UniBond Premier

12th January 2008

Attendance - 236

Team -

Report - by Andrew Snaith - WHITBY threw away a half-time lead to go down in injury-time to 10-man Ashton United at the Turnbull Ground on Saturday.
Groundsman Eric Wilson worked miracles just to get the game played after a week of heavy rain on the Yorkshire Coast.

Whitby's first-ever joint management team Phil Brumwell and Graeme Clark selected an unchanged starting 11, but welcomed back knee injury victim Alex Janes to the bench, with Brumwell returning to the subs' list after illness.

Early on, Danny Brunskill's persistance won a corner after two minutes, which Ashton keeper Damien Rooney punched nervously away.

Town won a free-kick 25 yards out, which captain Matty Appleby curled goalwards, but no Whitby players could get a touch.

As Whitby continued to dominate, Brunskill and Thompson linked up neatly, with the latter sending an angled drive past Rooney's far post, from the edge of the box.

In the 18th minute, Appleby dispossessed Billy McCartney before picking out Thompson, who hooked inches wide from a similiar distance.

The pressure finally told six minutes later when Karl Charlton's pin-point left-wing cross was steered home at the far post by Ormerod, for his fifth goal in 13 starts this season.

At that point, United had not even managed a shot on target let alone test Blues' keeper Mark Bell, playing just his second match, as Dave Campbell recovers from a knee injury.

But seven minutes before half-time, the Greater Manchester outfit shocked everyone when they hit back on a rare surge forward. Former Manchester United junior Ian Fitzpatrick raced clear and finished superbly from the left angle of the Whitby box, firing past Bell low inside the young keeper's far post.

Undeterred, Whitby snatched back the lead within five minutes, when Ormerod turned provider, expertly spinning away from Matty O'Neill's robust challenge and whipping over a cross from the left, which full-back Andy Burton poked home first time from six yards.

Things could've been even better for the Blues when seconds before half-time Appleby found himself in possession on the byline, and waited an age for support to arrive, before chipping the ball onto Ormerod's head at the far post, but the ex-Middlesbrough forward nodded over the bar from point-blank range.

Nevertheless, the second half opened with encouragement for Whitby, when United were reduced to 10 men after Fitzpatrick was sent off for an elbow on Town defender Ashley Lyth.

Lyth suffered no ill-effects and within seconds, the Blues were on the attack, Ormerod laying off for Brunskill to drive against the knees of Rooney, who quickly gathered the loose ball.

On 55 minutes, Ormerod and Burton linked up superbly down the right flank, with Burton's skill taking him past Danny Caldecott and to the byline, where he crossed for Charlton to hook over the top from 12 yards, on the turn.

So it came as another bolt from the blue when the visitors once again levelled the scores, completely against the run of play, two minutes later.

Some awful defensive play saw Ian Howard completely unmarked on the left edge of the six yard box, and when a right-wing cross picked him out, the youngster made no mistake, drilling the ball under Bell's body for 2-2.

Another dangerous driven cross from the same flank then flashed across the Town box a minute later.

In an unusual move, defender Brumwell replaced the impressive Ormerod on 67 minutes, but Whitby still looked the likelier to score and were disappointed when Brunskill ran clear and set up Thompson, only for the former Blyth man to scuff a poor effort wide.

Janes then replaced Tobin in a like-for-like swap at the back and Town had a golden chance to seize back the advantage six minutes from time.

Brumwell's neat lofted ball to the far post found Thompson, but the forward's radar was off target once again as he headed over the crossbar in a crowded six-yard box.

Town frustration was there for all to see with Brumwell joining Claisse and Burton in the book after a late challenge.

And Whitby's gung-ho approach was to be their undoing as, deep into injury-time, a pass out of defence stuck in a heavy part of the pitch and Howard was able to race to the edge of the Town box before finishing flawlessly past Bell for a dramatic winner.