Whitby Town - Season 2001/02 Review
Statistics can lie but the fact that Whitby Town achieved over a quarter of their total wins for the season during a ten day spell in April shows how close the club came to falling through the relegation trap door.
Whitby started the new season without their top scorer from the previous campaign Lee Ludlow although Lee Ure it was pleasing to see Lee Ure return to action after an extended lay off through injury.
The early signs were encouraging and despite a 1-0 defeat on the first day of the season to one of the leagues early favourites Altrincham, Whitby looked like a team on a mission with a 4-1 drubbing of Frickley away from home three days later.
Unfortunately this proved to be a false dawn and Whitby soon slipped into what became a season long struggle to avoid relegation. Incredibly it took Whitby until December 15th to win a home league game. Last season's terrible home form had continued and the crowds tended to stay away rather seeing Whitby lose to poor teams on an awful pitch. The Turbull Ground pitch was as bad as its ever been and was constantly turned into a quagmire by the North Eastern weather. The problem was diagnosed as being a result of poor drainage and is due to be sorted out during the close season, so that it can't stop Whitby Town playing proper football on it again.
The away form was again superb and included wins over high flyers Lancaster City, Accrington Stanley and Vauxhall Motors. This helped keep Whitby head above water and it was only due to the fact that three other teams were playing as badly that they weren't rooted to the foot of the table.
In the midst of all this gloom came the shining light that was the FA Cup. The three qualifying rounds were all at home but somehow Whitby's dreadful home league form was tossed out of the window and wins over Spennymoor United and Ramsbottom United saw the Seasiders draw the tie that the whole town prayed for, Scarborough at home!
The Seadogs were also enduring a poor season and floundering at the foot of the Conference with a points deduction hanging over their heads. The last thing they wanted was a trip to the Turnbull Ground. The biggest crowd for Five years, 1862, crammed into the Turnbull but they were stunned as team from down the coast scored an early goal. Whitby battled back with Lee Ure causing havoc in the Scarborough defence. It was Ure who went on a mazy run down the right and the ball ended up at the feet of Ian Williams who's shot looped up over the Scarborough keeper to equalise and send the crowd loopy. The second half saw Ure snatch a lead for the Blues and when former Scarborough player Jamie Burt made it 3-1 in the last minute of the game, Whitby had finally returned to the first round of the FA Cup for the first time in five seasons.
Their reward was the visit of Division Three leaders and eventual Champions Plymouth Argyle. The tie was further enhanced by the presence of the Match of the Day cameras and the extra cash it brought with it.
The game was a classic David v Goliath encounter with Whitby taking a shock lead late in the first half through Alex Gildea. Some wonderful saves from Phil Naisbett kept the Blues in the game but the dream was extinguished when Plymouth finally equalised with 18 minutes to go. Whitby held on to secure a lucrative replay.
Leeds United supplied their luxury team coach for the lengthy trip to Devon, a fantastic gesture from Peter Ridsdale the LUFC chairman. Whitby looked dead and buried after the first 45 minutes when the home side scored three time without reply although they did have a man sent off.
The second half saw Whitby give it everything and the man of the moment Jamie Burt pulled a goal back with 20 minutes left. Two minutes later it was 3-2 when Graham Robinson scored a 20 yard screamer, but although Whitby attacked with as much vigour as they could Plymouth held on to win the match. Whitby were warmly applauded by the Argyle fans and more than one league club had an eye on Whitby's new stiking sensation Jamie Burt.
Burt finally left for Chesterfield before Christmas and the Blues were left with a massive hole to fill up front. Burt made an immediate impression at the second division club and became their top scorer for the season.
With the cup dream over Whitby got back to the grind of the league and it was most definitely a case of after the Lord Mayor's show. At no time did Whitby ever get a good unbeaten run going until April when the afore mentioned four wins on the trot propelled them out of the bottom three.
The re-signing of Craig Skelton up front, the return of the skilful Craig Veart and some excellent young defenders such as Craig Rand, Aaron Wilford and Kevin Graham gave the Blues a steel that had been lacking before April.
The bottom three teams kept on losing and as Whitby's home form started to improve immeasurably the relegation threat amazingly fell away over the final weeks of the season. As it happened, Bishop Auckland we relegated due to an unfit ground and with Osset being denied promotion on similar circumstances, Whitby had been safe for months not weeks.
The Seasiders final league position was 15th which was better than last year! Most Whitby fans would look back and be relieved that the season has finished and we are still in the Premier Division, but players are needed and with money tight, next season could be equally as traumatic as this has been.
