UniBond Premier Division

19th August 2008

Attendance - 300

Team - Escritt, Burgess (Lyth - 6), Pallender, Burton, Forster, Tinkler, Huggins, Hackworth, Raw (Thompson - 85), Brunskill (Garvie - 75), Charlton Subs not used: Brumwell and Ledgeway

Report - By Andy Baxter
Whitby Town sported their smart brand new away kit which very closely resembled that of the Allies in the Film "Escape to Victory", but Whitby couldn't do to Frickley what the allied team did against the Germans in their match.

An early blow struck Whitby when defender, Kevin Burgess, twisted his ankle and limped off in the 6th minute, to be replaced by Ashley Lyth.

The first half was certainly played at a fast and frantic pace and although it appeared at times to be exciting, the standard of football from both sides was relatively poor, with neither team stringing many successful passes together. Whitby had the majority of play and their best opening effort came on 12 minutes when a curling side foot effort from striker, Danny Brunskill went just wide of the left hand post. Five minutes later, Tony Hackworth played a throughball to Karl Charlton, who cleverly chipped it over the advancing keeper, Adam Nicklin, only to see the diving header from Tom Raw, under a challenge from defender Chris Hilton, hit the side netting. Whitby continued to pressure the home side and should have taken the lead soon afterwards when a deep corner into the box, found the outstretched foot of Brunskill, only for his shot to go agonisingly over the bar. With 10 minutes left of the half, Frickley saw their first real effort headed wide by Chris White and just as the referee was about to end proceedings, Whitby's Tony Hackworth saw his glancing header from a corner fly inches over the bar.

Someone once stated that "football is a game of two halves" and this match certainly lived up to that. Frickley may have been under pressure for most of the first 45 minutes, but they reversed that for the second 45 and had the upper hand over Whitby. An early chance fell to Chris White who was denied a certain goal by a superb blocking tackle 2 yards out by Ashley Lyth.

But the home side did take the lead in the 50th minute when a neatly placed ball over the top of the Whitby defence, allowed Lee Morris to run through and slot his shot low and hard past keeper Ben Escritt. This goal further lifted Frickley and just 5 minutes later, the dangerous Chris White somehow weaved his way through 3 Whitby defenders and shot from the edge of the area, only to see the diving Escritt save his effort.

Whitby were really under pressure and it took them until the 66th minute to get any effort in on the Frickley goal, this time a right foot shot from Brunskill, which being on his unfavoured foot, went a couple of yards wide. With 11 minutes left, the home side nearly increased their lead after Rob Pell unleashed a low 25 yard effort which flew narrowly wide, and 5 minutes later, Whitby themselves could have equalised when a corner was met by the head of Mark Tinkler and was cleared off the Frickley line by Dean Jones.

But it was just not to be Whitby's night, when in the 89th minute, substitute Andy Thompson was through on goal but frustratingly, his shot was saved by keeper, Nicklin. The ball then going straight down to the Whitby end where Chris White rounded Escritt but took it too wide to shoot, so he decided to chip the ball back across the goal to Lee Morris, who headed over from close range.

On balance, Whitby played probably better than against Buxton, but still painfully to the "seasiders" supporters, not well enough.