FA Cup 2Q Replay

30th September 2008

Attendance - 408

Team - Campbell, Burgess, Bishop, Lyth, Tinkler, Beadle, Burton (Garvie), Hackworth, Brumwell, Brunskill (Thompson), Charlton (Huggins) Subs not used: Raw, Ormerod, Ledgeway (GK)

Report - by Andy Baxter - To anyone seeing the final result as 5-2 to Blyth, the immediate reaction will be that Whitby Town were hammered - well that is far from the truth to anyone who saw this FA Cup game on Tuesday night.

It all started to go wrong for Whitby as early as the 3rd minute when a long through ball from the Blyth midfield, saw striker Robert Dale charge through on goal, only to be bundled to the floor at the edge of the box by a seemingly beaten Ashley Lyth. Referee Mr Coy had no hesitation and reached straight for the red card, dismissing a very annoyed Lyth from the park and condemming the Seasiders to 10 men with 87 minutes to go. Luckily the resultant Blyth free kick ended with nothing and within 3 minutes, literally from nowhere, it was Whitby who took the lead. The ball was bouncing around harmlessly in the centre of the park between the 2 teams, when new signing Jimmy Beadle turned and chipped it over the Blyth defence and in to the net past keeper Gareth Powell, who appeared to stand motionless save watching it fly past him.

Karl Charlton then took an early knock and had to be replaced by Steve Huggins. With 17 minutes gone, Blyth drew level with a superb free kick from the edge of the Whitby area, bending around the defensive wall and past a fully outstretched Campbell in the Whitby goal. Blyth then continued to have the upper hand and could have increased their lead from the head of Dale, only to see his effort well saved by Campbell.

However, the home side did then go ahead in the 36th minute when a deeply floated free kick into the Whitby box saw McCabe run in and head the ball, unchallenged, into the Whitby net. Whitby then struggled to make any headway near the Blyth goal and although their build up play was good, the finishing wasn't quite the same and their last effort of the half came from the boot of Danny Brunskill, whos 20 yard shot went woefully over the bar.

Whitby came out more forcefully in the second half and enjoyed much of the possession and better play. Tony Hackworth's strike going just over the Blyth bar on 54 minutes and 2 minutes later, a run from Steve Huggins on the left saw him cut inside and hit his shot into the side netting. Then, on the hour, another Brunskill effort from 25 yards out was well saved by keeper, Powell. Whitby still looked like they deserved and could get an equaliser but were punished in the 64th minute when Blyth's Robert Dale picked up the ball at the edge of the area, turned inside and toe poked it past a diving Campbell for 3-1. Straight from the re-start, Whitby pulled one back after a foul at the corner of the Blyth area. Up stepped Steve Huggins to superbly place his shot over the wall and into the top left hand corner of the net past the well beaten Powell.

However, there was more woe for Whitby within a minute as once again the unmarked Dale turned inside, hit a shot past Campbell for what seemed a certain goal, only to see a superb one handed save from Whitby's Mark Tinkler on the goal line. Once again, the referee had no alternative but the brandish the red card and the visitors were down to 9 men with over 20 mins left on the clock.

Dale decided to take the penalty himself and calmly stepped up and slotted it past Campbell low to the left for a 4-2 lead. But Whitby continued to battle hard and still refused to lay down and die. They introduced the impressive Sam Garvie into the game as well as Andy Thompson, and a shot from Tony Hackworth went agonisingly close on 75 minutes.

But the home side's "Man of the Match", striker, Robert Dale, did kill off any chance of a late Whitby comeback with 6 minutes remaining. A bizarre hat-trick goal for Dale, who claimed what can only be described as a really soft effort on goal, uncharacteristically juggled by keeper Campbell, as if the ball was too hot to handle, into the Whitby net and the delight of the home fans.

With only 2 minutes remaining, Blyth could have scored a 6th with another unchallenged shot from Jed Dalton, but Campbell redeemed his earlier error with a fine save off his legs.

It may seem amazing to say, but the score didn't really reflect this game and a few neutral onlookers commented afterwards that in their opinion, the fitter and better footballing side (Whitby Town) were the team that lost!. I have to agree with that, as the Seasiders were forced to play most of the game with 10 men and then even 9 towards the end and there was certainly no love lost on the pitch, with some pretty horrendous challenges from both sides flying in, although the referee unfortunately booked mainly Whitby players for any of these. In the spirit of sportmanship, we do wish Blyth Spartans all the best for the next round at Buxton. However, Blyth are far from being an impressive side and this game was really won by a catalogue of unfortunate circumstances for Whitby rather than Blyth's ability. For Whitby, the result was extremely disappointing, but their team effort was most certainly first class.