Owen strikes last-gasp winner as Tadcaster leapfrog opponents Frickley

CHARLIE Owen was the hero for Tadcaster Albion as his last-gasp winner proved enough to defeat Frickley Athletic.

Frickley had given the Brewers a wake-up call with a 3-1 victory in the reverse fixture in August, but Mick O’Connell’s side have now leapfrogged their opponents up to 14th place in the NCEL Premier Division table.

Conditions were good at Westfield Lane, where the sides were met by a wintery chill.

Frickley fielded two ex-Tadcaster players in their line-up, goalkeeper Harrison Davison-Hale and Rob Guilfoyle up front.

The visitors started on the front foot and looked for an early break when Elliot Andrew picked up Oli Norman’s through ball, but faced with four defenders, he could not get his shot away.

Norman almost set up another opportunity a minute later, but his pass was too heavy for Kieran Greenway and instead sailed through for a goal kick.

Frickley made their first meaningful foray into the Tadcaster half on six minutes but shot well wide.

Instead, it quickly became a midfield battle, and though the Brewers were edging the play, they could not break through the back four. The hosts meanwhile began to look dangerous on the break.

The first corner of the match went Frickley’s way midway through the half but was headed clear. Their pressure though continued with Dan Thirkell’s dubious header back to Sam Green, but the shot-stopper read the danger well and punched the ball away to safety.

At the other end, Sam Kitchen looked to be through one-on-one with Davison-Hale, but he was adjudged to be offside.

Chances continued to fall the visitors’ way, Andrew firing a poor shot on goal before a spectacular 25-yard effort needed two attempts from the Frickley stopper before the danger passed.

Jamie Tomlinson then came close for the hosts, who did have the ball in the back of the net on 35 minutes through Alhassane Keita, but the referee had spotted a handball in the build-up and Tadcaster were reprieved.

The Brewers looked to have responded in perfect fashion when Junayd Cassius-Gill brought down Green’s clearance and lobbed the advancing goalkeeper, but his effort narrowly cleared the bar.

Not to be outdone, the hosts had the final say before the break when a Kitchen back-pass was pounced on by Keita, but with just Green in his way, he shot wide.

However, goalless at the break was a fair reflection.

It was a closely-fought encounter between the sides. (Image: Keith Handley) Frickley started the second half brightly with a quick move down the right flank seeing the ball delivered into the six-yard box by substitute Kenzie Dillon, but Keita’s follow-up hit the inside of the post and was then cleared by Elliot Holmes.

It was Tadcaster’s turn to try and break the stalemate just after the hour after a poor back-pass played in Andrew. Though Davison-Hale managed to get a hand to the goal-bound effort, it still looked like bobbling into the back of the net, but a bounce took it high enough to instead cannon off the bar.

Luca Bolino almost made an immediate impact off the bench, but Davison-Hale chested away his effort.

Albert Ibrahimi then headed wide from a Norman cross as both sides looked for a winner.

That almost transpired for the hosts five minutes from time when Charlie Clegg pulled the ball back for what seemed a simple tap-in, but Tadcaster got back well to clear off the line.

And on 87 minutes, the Brewers instead sealed the points, Owen’s cross taking a slightly fortuitous bend, sailing over the goalkeeper and nestling into the far corner.

The match though ended on a sour note, acrimony breaking out between the two sets of players after a well-fought match.

Tadcaster return to the Young Guns Arena next Saturday in their final home game of the year against leaders Golcar United.