NRSC

1st November 2005

Attendance - 312

Team - Escritt, Brumwell, Richards, Farthing, Hudson, Nicholson, Ormerod, Scaife, Brunskill, Wilford, McTiernan(Raw 45) subs - Atkinson, Robinson, Campbell

Report - from www.whitbytoday.co.uk HOLDERS Whitby Town suffered a shock defeat on Tuesday night to Pickering Town. The Pikes are two divisions below Whitby in the national pyramid system, but deserved their victory on the night. Whitby, who beat Middlesbrough in the North Riding Senior Cup final only in August,started well and had four good chances in the opening 13 minutes. Nick Scaife's shot was blocked, Anthony Ormerod had a shot blocked by Lee Pallender, Scott Nicholson had a shot deflected for a corner and from this, leading scorer Aron Wilford headed the ball over the crossbar. In their first real attack, Pickering took the lead when George Rose split Whitby's defence wide open for Rickie Greening to outpace the defence and his perfect cross-cum-shot was helped into the goal by Whitby's Phil Brumwell. Mark Swales, a former Whitby player, went close for Pickering on 22 minutes and Lee Nogan then set up Greening but he shot wide. The Blues then had a good five-minute spell with Scaife, Wilford and Richrds all going close. The Pikes doubled their lead on 33 minutes from a move which started deep in their own half and involved Danny Brunton, Nogan, Steve Roberts, Rose and Swales. It was Swales whose brilliant dummy allowed Lee Pallender to get the ball on the right wing, cut in and shoot home from an angle thanks to a slight deflection. Towards half-time, Swales and Greening both went close for the Pikes and Wilford headed wide for Whitby. The second half saw Danny Farthing try his luck from 20 yards. The Pikes then had a good spell with Nogan, Swales, Nogan and Steve Baxter all going close. Whitby's best chance so far came on 58 minutes when good work by Scaife found Danny Brunskill who missed the ball. A minute later, Scaife shot over the bar from 35 yards and home keeper Carl Silburn saved superbly to stop Brunskill on the hour. Sub Tom Raw livened matters up and he had a shot well saved by Silburn. Mark Swales had a good chance to increase Pickering's lead further but a timely tackle by Chris Hudson saved the day for Whitby. Scott Nicholson, who was later cautioned,headed wide for the Blues on 71 minutes. The last 10 minutes saw a desperate Whitby looking to get back into the game with Nicholson, Brunskill and Graham Robinson all going close, but the crowd of 321 were delighted to hear the final whistle and see the holders out.