UniBond Premier

5th October 2005

Attendance - 246

Team - Campbell, Brumwell, Veart, Farthing. Nicholson, Scaife, Ormerod, Brown, Raw, Wilford, McTiernan(Richards) - Subs not used - Atkinson, Barber

Report - from www.whitbytoday.co.uk - WHITBY climbed away from the relegation trapdoor on Wednesday night with their third successive win. The decisive goals from striker Aron Wilford and defender Craig Veart came in a lively 10-minute spell which saw three goals, a sending off and a mini-brawl. The Blues move up four places to 16th in the Unibond Premier with two games in hand on most clubs. Victories in these games would put Dave Logan's men within reach of the play-off places.
On Wednesday, Whitby were pinging the ball around with real confidence as they dominated the opening quarter of an hour without creating any notable chances. Ossett's Colin Williamson had a chance to break the deadlock early on but should have done better than pull his shot wide with keeper Dave Campbell waiting to be tested.
The visitors were a whisker away from taking the lead on 23 minutes. Andy Hayward only needed a touch from James Walshaw's low cross but failed to connect with the goal at his mercy. Scott Nicholson's hefty punt upfield for Whitby turned into a superb pass as it released Tommy Raw on the right. He charged to the byline and slid the ball across goal but only a superb clearance at full stretch prevented Wilford tapping home the opener.
Nick Scaife's inswinging corner only needed the faintest of touches to go in but surprisingly failed to get one. And then the midfield dynamo's 20-yard drive in the next attack was easily stopped by keeper Neil Bennett. Both sides struggled to settle at the start of the second half as the game moved at a tremendous pace.
The standard deteriorated a little from the first half and needed something special to liven it up. And that's exactly what happened when some neat one-touch football saw Andrew Brown roll a pass to Wilford to slot home for the Blues on 60 minutes.
And the lead was doubled just six minutes later.
Tommy Raw latched onto a great defence splitting pass and charged towards goal but was pulled down for a clear penalty. Defender Kirk Wheeler's reaction – when he appeared to raise a hand to Raw – sparked a mini-brawl and the referee had no hesitation in sending him off. Down to 10 men, the West Yorkshire side were then down by two goals as Craig Veart hammered his spot-kick in off the far post.
To their credit, Ossett refused to let heads drop and pulled a fluke goal back on 70 minutes. Luke Statton's corner deceived everyone and cheekily dropped in at the back past for 2-1. Dave McTiernan made way for Karl Richards and the ex-Hartlepool man was involved in a neat move which resulted in Wilford lashing a shot into the side netting.
The Blues looked to put the game beyond the visitors' reach as Ant Ormerod skipped past his man to find some pace, but blasted over the top. Whitby survived a late scare as Steve Price's harmless looking shot took a deflection off Richards' back and forced Campbell to save.
But the whistle blew shortly afterwards to signify another three precious points for Logan's men.