30th August 2003

Attendance - 1032

Team - Martin Kearney; Simon Betts; Alex Gildea (Mark Swales, 82); Adam Reed; Brian Linighan; Ben Dixon; Paul Campbell; Scott Nicholson; Graham Robinson; Lee Ure (Steve Johnson, 76); Craig Veart (Anthony Ormerod 62)

Report - From www.whitbytoday.co.uk Southport, a Conference side last season, condemned the Blues to their fourth Unibond League defeat in a row and the second from bottom place in the table.
Manager Harry Dunn kept the same side that played at Frickley the previous Monday with keeper David Campbell and defender Graeme Williams still out through injury.
Although championship favourites, Southport did not have things all their own way, especially in the first half when Whitby made an enterprising start.
As early as the fifth minute, Lee Ure got behind the home defence from a tremendous Alex Gildea diagonal ball but failed to exploit the chance.
Again in the 12th minute, Graham Robinson put Ure through but his shot was well saved by keeper Steve Dickinson.
But the Blues had a let off in the 13th minute when Adam Reed brought down Lee Ashcroft in the area and the referee waved play on to the amazement of the Southport players.
Whitby continued to play attacking football and were giving a good account of themselves against a very skilful Southport.
But in the 44th minute Whitby fell behind to a well-worked corner involving Pickford and Lee Mulvaney which left Ashcroft to score with a glancing header which gave Martin Kearney no chance, with the rest of the Whitby defence stranded.
It was a big blow to Whitby who had matched Southport all the way in the first half.
The second half was a different story as Whitby had no answer to Southport's flair and found life very hard.
The home side created numerous chances but found the Whitby keeper in good form. But in the 71st minute, Kearney failed to hold onto a Peter Wright free-kick and the rebound fell to the former Lancaster City striker Andy Whittaker who had the simple task of stabbing the ball home.
Manager Harry Dunn introduced all three subs but to no avail and Southport scored again in the 77th minute when the tricky Wright got to the byline and crossed for Barry Jones to score with a low shot into the corner.
Blues sub Anthony Ormerod had a couple of half chances but nothing to trouble the Southport defence who had not conceded a goal in their previous four matches.
In the end, Whitby were beaten by a very useful side in front of a 1,032 crowd.