UniBond Premier Division

4th September 2004

Attendance - 268

Team - Escritt, Atkinson(P Campbell 75), Lynch(Jackson 67), Obern, Williams, Nicholson(Linighan 57), Bishop, A Gildea, L Gildea, Robinson, Yale.

Report - by Andrew Snaith - Disgusted, distraught and disgruntled and that was just the home supporters as Whitby were humbled 4-1 by Burscough at the Turnbull Ground on Saturday. The Seasiders’ much publicised strike problems were amplified by the loss of ex-Middlesbrough star Anthony Ormerod through injury before the game even started- Harry Dunn handed midfielder David Yale a first start in Whitby colours. Defender Danny Farthing was left out of the squad, with full-back Paul Atkinson returning.
The visitors, level on points with the Blues at kick-off but tipped for promotion, threatened first within ten minutes. David Rowan’s mazy run set up Paul Gedman, whose progress was halted by Neil Bishop’s crunching slide challenge. Whitby then went straight up the other end and took the lead in smart fashion. Some neat build-up play saw Liam Gildea pick out the unmarked Graham Robinson to side-foot home from six yards. Robinson then had another excellent chance but he headed Yale’s left-wing cross straight at Newnes from close range. But if Burscough’s defence were snoring in the early stages, Whitby’s was positively comatose as the visitors levelled matters just over a minute later- Jeff Underwood’s overlapping run and flighted cross was nodded home at the far post by the unchallenged Liam Blakeman for the equaliser.
This silenced the home crowd but their team were still coming forward and unsettling the opposition. On 16 minutes, Yale beat keeper Newnes in the air from Paul Atkinson’s cross but somehow the Lancashire side survived. Moments later another Atkinson cross cum shot flew narrowly wide. The 22nd minute saw some excellent interplay between Robinson, Liam Gildea and Yale culminate in the latter firing narrowly over.
At the other end, Whitby were left off when Ryan Bowen had the freedom of the borough to drive weakly straight at Ben Escritt from point blank range.
Blakeman then sent a 20-yard free-kick mere inches over the Whitby crossbar. Harry Dunn’s side were beginning to run out of ideas and soon swapped quick passing and movement with brute strength as Bishop and Gildea combined to batter their way through the Burscough rearguard, but Bishop’s belated shot flew high over the Promenade and off towards the North Sea.
A minute before the break, Rowan threatened again only for Alex Gildea’s last-gasp slide to avert the danger and regain possession for the home side. The second half opened with a worrying insight into the devastation to come as Rowan raced clear but saw his neat chip over Escritt just clear the Whitby bar. And indeed within two minutes, Burscough had a penalty when Scott Nicholson tripped Gedman has he jinked his way into the Blues box. Gedman dusted himself off but saw his spot-kick parried low to his right by Escritt, only for Gedman to react quickest and poke home the rebound. Things went from bad to catastrophic as Burscough added a third three minutes later. Ian Johnson’s neat through ball picked out Gedman to chip over the off-balance Escritt from 15 yards with the ball rolling just out of the young keeper’s grasp.
Nicholson was then quickly withdrawn and left to trudge disconsolately down the touchline with veteran Brian Linighan replacing him at the heart of the defence. Fellow defender Chris Lynch joined Nicholson in the dressing-room just after the hour with bustling midfielder Neil Jackson taking the field. Within moments, Whitby had a corner and Alex Gildea’s cross was headed out as far as his brother Liam lurking on the edge of the box but the younger sibling sliced his 18-yard shot well wide. Paul Campbell made his first competitive appearance for the Blues on 75 minutes, replacing Atkinson as the Blues went for broke. But the action again spilled to the Promenade End and Whitby’s goal as Gedman’s seemingly goal-bound angled drive beat Escritt but richoted off post and bar before striking Rowan on the line and resting in the back of the net for 4-1.
The embarrassing score-line brought mutters of anger from a sizable section of the home support, many asking me to note their calls for Blues manager Harry Dunn to resign. Campbell tried in vain to grab some kind of consolation firing two powerful drives from the edge of the box that Newnes did well to hold on to. Needless to say, this did little to quell the murmurs of discontent around the ground when the final whistle blew. Many have vowed to miss tomorrow’s derby with Gateshead at the Turnbull Ground, which also unhelpfully clashes with England’s World Cup qualifier in Poland.