7th February 2004

Attendance - 282

Team - Campbell, Obern(Nicholson 70), Craddock, Reed(Robinson 54), Hall, Dixon, Linighan, Williams, Ormerod, Appleby(Swales 70), Gildea.

Report - by Andrew Snaith - Disjointed Whitby Town served up a defensive horror show worthy of Shelley’s darkest work, as they gifted visitors Southport a 5-0 victory at the Turnbull Ground on Saturday.
The Sandgrounders from the Lancashire coast will want to swap coasts permanently after their first ever visit to Whitby’s shores. 24 year old Kevin Leadbetter netted a first hat-trick but only after non-existent marking and Dave Campbell’s mis-hit clearance gifted the Liverpool-born striker two un-missable opportunities inside twelve minutes. Adam Reed’s suicidal headed back-pass then let in Lee Ashcroft to grab a fourth, and Steve Pickford netted a well-struck fifth late on.
Blues manager Harry Dunn kept faith with the side that came so close to grabbing a famous victory at Gainsborough last week. Skipper Graham Robinson returned from injury but only to the subs bench, while previously absent Craig Veart had to make do with a place in the crowd.
Whitby almost took the lead in the third minute when on-loan Andy Appleby’s perfect right wing cross was struck straight at Port keeper Steve Dickinson who blocked with his legs. Barely a minute later, Southport struck when Alex Mortimer’s well-flighted left wing cross was headed in off Campbell’s left hand post by the unmarked Leadbetter.
The Seasiders were undeterred and were unlucky not to equalise on nine minutes when Graham Williams’ quickly taken free-kick came back off Dickinson’s right hand post with the bemused goalkeeper rooted to the spot.
Once again, the Lancashire side fought back and increased their lead two minutes later. However, it was Whitby’s Dave Campbell who got the assist after his horribly sliced clearence fell to Leadbetter who preceded to seamlessly lob the hapless Marske native from 30 yards.
Whitby’s other young loan signing Darren Craddock then had a neat mazy run toward the Port box, but his final shot was a tame effort that rolled slowly obligingly into Dickinson’s clutches.
The 24th minute saw Pickford’s right wing cross cum shot fly alarmingly across Campbell’s six yard box with the Blues backline stood ball-watching.
Port effectively ended the match as a contest, save for any Man.City-esque ‘phoneix from the flames’ comeback when another pinpoint Mortimer cross was met superbly on the volley at full stretch by Leadbetter to complete a 44-minute treble. Southport’s 3 shots had yielded 3 goals.
Incredibly, Leadbetter should have added his and the former Football League side’s fourth moments later, but the former Runcorn man somehow poked wide from point blank range as the Blues dozed off once again at the back.
Harry Dunn’s half-time team talk clearly had little effect on his Whitby side as they gift-wrapped Port’s fourth within five minutes of the restart. An innocuous long ball from Southport’s Barry Jones, sporting a Terry Butcher style head bandage, was headed back towards Campbell blindly by Adam Reed, allowing Ashcroft to nip in, disposess the keeper and slot home nonchalantly from spitting distance for 4-0.
Reed then let the field to stony silence as Robinson replaced him four minutes later.
Within seconds, the visitors nearly took advantage of their generous hosts when Brian Linighan’s scrambled clearence fell to Chris Price on the edge of the Whitby box, but Campbell did well to save with his legs.
Just to wake up the home supporters- at the other end, a neat piece of skill from Robinson saw the lanky South African fire a powerful low drive narrowly wide from 22 yards.
‘Robbo’ further impressed himself on the game when he followed through on Dickinson as the keeper came out to collect a long ball, and earned himself a booking as the former Bradford City apprentice gave an Oscar-worthy performance sprawling on the ground.
Tempers flared several times during the match with Gildea and the combative Price both going in the book after a ten man shoving match around the centre circle after a late challenge from the Southport man.
With ten minutes remaining, the visitors, previously known as Southport Vulcan once again trekked into Whitby territory with Paul Byrne’s left wing cross headed out as far as burly Steve Pickford who ploughed home a crisp volley through a crowd of players and past the unsighted Campbell from 15 yards to conquer all three points.
Williams still had time to strike the woodwork once again, with his well timed close range back header striking the Southport crossbar. As Whitby showed some belated attacking flair, Gildea and Dixon both came close, but Port held firm to claim deserved victory.
Whitby’s lack of communication at the back may have stemmed from their lack of football over the last fortnight. However, with two 4-0 defeats last month, there is definitely something wrong, especially considering Reed(2, Hall(35), Linighan(30) and Campbell(33) are hardly novices, with five football league clubs between them. Hall has played professionally in three different countries, Reed made 200 appearences in Division Three for Darlington and played Premiership football for Blackburn Rovers, commanding a £250,000 fee. Linighan is the brother of former Arsenal defender Andy and ex-Ipswich midfielder David, who started his career at Sheffield Wednesday, while Campbell has made well over 200 appearences in four spells at the Turnbull Ground.
Hardly a lack of experience there, but certainly plenty of room for improvement on the training field in terms of quality and communication. The errors were certainly not lost on the home fans, with many vocally calling for Campbell’s removal from the side.
It is ironic that just as fears of dropping down four levels in the non-league pyramid appear to be allayed with the granting of planning permission for the new stand, Whitby’s rearguard put in a performance that would’ve left a Wearside League manager tearing his hair out.
The timing couldn’t be much worse as the Blues strive to pick up points from their mountain of games in hand to secure a top 13 place to enter the fabled Conference Division One North, teams finishing 14-20th go into a series of play-offs with Division One’s champions. On this form I wouldn’t bank on Whitby making the latter let alone the former- good luck Mr Dunn.