UniBond Premier

19th August 2009

Attendance - 361

Team - Woodhead, Close, Gildea.A(Beadle), Ingram, Burgess, Hanson, Hassan, Hackworth, Blott, Tymon(Raw), Charlton(Gildea.L) subs Dalton, Campbell

Report - by Andy Baxter - A beautiful summer’s evening welcomed Whitby Town’s first home league match of the new season against a much fancied for promotion side, Guiseley.

Both sides started at a blistering pace with the crowd of 361 being lifted early on by a 25 yard volley from Whitby’s Tony Hackworth, which flew straight into the clutches of Guiseley keeper, Jon Worsnop. Moments later at the other end, Guiseley’s James Walshaw, saw his curving shot well saved and held by Whitby’s 19 year old keeper, Tom Woodhead.

The home side continued to pile on the pressure and took a deserved lead in the 11th minute when a fairly tame long through ball, reached the edge of the Guiseley box, seeing keeper Worsnop hesitate and fumble to clear it, allowing Karl Charlton to steal the ball from his half grasp and slide it in to an empty net.

But Guiseley fought back and with 20 mins gone, following what appeared to be a soft push by Alex Gildea on striker James Walshaw, the Guiseley striker unceremoniously tumbled over quite dramatically in the area and referee, Paul Stalker, had no hesitation as he pointed to the penalty spot. He then booked Alex Gildea for the challenge and saw the resultant penalty from Anthony Lloyd slotted away for the Guiseley equaliser.

Minutes later Guiseley had a neat passing move end up with the dangerous Walshaw, who cleverly turned in the box and hit a shot, only to see his effort confidently held onto by the young Whitby keeper. The match then seemed to yo-yo from end to end with nothing to really to make either keeper make a save until the 40th minute when a deep cross from Alex Gildea found Matthew Tymon at the back post, but the Whitby player’s close range effort was smothered out of play for a corner by keeper, Worsnop.

A minute later, at the other end, a deflected ball found Adam Muller in the area, and his side foot shot from a mere 8 yards out flew way over the bar with an empty net beckoning. On the stroke of half time, Whitby’s Ryan Blott hit a lovely 20 yard free kick which flew agonisingly close over the visitors bar.

Blott was in action again early in the second half when his header down to Alex Gildea allowed the Whitby player’s half volley to again fly over the bar. The home side continued to play some nice flowing football, both in the air and on the ground, but the crowd were nearly silenced when Guiseley’s Adam Muller drove 40 yards forward, riding three challenges, playing a quick one-two and being denied what would have been a superb goal by a brilliant save from Woodhead. Whitby then started to look tired and replaced Tymon with Tom Raw, but with only 20 minutes remaining, the home side, now seeming to be half a yard behind their opponents, should have gone behind when a corner fell to Muller in the area and his 6 yard effort was again poorly finished, being blasted over the bar.

Whitby immediately responded when the Whitby captain, Tony Hackworth hit a 35 yard shot which glanced off the top of the Guiseley bar and again the game became end to end chances for both teams. Muller should have scored for the visitors when Alex Gildea lost the ball at the edge of his own area and the Guiseley striker, having won the tackle, saw his side foot curving effort fly past the right hand post. Gildea was then replaced by Jimmy Beadle with 13 mins left for either side to grab a winner. It was Guiseley who nearly broke the deadlock when Walshaw’s diving header was missed and minutes later a second chance for him was headed wide. But he was rewarded for his persistence in the dying moments when a deep pass to the back post saw him side foot the ball home from close range to stun the home fans.

Referee, Stalker, then signalled 4 additional minutes in which Whitby pushed forward for the equaliser and were very nearly punished when the visitors broke away and another fierce shot from Lee Tuck was pushed over the bar by the outstretched Whitby keeper, Woodhead, to avoid Whitby conceding another.

To be fair, Guiseley looked the better side for the majority of the second half and although their winning goal was extremely late, it did look on the cards that they would nick a winner and take the 3 points. Some good performances from a newly formed Whitby team, especially from the Sponsor’s Man of the Match, Ibrahim Hussan along with Denny Ingram, Kevin Burgess and not forgetting Tom Woodhead, who pulled off some superb saves during the game.