16th August 2003

Attendance 321 Whitby Town - Kearney, Williams, Swales.S, Reed, Linighan, Dixon (Capt), Nicholson, Campbell.P (Sub Veart 71),Ure, Johnson (Sub Hore 77), Gildea. Sub not used: Swales.M

A last gasp penalty earned Whitby a hard fought opening day home win over their newly promoted opponents Radcliffe Borough.
Both teams deserved credit as they fought hard in the heat & bright sunshine.
Whitby's latest acquisition, goalkeeper Martin Kearney, pulled out three superb saves to earn himself the Man of the Match Award and make sure the Blues held on to the points.
A multi-man brawl 10 minutes from time ended with full back Tony Whealing being dismissed for the visitors though oddly the ensuing free kick was given to Radcliffe.
After a cagey opening it was Whitby's Steve Johnson who had the first real attempt on goal when visiting keeper Hurst did well to get down & parry the shot to safety. A counter attack a minute later had the home defence shaking when Dave Luker's strike from the edge of Whitby's area fizzed past the post.
With half an hour gone Whitby applied the pressure with Hurst called into action to block Johnson's shot. The resulting corner was partially cleared but the ball fell to Nicholson who's 18 yard effort flew over the crossbar. Alex Gildea was the next one to have a dipping shot narrowly miss the target from a similar distance.
Radcliffe were particular dangerous on the counter attack & almost took the lead on 34 minutes when Whealing found Denham free on the right edge of the Whitby area. Poor finishing let him down though as he blasted wide of the post. Three minutes before the interval Kearney defied Carden giving the Boro the lead with a full stretch flying save to fingertip the ball away from a corner. Two minutes into the second half Kearney denied Denham a goal with another brave block at the striker's feet.
Both teams took the opportunity to attack on the break with Dixon making a reaction header to knock Linighan's shot wide, then Luker cheekily flicked the ball to Denham who shot wide of the far post from close range at the opposite en of the field.
Ben Dixon rattled the upright of Hurst's goal late on in the game before the punch-up that occurred in the Boro goalmouth. As so often happens when the opposition is down to ten men, Whitby found it hard to make the advantage count. With seven minutes remaining Alex Gildea lost possession on the edge of the Whitby 18 yard line to Simon Carden. His first time volley was goalbound through a crowd of players until Kearney made his third & most impressive save of the afternoon, tipping the ball over the bar despite seeing it late.
In the fourth & final minute of time added on, Scott Nicholson was upended in the Radcliffe six yard box. The assistant referee had no doubts about the penalty & the referee pointed to the spot. Craig Veart dispatched the ball past Hurst to grab all three points for the Blues.
Considering it was the first game of the new campaign there were several positive pointers for the Blues. Firstly the win itself, secondly the defence looked solid & thirdly Harry's unearthed a fine deputy for the injured Dave Campbell in Martin Kearny. Though the Blues created chances, we still look as though we need a clinical finisher. Lee Ure battled well today but rarely got the ball enough times to make it tell. One thing that was noticeable by the fans was the number of times Steve Swales was unmarked out on the left wing, screaming for the ball that never arrived until very late in the game.
All in all, a positive start against a team that I hear quite fancy their chances this season.

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