Tadcaster Albion 'rode their luck' during victory at Frickley Athletic, admits Mick O'Connell

The Brewers came away from Saturday’s NCEL Premier Division fixture with all three points courtesy of Charlie Owen’s 87th-minute goal – a mishit cross from the right flank which ended up sailing into the back of the home net.

Just moments earlier, Frickley had somehow failed to finish off a glorious chance to take the lead, but Albion’s manager felt that it was about time he and his players benefited from a bit of good fortune.

"We rode our luck at times and came out the right side of it,” O’Connell said. "I don't think that we deserved the three points, I don’t think that either team did. I think a draw would have been a fair reflection of the game.

"It was a really bad advert for football at this level on that pitch, you couldn’t stand up or string two passes together, but it’s important that when you come to these places that you don’t lose – and luckily we have managed to win the game from a cross.

"The way that the game went, it was always going to take a mistake or something like that – a fluke – because there was zero quality in the game.

"But we will take it, we have been on the receiving end of those kind of things a few times and sometimes you need a little bit of luck when you come away from home on a cold Saturday in December. And on a pitch like it was on Saturday, we will take every bit of luck that we can get.”

Victory lifts Albion up to 14th in the table ahead of this Saturday’s home clash with Golcar United (3pm).