UniBond Premier Division

21st October 2008

Attendance - 197

Team - Liversedge, Burgess, Bishop, Lyth, Forster(C), Beadle, Huggins, Hackworth, Raw (Brumwell 77 mins), Rae (Janes 90 mins), Scott Subs not used: Tobin, Charlton, Campbell(GK)

Report - by Andy Baxter - Whitby Town continued their steady rise up the Unibond Premier League with a fine display of football at Guiseley, in front of the home sides smallest crowd of the season, thanks to 3 goals, a solid team performance and an awesome striking duo. Going into this game, Guiseley probably expected to clinch another 3 points but they were overwhelmed by an in form Whitby.

Both teams started the match at a fast pace with some delightful passing moves, the first effort coming from the home side on 9 minutes with a shot from Phil Denney going just wide. But within 3 minutes, Whitby came close when a free kick was met by the head of Tony Hackworth, who in turn found Tom Raw, making his 100th appearance for the Seasiders, but his close range shot was saved by the legs of keeper, Tom Morgan. Shortly afterwards, a carbon copy chance as Hackworth again found Raw and his second goal scoring opportunity was denied by the keeper.

The Whitby keeper, Nick Liversedge, then pushed the ball over the bar, thwarting a close range header from Denney giving Guiseley the lead and at the other end, following a foul on Tom Raw, free kick specialist, Steve Huggins, saw his 20 yard kick fly narrowly over the bar.

But continual pressure and some very nice football from Whitby Town was rewarded in the 24th minute when the superb 'Man of the Match', Michael Rae, picked up the ball on the right hand side and delivered a pin point cross to the incoming Leon Scott, whose thundering side foot volley from 7 yards out found the net.

Almost immediately at the other end, Guiseley came close to equalising when a close range header from Mark Whitehouse was somehow cleared off the line by Kevin Burgess, despite Guiseley appealing for hand ball. On the half hour, another Whitby break down the right allowed Raw to cross to Scott and his first time effort was close to increasing the visitors lead. Within 2 minutes, more pressure from a vibrant Whitby saw Rae, Raw and Scott combine once again to force another corner.

Guiseley were penned back and couldn't play any attacking football until Adam Muller turned in the Whitby box and shot, but the dominant Whitby keeper, Nick Liversedge, made an easy save low down.

With half time approaching, Whitby continued to drive forward and increased their lead in the 43rd minute when Raw found Rae, who unleashed an absolute screamer into the top left hand corner past keeper Morgan at full stretch and within a minute it so easily could have been number 3, with a corner to the far post headed inches wide by Jimmy Beadle.

Those who have seen Whitby this season have commented that they either have or good first or second half but not usually both. That was far from the truth in this match and the visitors continued to look dangerous and ever more likely to score again. With 53 mins gone, they did get their deserved 3rd goal when Rae and Raw combined again and Raw celebrated his 100th Whitby appearance with a calmly, well taken shot past the keeper.

The game was fast becoming very one sided and in the 68th minute another ball down the right to Raw saw him turn and lay off a pass to Rae, whose effort flew narrowly over the bar. With all the continual running he had done, Whitby then brought Raw off and replaced him with Phil Brumwell and appeared to then ease off a little in the latter stages. This saw the home side experience their best period of the match and they came close with a cross goal effort from Dave Brown which beat Liversedge and narrowly the far post. A minute later Brown again had a header superbly saved by Liversedge and the resultant corner brought the Whitby keeper into action once more.

But in the 83rd minute, Guiseley did pull a goal back when a free kick was floated in to the Whitby box. Keeper, Liversedge called for the ball but didn't allow for the incoming Chris Bolder to rise unchallenged and make no mistake with his header. The final chance of the match fell to Leon Scott for Whitby whose shot was deflected narrowly wide in the last minute.

On this performance, Whitby have, besides maintaining their momentum and confidence, found a very useful strike partnership in Raw and Rae, and they, along with Brunskill, bode well for the future. The other pleasing thing from the match was that EVERY single Whitby player never stopped running, fought for every ball and appeared to enjoy themselves. The supporters will certainly hope for another gritty performance on Saturday when the Seasiders face FC United of Manchester and there is a large crowd in excess of 800 expected for this encounter. Turnstiles open at 1.45pm and supporters are urged to arrive early to avoid congestion.