UniBond Premier Division

28th August 2006

Attendance - 358

Team - Norton, Reid, Farthing, Wilford(Nogan 80), Brumwell, Robinson, Appleby, Claisse(Hughes 55), Richards(Parkin 10), Ormerod, Brunskill.

Report - from www.whitbytoday.co.uk - Lee Ashcroft scored his fourth goal in as many games as Whitby dropped into the bottom half of the premier league.
A 14th-minute penalty secured three points, but the Cumbrian side bossed the show for long spells, played the slicker football and should have won by a far more comfortable margin. The referee awarded the spot-kick when Dave Foster went down in the penalty box as he was sandwiched by two Whitby defenders.
Ashcroft drilled the spot kick low beyond keeper Jack Norton into the right-hand corner. Five minutes later, Ashcroft forced a save from Norton, who kept the Blues in the contest with a string of saves. Town played some effective one-touch football at times and and neat passing between Ashcroft and Kilford put Foster through on the Whitby goal but Norton saved a low shot off his legs. Norton was in action again before half-time to deny Ged Smith's rising shot and then Keiran Walmsley fired a well-struck 35-yard drive over the bar.

Whitby had to replace striker Karl Richards early on as he could not run off a leg injury sustained when he sprawled awkwardly after a tackle in the opening minutes. Gavin Parkin replaced him. The Blues relieved the pressure to earn a corner in the last five minutes before the break. Centre-back Aaron Wilford got clean contact with his header but it flew down and past the far post. Danny Brunskill – with three goals already in the league this season – turned on the edge of the box and got a rare shot on goal for Whitby in stoppage time but Hinchliffe got down well to save. The Blues had a close call three minutes into the second half when Mike Rushton fastened on to a well-weighted pass from Ashcroft but Norton was off his line and did enough to snuff out the half-shot. Whitby skipper Matty Appleby picked up a booking for a bad tackle on Paul Osborne, who had been a constant thorn in the midfield tussles, but with Kendal still struggling for a second goal Scott Redhead took over from Foster up front in the 61st minute. A minute later, Ged Smith had a great chance when Kilford squared the ball to him and he unleashed a thunderous 35-yard shot that Norton leapt at full stretch to knock out of the top left-hand corner. Whitby's build-up play was a lot crisper but they still could not find a cutting edge in front of goal.

Instead Ashcroft turned his marker on the right to release Redhead, whose shot lacked power and gave Norton an easy time. The one-goal lead meant a nervous final 10 minutes for the hosts.

Anthony Ormerod unlocked the defence to give Brunskill a clear chance but Hinchliffe dived to save.
From a long throw into the penalty box, Wilford had a free header but failed to get it past Hinchliffe and then Appleby dragged a shot across goal. Whitby's player-manager Lee Nogan came on for the final push but the Kendal defence held firm and a 90th-minute breakaway put substitute Mike Kewley in sight of goal. He hit a measured, dipping shot from 25 yards out and was unlucky to see it crash against the bar with Norton helpless. Whitby were unhappy, however, when Parkin wriggled his way through the home defence in stoppage time. Although Ricky Mercer's last-ditch tackle swept the ball away, the visitors claimed Parkin's shirt had been tugged back but the referee was uninterested in their penalty appeal.