mistake after racing through to go one-on-one with Carnell. 2-1.
Five minutes later and it was 3-1. Frickley rampaged through FC United’s back four with ease to go two-on-two at the back. Sanchez Payne was the grateful recipient of an open goal as Brownhill was left trying to mark two attackers, it was played around him with ease and Payne slotted the ball home.
United tried to muster a fight back but they lacked ideas. Substitute Matt Walwyn hit the crossbar in stoppage time but even if it had gone in, it was always going to be too little, too late.
As it was, Allott put the icing on the cake for Frickey and compounded United’s misery four minutes into time added on by completing his hat-trick. With the Reds pushed high up the pitch going for broke, Allott raced away down the left and did enough to evade the back-tracking Dean Stott to slam the ball past Carnell at his near post for 4-1.
As games of football go, this was about as bad as it gets for FC United. Comprehensively beaten by a team that we had never lost to in the league before and had beaten 10 times previously out of 14 encounters. Allott was clearly the highlight of the game and off the pitch a great atmosphere was created by the supporters of both clubs.
A special mention to the 30 or so vocal local teenagers who created noise for Frickley throughout the match, exactly the sort of supporters who are missing from the top flight of the modern English game. A not so special mention for the people who bricked the official supporters’ coach as it left the ground after the game.
Website man of the match: Andy Welsh. No-one in Red really deserves the award but Welsh was United’s most threatening player with the ball at his feet. The winger could have offered himself more though when the ball was on the other flank.
Report by Matthew Haley
