Report - by Andy Baxter - A poor start in the league so far by Whitby meant that 3 points was a "must" against Ossett Town. On paper, Whitby have a strong team, with veteran keeper David Campbell remaining in goal for the injured Nick Liversedge.
The home side started confidently enough and didn't take long to take the lead when in the 10th minute, a ball from Tony Hackworth out to the left hand side found Andy Campbell, who pushed forward and squared the ball across the Ossett area to the in form young Whitby striker, Jamie Owens, and he completed the simple finish. The Seasiders continued with the upper hand and dominated until, in the 22nd minute, a ball over the statuesque Whitby defence found Ossett frontman, David Boardman, who gratefully and easily side footed home for the equalizer.
Ossett were then forced to make an early change as Kelvin Blean limped off to be replaced by Mark Wilson and although the visitors had their moments, Whitby continued to push forward in search of another goal, and should have got one when a long ball to Leon Scott, was well controlled by him, bringing it down, driving forward and hitting what in the end was a poor shot into the side netting with only the keeper to beat.
Despite having the upper hand, Whitby failed to capitalize on their chances mainly due to being caught offside far too many times, but Jimmy Beadle did come close on the stroke of half time when he struck a 25 yard free kick superbly and made Ossett keeper, Liam Sutcliffe, dive to his right at full stretch and tip the ball over the bar.
Whitby had the first chance in the second half when a quick turn inside the area from Owens and a clever low pass to Beadle, saw the Whitby man scramble to find the net but couldn't quite turn it in past the sprawling giant figure of keeper, Sutcliffe.
Minutes later, another Whitby effort, this time from a quickly taken free kick which slipped through the Ossett defenders to Hackworth, who gathered himself and hit a low shot against the outstretched legs of the diving Sutcliffe, only for the crowd and players to frustratingly see the rebounded ball headed by Jamie Owens against the visitors cross bar.
A few untimely tackles from Ossett then occurred and their captain, Mark Hotte and a few others spent numerous occasions arguing with referee Neil Sharp who was unsympathetic to their moans and although they did start to play better football than in the first half, things appeared not to be going their way. However, in the 68th minute, Ossett's man of the match, Daniel Sheriffe hit a thundering shot from 25 yards, only to see it superbly saved by Whitby keeper, David Campbell.
Although this lifted the visitors, they were behind five minutes later when a low, hard cross from Leon Scott on the left beat everyone in the Ossett area except the outstretched leg of Jimmy Beadle to place the ball into the net.
Ossett responded with another speculative shot from Sheriffe who was again thwarted by Campbell in the Whitby goal, and the ball was scrambled away to safety. With 82 mins gone, another Whitby free kick found Beadle whose quick thinking half volley brought out two more superb saves from Sutcliffe as he denied Beadle's effort and then quickly reacted to the rebounded shot from Hackworth. Unfortunately for him his good fortune ran out seconds later as Hackworth collected the ball, this time rounding the keeper and clinically slotting the ball home for a deserved 3-1 lead.
Ossett battled hard to the end in search of another goal but on the night, the 3 points went to a well disciplined and commanding performance from the whole Whitby team.
After the game, Whitby Manager Harry Dunn said: "We played well, probably the best we've played this season. Cammy made 2 superb saves and our formation this evening caused them problems. It was a much improved performance and a welcome 3 points and a real booster to the teams confidence for Saturday's FA Cup tie at Halifax"
