UniBond Premier Division

4th March 2008

Attendance - 168

Team - Campbell, Lyth, Tobin, Appleby, Forster, Claisse, Burton, Brumwell, T Raw, Brunskill, Charlton. Sub not used: Gildea.

Report - Whitby moved out of the relegation zone, but had to settle for a point at relegation rivals Leek Town, despite leading 2-0 and 3-1 on Unibond TV's live match of the week.

Travelling with only 12 squad members, due to the 300-plus-mile midweek hike affecting player jobs, the Seasiders raced into a two-goal inside 13 minutes.

First, big defender Stephen Tobin finished his first ever Whitby goal superbly to shock the home crowd early on.

Then, skipper Matty Appleby, rushed back from a hamstring injury to replace the unavailable Ant Ormerod, duly doubled the lead within three minutes.

The battle between the division's second and third bottom sides flew from end to end and it was no suprise when the hosts pulled a goal back just before half-time. Leek's lively leading scorer Louis Briscoe was on hand to reduce the arrears at a vital stage.

However, when the visitors' own top marksman Danny Brunskill found the net with a swerving 30-yard piledriver, it looked like Whitby were odds on to extend their advantage over Leek to seven points.

The Seasiders constantly threatened, but when Briscoe cut in from the left flank and curled a fine individual effort of his own past Dave Campbell and inside the far post for 3-2.

Buoyed by this, Leek camped in the Whitby half in a fiery game that had already featured several bookings. Even the respective management teams clashed as Whitby's joint boss Graham Clark shoved opposite number Paul Ogden on the touchline, and the visitors' supremo was sent to the stands.

Leek struck the crossbar from distance, and eventually made pressure tell eight minutes from time when a corner from the right was fired home by James Walshaw, despite Tom Claisse's attempted goal-line clearance.

As things boiled over in stoppage time, Whitby's Andy Burton was sent off for a second bookable offence, after a foul on the vocal Walshaw, whose reaction seemed to sway the official.