Fearns Claims 100th Goal

Before this game even kicked off the odds were stacked against Vauxhall as they had never won a game at Westfield Lane. Manager Owen Brown had travelled to Frickley three times previously and picked up maximum points every time, so he had a good feeling about this one.

Vauxhall started off the better but could not prevent Frickley having the first opportunity on 20 minutes when their skipper Lee Morris forced a good save from Tony Dittmer in the Motors goal.

Carl Nesbitt was then unlucky not to find the net as he saw his long range effort go straight at the Frickley shot stopper Jon Hood, if he had directed it into the corner of the goal i don't think there was any chance for the home keeper.

Then came a possible turning point with 15 minutes left in the half. Vauxhall were getting ready to defend a free kick but before they could take it the linesman called the ref over and explained to him that he saw full back Wayne McDermott elbow one of the opposition in the face. Vauxhall were reduced to ten men and it was never going to be easy from then on.

From the resulting free kick Lee Morris fired in a free kick that produced an excellent save from Tony Dittmer to keep the scores blank.

Half Time: Frickley Athletic 0-0 Vauxhall Motors

Five minutes after the restart Vauxhall thought they had good claims for a penalty as attacking midfielder Peter Cumiskey was brought down in the area by Hood but the ref was having none of it as he waved play on.

Not long after, The Motormen attacked once more and Peter Cumiskey was involved again as his cross was met by Fearns whose header was saved by the upright. With Vauxhall playinf so well it was surely a matter of when they would score.

On 72 minutes Dittmer was called into action again and Dominique Krief's shot caused problems as the agile keeper scrambled across the goal line only to see the shot go wide of the target.

A couple of minutes later and the deadlock was finally broken and it was 10 men Vauxhall that took the lead. They decided on a long ball. Tony Dittmer gathered a cross and straight away hit a long ball that landed at the feet of Fearns who with back to goal shrugged off a couple of defenders before producing a fantastic lob that left Hood stranded and The Motormen 1-0 up with only ten minutes left on the clock.

Then the home side upped the tempo and dominated the last ten minutes. The outstanding qualities of Tony Dittmer kept out a first time volley from Morris and two point blank saves. The board then came out and the fourth official indicated five minutes would be added on. Frickley threw men forward that ended up working to Vauxhall's advantage as Terry Fearns grabbed his brace and 100 GOALS since his arrival at Rivacre Park three years ago.

Terry Fearns has Carl Nesbitt to thank as it was his long run that provided the assist for the striker to out-pace the Athletic defence and put the game beyond the fellow strugglers.

Owen Brown had this to say afterwards as he spoke to the Pioneer "That was a fantastic win. It was even more pleasing than last week's victory, because not many teams came to Frickley and win anyway - it's a difficult place to get results.

"To win in the manner we did, particularly having gone down to 10 men so early in the game, was superb. The lads showed tons of character, commitment and no little skill, to pull off a fantastic victory on the day."

He added: "I know Tim and Terry will get the plaudits, but I didn't think they stood out - it's just that I thought they were two fantastic performances of 10 fantastic performances.

"I thought Tim was tremendous and made some great saves at vital times and of course, Terry did well scoring his goals, but the other eight lads have worked their socks off to create the chances. "I thought the back three, Tom, Mark and particularly Craig were outstanding, the three lads in midfield must have covered a marathon between them.

'Wacker', for once, was the most unselfish I've seen him play and he's covered a lot of ground after Wayne went off, and even Alan Griff when he came on, won his tackles and hit two or three great balls in next to no time."

Full Time: Frickley Athletic 0-2 Vauxhall Motors

Man of the Match: Tony Dittmer for a fantastic performance and keeping the clubs first clean sheet in 23 games since they hammered Runcorn 6-0 back in October 2003.

Teams:

Motors: Dittmar, Betts, McDermott, Robinson, Roberts, Lynch, Nesbitt, Lawton, Fearns, Spellman, Cumiskey (Griffiths 86). Subs: Macauley, McCann.