UniBond Premier Division

19th April 2008

Attendance - 306

Team - Campbell, Lyth, Burgess, Appleby(Scott 30), Pallender, Hackworth, Burton(Claisse 75), Ormerod, T Raw(Nogan 65), Brunskill, Charlton.

Report - by Andrew Snaith -
Whitby have 90 minutes on Saturday to save their Unibond Premier status after a 1-0 defeat at fellow strugglers Prescot Cables over the weekend.

Blues bosses Phil Brumwell and Graham Clark made two changes from the team that defeated Marine 2-0 the week before. Defender Steve Tobin failed to shrug off a thigh muscle strain, so Lee Pallender started at centre-half, and Andy Burton returned from holiday to take up a rare midfield role, as Tom Claisse missed out.

The two sides went into the game on contrasting runs of form. Cables had lost their last five outings and found themselves dragged into the bottom three for the first time last week, while Town had suffered just one defeat from their previous five.

The form book was thrown out of the window in the opening stages at Valerie Park with the hosts making most of the early running. They should've led as early as the 13th minute when Liam Kennedy picked out Eamonn Price who chipped over the onrushing Dave Campbell as the pair collided, but the ball drifted wide of the keeper's right-hand post. Whitby's veteran number one required much lengthier treatment than his opponent but luckily for the visitors, with no keeper on the three-man bench, was able to continue.

Both players were again involved seven minutes later when youngster Price nodded his captain Phil Cooney's driven cross straight at Campbell from point blank range and the Blues defence scrambled clear.

In-between Lee Smith rescued his side when racing back to disposess Anthony Ormerod on the edge of the Prescot area as the former Middlesbrough man strode forward on the break.

The Seasiders suffered the first of two big blows on the half hour mark when their skipper Matty Appleby copped a high challenge from Kennedy and limped off with a knee injury- Chris Scott his replacement. Moments later, Tony Hackworth caught Prescot's number nine, and joined Kennedy in the referee's notebook after the Cables striker retaliated with a shove to the ex-Leeds midfielder's chest, straight in front of the official.

Then within three minutes, Hackworth slid in again on Smith, and got his marching orders, despite taking what appeared to be a deliberate knee to the head from the full-back while on the ground.

Kennedy perhaps felt guilty about the whole matter and promptly evened the numbers after putting in another crunching challenge that left a Whitby player sprawled on the turf to earn his second yellow card a minute before the break.

With ten against ten, the game was bound to open up in the second half, and open up it did on the hour mark as Prescot grabbed the lead. Without a goal in those five defeats, Cables were going to need a bit of luck and as Eddie Taylor raced clear and drove goalwards from 18 yards, they got it as the ball skipped up off the turf and over the diving Campbell for the opening goal.

Experienced ex-manager Lee Nogan replaced the quiet Tommy Raw up front soon after, and Whitby began to carry more threat. As Town broke down the right, substitute Scott's pinpoint crossfield ball was volleyed towards the far post with venom by Karl Charlton, only for Prescot keeper Zac Hibbert to push the ball wide at full stretch.

Price flashed a speculative effort inches wide from distance before Town again came close at the other end.

Danny Brunskill, the Blues' talismanic leading goalscorer looked to have levelled the scores 13 minutes from time with a ferocious angled drive that took a slight deflection and flew a coat of paint wide of the far post.

By now Town had practically set up camp in the hosts' penalty area, The Blues notching corner after corner at the end as Cables shinned the ball nervously up in the air. But time after time, centre-halves Karl Bell and Lee Owens got there first, with Owens perhaps lucky to escape after the ball struck his hand via the unpredictable playing surface.

As it was, the Merseysiders clinched a crucial victory which took them level on points with the Blues going into the final round of matches this Saturday. Astonishingly, seven teams will compete to avoid the two remaining relegation places with Whitby's 14th placed visitors' Ilkeston one of those very sides.