UniBond Premier

29th August 2005

Attendance - 306

Team - Campbell, Atkinson, Veart, Farthing, Hudson, Nicholson, Scaife(McTiernan 75), Richards(Wells 70), Raw, Robinson(Ormerod 13), Brown.

Report - by Andrew Snaith - Whitby's heaviest loss for over a decade against their great North East rivals ended a disaster seven days which featured three straight defeats, no goals scored and nine conceded.

Amazingly, it was Whitby's goalkeeper Dave Campbell who showed most for the home side standing out like a sore thumb from his underachieving colleagues with a string of fantastic saves preventing an even greater humiliation at the Turnbull Ground on Bank Holiday Monday.

The Blues were buoyed by the return of young forward Tommy Raw who missed the last two defeats with an ankle injury. Fellow marksman Ant Ormerod was once again available for selection after also missing the reverses at Lincoln and Frickley due to the birth of his first child, but the former Middlesbrough man had to be content with a place on the bench.

Whitby's former manager Harry Dunn brought brothers Alex and Liam Gildea among his Blyth Spartans squad- their first appearance at the Turnbull since their summer transfer from Whitby to the Northumberland club.

Within three minutes, Raw signalled his intentions with a neat turn and shot in the Blyth area just over the bar following good work from Graham Robinson. However, the Blues suffered a blow when Robinson hobbled off with a knee injury and Ormerod was back in the action a little earlier than even he could've expected, on 13 minutes.

And within seconds, Spartans led as Whitby's defence was cut to shreds in alarmingly simple fashion. The towering Robert Dale held up the ball terrifically sliding in a neat pass between Farthing and Hudson allowing the unmarked Scott Bell to fire low past Campbell's despairing right-palm from 12 yards.

On 23 minutes, Whitby put together a terrific one-touch passing move with Ormerod and Brown the main architects, but Blyth's backline reacted well charging down Brown's low drive.

Crucially the half hour mark brought the game's clear turning point. Craig Veart slid in late on Alex Gildea with Scott Nicholson following up seconds later. As the former Whitby man laid on the turf, players from both sides exchanged words and more besides with Blyth's ex-Aston Villa midfield star Graham Fenton appearing to deck Nicholson with an elbow to the face. The referee and his assistant consulted for some time before finally taking the easy way out and booking both Nicholson and Fenton.

And as so often happens, this weak decision changed the course of the game as Chris Hudson's indecision let in Bell who picked out the fortunate Fenton, who spotted Campbell off his line and executed a perfect lob over the Whitby keeper from just outside the box for 2-0.

Campbell then did well to hang on to Gildea's slightly scuffed first time shot from distance, and at the other end, Veart's 25-yard free-kick looped just over the crossbar. But if Whitby weren't in enough trouble, they picked an awful time to concede a killer third goal.

In first half stoppage time, Paul Atkinson's rash slide from behind sent Gildea crashing to the turf. Referee Mr Greenwood was much more convinced over this decision than Fenton's lucky escape, awarding a penalty which Dale slotted calmly low to Campbell's left.

Into the second half, and Karl Richards who was by no means the worst player on the pitch gave wayfor David Wells to try his luck down the left for the final half hour. It seemed in vain though on 65 minutes when another alarming chasm sprouted in the Blues defence only for Campbell to execute a superb reaction save to deny Dale a second goal.

However, Whitby's reprieve lasted mere seconds when Hudson, who'd earlier very calmly dribbled the ball around his own six yard box, Farthing and Campbell got in a terrible mess, which resulted in Dale beating the Whitby keeper in the air to head home Blyth's fourth.

Nick Scaife curled a 25-yard free-kick straight at under-worked Blyth keeper Craig Turns on 67 minutes, it was to be the midfielder's final contribution of the afternoon, as winger Dave McTiernan replaced him with 75 minutes on the clock.

Straight away, the lively youngster added some energy into the Seasiders' play, a brave attempted lob from nearly 30 yards caught just in front of the goal-line by Turns.

Whitby's day was summed up on 82 minutes when Ormerod's crisp right-wing cross was headed straight at Turns by Nicholson who rose perfectly unchallenged at the far post.

The final five minutes of the 90 saw Dale and Bell leave to some loud boos from the home contingent, whether it was their part in Whitby's demise or rather an outburst directed at replacement forwards Marin Peace and particularly, the returning Liam Gildea.

Wells hammered just wide from distance with supposedly just a minute remaining. However, there was to be a raft of injury time as Peace suffered a suspected broken ankle following a late Atkinson challenge. Thinking the striker was over-reacting, the Whitby right-back tried to pull his opponent off the ground, before realising the full extent of the injury. It was over ten minutes before play could restart, and after a seemingly cruel spell of fruitless play, the game was at an end and the men in Green had completed a crushing victory. Ironically, Dunn had put onto his opposite number David Logan, the same pressure which resulted in his own departure almost a year to the day last season, and Logan's eventual appointment as manager. Football can be odd like that sometimes.