UniBond Premier Division

26th November 2005

Attendance - 165

Team - Campbell, Hudson, Veart, Farthing(Atkinson 73), Wilford, Scaife(Barber 66), Ormerod, Nicholson, Brunskill, Raw, McTiernan(Richards 66).

Report - Whitby Town suffered their heaviest defeat of the season and returned to the bottom half of the Unibond Premier after a 5-1 drubbing from Prescot Cables, who themselves had won just one of their last eight matches. It was also the Merseyside club’s first ever win over the Seasiders in their history, and meant Town end November with just one solitary victory, after racking up seven during October’s revival.

Manager Dave Logan kept faith with Chris Hudson, usually seen at centre-half on the right of defence in preference to specialist full-back Paul Atkinson, with top-scorer Aron Wilford continuing alongside the returning Danny Farthing in the centre. The home side, who had found goals hard to come by this season, signal their intentions as they dominated the opening stages.

With just three minutes gone, Dean Thurston, recently signed from neighbours Marine, drove across goal after cutting in from the left, but Paul Prescot diverted the ball wide from a good shooting position. Youngster Mark Duffy then hooked well over the crossbar from the edge of the Whitby box on 10 minutes, but moments later Prescot and Prescott, missed a golden chance to put the hosts ahead.

It seemed easier to score than miss for the former Ashton Town forward, but the club namesake somehow managed to toe-poke the ball wide after arriving unchallenged at the far post and facing an empty net- another Peter Crouch moment on Merseyside.

Seconds later, a neat Kevin Garforth lob from 20 yards dropped just over the top, with Blues keeper Dave Campbell back-pedalling. But the hosts monopoly on play was finally rewarded on 14 minutes when Duffy’s fierce drive could only be parried by Campbell, and Thurston reacted quickest with his marker yards away to tap home from point blank range.

Three minutes later, more confusion in the Whitby box resulted in Wilford heading off his own line as Cables territorial advantage seemed certain to tell. Whitby eventually did threaten the Prescot goal on 18 minutes, and it was no coincidence that the desperate long ball was no at the heart of the move. Instead, Brunskill ran from deep and crossed for Ormerod to flick on and McTiernan’s ball back across goal seeing Scaife obstructed just outside the box as he raced onto the loose ball. Craig Veart laid the resulting free-kick off for Scaife who drove low into the Prescot wall, but a scramble in the Cables area, resulted in Mark Molyneaux heading off the home side’s goal-line.

The Scouse hordes were then baying for a penalty at the end when Thurston again burst through and flew over the onrushing Campbell, but the referee saw nothing wrong and the ball rolled harmlessly wide.

Whitby hit back with Brunskill again involved, virtually fighting the ball through for Tommy Raw to drive goalwards, only for Cables keeper Ryan McMahon to push the ball clear.

With five minutes of the half remaining, the game exploded into life. Firstly, Veart’s blushes were shared after an awful attempt at playing offside on the halfway line. Thurston raced clear but as Campbell closed in, the young striker panicked and fired past the far post from just inside the area.

However just seconds later, Cables doubled their lead after Garforth’s low drive struck Farthing and completely wrong-footed the unfortunate Campbell, as the Whitby keeper dived towards one post- and the ball ended up rolling inside the other.

The drama wasn’t over for the first half though, and it was Campbell’s opposite number McMahon’s turn to look silly, as Raw was upended just outside the box and Veart took the free-kick immediately side-footing under the keeper and into the net for 2-1 a minute from the break. In the aftermath, Veart and Molyneaux clashed as the Whitby man tried to obtain the ball resulting in both men going in the book.

As often seems to be the case these days, Whitby emerged for the second half in determined mood and soon had the hosts on the back foot after weathering an early onslaught in the opening minute following the restart. On 48 minutes, the overlapping Hudson saw his dangerous driven cross, palmed wide by McMahon at full stretch. Within seconds, the Blues should’ve levelled the scores when Brunskill unselfishly squared for Scott Nicholson whose shot was blocked, only for the unmarked McTiernan to drive high over the bar from close range amid Whitby appeals for handball.

This was to prove a turning point as Cables regained a two-goal cushion from nothing on 52 minutes. There appeared to be no danger whatsoever when Wilford intercepted a long ball to head back to keeper Campbell, but the normally super-reliable former Gateshead keeper slipped on the turf, managing to get a hand on the ball, but not enough to deny Thurston a second goal- even more simple to finish than his first.

Whitby surged forward and won a corner from the kick-off but with the menace clear, Karl Connolly’s through ball split the Blues defence like a bowling ball and left the speedy Duffy to sprint through and slot calmly under Campbell for 4-1.

With the match surely already over, Logan gave subs Karl Richards and Mark Barber a run out with Dave McTiernan and Nick Scaife making way in pretty much a straight swap.

But far from grabbing some pride for the travelling Yorkshiremen, it was still one way traffic in the red rose county and only a superb double-reflex- save from Campbell to denied Cables a fifth. But it was only a matter of time before the Whitby netting was stretched again, albeit with a very generous penalty after Duffy went to ground under a Scaife slide-challenge that appeared to cleanly take the ball. Thurston stepped up and despatched the penalty into the bottom-right corner past Campbell to complete a hat-trick – a gift-wrapped present from the North East that no able-bodied adult human should’ve struggled to collect.

Farthing may well have been happy to be off the field and escape being the unlucky man penalised, as Atkinson made a belated appearance with 17 minutes remaining. And aside from Molyneaux’s near-miss from a free-kick in-betwee, he witnessed two excellent chances for Wilford to add some respectability to the scoreline. The versatile 11-goal man was pushed up front in the closing stages and was terribly unlucky after some fantastic skill took him past three players after cutting in from the left before firing a goalbound drive that McMahon somehow kept out with his legs.

It summed up Whitby’s day as with a minute remaining, Wilford’s powerful downward header was again prevented from finding the back of the net as McMahon parried low to his left. To make matters worse, after the two sides finished the match on identical records, Cables took 12th place by virtue of alphabetical order.