UniBond Premier Division

28th September 2004

Attendance - 156

Team - Escritt, Williams, Veart, Farthing, Linighan, Bishop, Obern(Jackson 82), P Campbell(L Gildea 65), Ormerod, Robinson, Nicholson. Sub not used: Atkinson

Report - by Andrew Snaith - Whitby-born Tom Raw netted Spennymoor’s winner to end his hometown’s run of five wins out of six under Dave Logan, in County Durham on Tuesday night.
Raw won the battle of the Lealholm boys as rival Paul Atkinson failed to get off the Blues’ bench. Logan’s side were also without midfielders Alex Gildea and Dave McTiernan, and striker Steve Johnson through injury. Neil Jackson dropped to the bench as Mark Obern made a rare appearance in midfield.
The opening 15 minutes were possibly the slowest of the season, with neither side creating anything resembling a chance. The only point of interest was Spennymoor’s former Darlington midfielder Michael Oliver shooting wide, with the ball loudly striking the advertising board behind the goal, yet Whitby still managed to play on as it bounced back into play, five-a-side style.
The home side saw more of the ball early on however, Moors’ Danny Brunskill was lucky to stay on the field, yet escaped even a booking after booting Whitby keeper Ben Escritt to the ground as the pair contested an aerial ball.
Whitby’s first opening came on 19 minute when two ex-Spennymoor stars combined- Craig Veart’s inswinging corner nodded over at the far post by Neil Bishop.
Moments later at the other end, Danny Farthing upended Andrew Brown, but Raw poked the resulting 20-yard free-kick high over the corrugated steel stand and off towards the A1267 via Newton Aycliffe.
The 25th minute saw Ant Ormerod’s bright run set up Paul Campbell, who poked weakly goalwards for Phil Naisbett, Whitby’s FA Cup hero of 2001, to save comfortably for the Moors.
Four minutes from the break, Naisbett was celebrating like it was Plymouth all over again as the home side grabbed the lead. Brunskill’s goalbound drive was palmed onto the right-hand post by Escritt only for Raw to scramble home the rebound from point blank range.
And four minutes after the re-start the dose was almost repeated, when another Brunskill header was nodded off his own line by Farthing.
On the hour, Raw’s pace and skill took him past Williams on the left only for Brunskill to hit the resulting centre tamely into Escritt’s clutches.
Liam Gildea replaced Campbell five minutes later as Whitby searched for that elusive forward spark. Ormerod’s quality shone again on 75 minutes when he beat two men on the edge of the box, but his skidding low drive was well smothered low to his right by Naisbett.
Jackson came on for Obern with eight minutes remaining, however, Whitby’s best chance was to fall to their most experienced defender. Nicholson’s header on was chested down by Veart, for Linighan to swing his left boot and blast narrowly over the crossbar from 12 yards.
With Moors continuing to threaten at the other end, Gildea hammered a vicious swerving effort from 25 yards just wide. But that was all she wrote with the money-laden Moors’ stubborn defence winning out. The result leaves Whitby fifth in the Unibond Premier, but tomorrow all eyes will be on the FA Cup and the visit of highflying Mossley in a pivotal match for the future of the Blues both on and off the field.