UniBond Premier

3rd September 2008

Attendance - 244

Team - Nick Liversedge, Phil Brumwell, Alex Janes, Kev Burgess, Richard Forster, Jamie Beadle, Steve Huggins, Andy Burton, Tom Raw (Sam Garvie - 68), Danny Brunskill (Andy Thompson - 76), Karl Charlton. Subs not used: Lee Nogan, Lee Pallender, Ben Escritt

Report - by Andy Baxter - Fantastic!! Whitby finally started their season after straight 5 defeats with a superb performance against Ossett Town and although the Match Sponsors selected Andy Burton as the Man of the Match, every single Whitby player deserved it.

Both teams started at a brisk pace with Whitby getting caught far too often and too easily by the Ossett offside trap.

The opening effort came in the 10th minute when a well hit shot from the visitor's Aiden Savory flew 2 yards past the post and the diving Whitby on loan keeper from Darlington, Nick Liversedge. But a minute later at the other end of the pitch, Danny Brunskill got the ball 20 yards out and his powerful left foot drive screamed straight into the top corner of the Ossett net.

In the 18th minute, Ossett's Tom Greaves, appeared to be through on goal but Whitby were saved by an outstanding, well timed tackle inside the box from Alex Janes. Four minutes later, Richard Forster, who's received some stick from the fans of late but in this game was outstanding, played a magnificent cross field pass to Karl Charlton whos cross goal shot went narrowly wide. Then in the 25th minute, Steve Huggins got himself on the scoresheet when his 20 yard effort beat the stranded Cotterill in the Ossett goal for Whitby's deserved 2nd goal.

But before we could get breath, Ossett replied immediately when some confusion at the back by Whitby, allowed Tom Greaves to steal in and stroke the ball into the net through the Whitby players legs. Ossett continued to battle for an equaliser and Whitby were finding it hard to get out of their own half. But with 37 mins on the watch, a superb through ball from Brunskill to Charlton saw his shot rattle off the Ossett left hand post.

Before many had taken their seats for the start of the 2nd half, Whitby increased their lead when the brilliant Tom Raw turned in the box and drilled his angled shot into the bottom corner of the net. You could see that Whitby were really starting to enjoy themselves and scored again 10 minutes later when another pin point pass from Brunskill split the Ossett defence wide open and this time Charlton made no mistake, running through and calmly sliding the ball in for number 4.

Whitby continued to dominate and in the 61st minute they made it 5, thanks to a corner from Charlton headed in off the post by the forcefull Forster. Ossett tried to come back and with 67 mins gone, a low shot from their Man of the Match, Ashley Longstaff, was well saved by Liversedge. Then Ossett nearly scored a bizarre goal after the ball was half punched clear by Liversedge, headed back across the box by the Whitby defence to Ossett's Greaves, who had a free header at an open goal, only to frustratingly see the ball bounce down off the crossbar and be scrambled away to safety.

But, with 5 mins left, Whitby failed to clear the ball and Greaves grabbed his and Ossett's 2nd goal. However, it was far too late to cause any damage and the Seasiders ran out deserved 5-2 winners, and in hindsight, could have scored a few more.

An encouraging performance where every single Whitby player gave 110% and got their just rewards - 3 much needed and thoroughly deserved points. Without wishing to get carried away, if Whitby can only play like this in every match, they can surely beat anyone. Well done all involved!