Frickley Athletic and Bottesford Town doesn’t sound like it would be a classic, but it served up something utterly unique on Tuesday night, with a former Imp at the centre of it all.
Jack McMenemy is a former Imps trainee who came through during our final years as a National League club. He didn’t make a senior appearance for the Imps, but did make the bench a couple of times, once against Gateshead in the EFL Trophy.
He didn’t make the grade at City, but has had a stellar non-league career with the likes of Gainsborough Trinity, Lincoln United, where he played in their FA Vase run a few seasons back. His exploits there earned him the name The Bull, which is what he might have thought about his teammates this week….
He’s now with Bottesford Town, second bottom in the Northern Counties East League. This week, they travelled to Frickley Athletic for a cup clash, and McMenemy shone. After Thomas Radley gave the home side the lead, the former Imps man ran riot.
He bagged on 18 minutes, then again four minutes later. Three minutes before half-time, he added a third, and with a minute of the first half remaining, it was 4-1. The dressing room would surely be jubilant, and when Okera Simmonds added a fifth, it looked like a job done.
McMenemy came off, and Frickley hit four in even minutes, one from former Scunthorpe and York winger Martyn Woolford. Scott Cable got the leveller, worth noting for later. That left the score poised at 5-5, but fear not, Bottesford had one final push. Scott Matthews gave the 160-strong crowd something to jeer, a sixth for the away side.
Time ticked away, and Frickley pushed. McMenemy could only watch as Cable agonisingly grabbed a 91st-minute leveller for the home side, and then, disaster. Despite having been 5-1 down with 36 minutes to go, Cable snatched his hat-trick, giving Frickley a 7-6 win.
Now that’s football!