UniBond Premier Division

1st September 2007

Attendance - 150

Team - Debbage, Burton, Janes, Appleby, Hartas, Lyth, Ormerod, A Raw, Hackworth, Brunskill(Andrews 82), Charlton. Subs not used: Adams, Hardman

Report - by Andrew Snaith -
Whitby's resurgence continued with a comfortable 2-0 victory at Lincoln United on Saturday.

The Blues even lost goalkeeper David Campbell just over 12 hours before kick-off when the 36-year-old went down with food poisoning. Debutant James Debbage was called into action within just two minutes, and pulled off a good save to palm away Chris Garvey's wicked curling effort.

Action was soon up the other end and Town led on six minutes when Danny Brunskill surged forward and laid of for Anthony Ormerod to drill a low drive past Ben Scott from 20 yards.

Five minutes later, Karl Charlton should've doubled the visitors' lead when he headed wide at the far post from Andy Burton's pin-point inswinging cross with his wrong foot.

Brunskill's trademark shot on the turn from the edge of the area was charged down by a brave Lincoln defender, and from the rebound, Andy Raw smashed a swerving 25-yard shot inches over the crossbar.

Raw was again involved on 18 minutes, the former Fishburn Park skipper collecting from deep, before firing a low drive from 22 yards that Lincoln's skipper Scott got down well to smother.

Moments later, Charlton curled an effort from the edge of the penalty box just over, and Alex Janes' goalbound header from Matty Appleby's corner forced Scott to tip the ball wide.

On a rare break, Rob Norris saw his effort from 18 yards charged down by the Town defence. The Blues then turned defence into attack and Tony Hackworth showed neat control, but followed up with a wayward edge of the box shot on the turn.

Seasiders' captain Appleby drove a free-kick high over the bar from 20 yards before Charlton read a high bounce well as it beat the defender but saw Scott save a low drive comfortably from a similiar distance.

At the other end, former Sheffield United and Hednesford midfielder Lee Mellon tried a cheeky lob from 30 yards but the tall figure of Debbage got back and used all his height to catch comfortably in the end.

Just before the interval, Charlton did wonderfully well to keep a loose ball in play using his stomach before nut-megging Garvey and was unlucky to see his drilled cross rebound against Garvey then onto his own frame for a goal kick.

Two minutes into the second half, and the impressive Burton burst clear down the right but fired an angled drive across the six yard box and wide of Scott's right-hand post.

On 54 minutes, Whitby were handed a fortunate penalty when Gary Walters was adjudged to have handballed a ferocious Brunskill shot from a couple of yards away. However, the normally-reliable Brunskill saw his spot kick parried by Scott who then booted away the rebound whilst still on the ground as the Whitby marksman followed in.

But after Monday's hat-trick, Town's runaway top scorer last term scented goals and duly grabbed the winner with 11 minutes remaining. Typically from nothing, the former Durham and Spennymoor striker battled his way forward before beating Scott at his near post with a powerful 12-yard strike.

Brunskill departed to warm applause from the vocal travelling supporters eight minutes from time, to be replaced by ex-Stokesley youngster Sonny Andrews. The big marksman wasn't the only Town representative leaving the pitch before the 90 minutes were up. Earlier, a farsical decision from referee Mr Benton led to Blues manager Lee Nogan and goalkeeping coach Dennis Wheeler being sent a mere few yards away to the nearby stand. The Town staff were voicing their disgust after the official penalised Burton for a 'foul' despite Norris clearly tripping over his own feet.

Benton's assistants also did little to endear themselves to either set of fans throughout the afternoon and may well have denied the hosts a consolation late on when Justin Jenkins' effort was ruled offside.

As it was, that would've flattered the men in white as Whitby continued their recent improvement with a dominant display.