UniBond Premier Division

11th February 2006

Attendance - 193

Team - Escritt, Atkinson, Veart, Farthing, Wilford, Barber(Brumwell 60), Ormerod, Nicholson(Raw 80), Robinson, Brunskill, Richards.

Report - An 87th minute Kevin Sanasay strike sent Whitby Town tumbling out of the Unibond League Challenge Cup Quarter Finals at Farsley Celtic on Saturday.

Earlier, Danny Brunskill’s 11th of the season on the half hour had cancelled out Simeon Bambrook’s 20th minute opener for fourth-placed Farsley.

Whitby made three changes from the side that drew at Ilkeston with forward Graham Robinson making his first start since the 4-0 humbling from Blyth back in August, alongside fit-again duo goalkeeper Ben Escritt and midfielder Karl Richards- the injured Dave McTiernan, plus local lad Chris Batchelor and David Campbell all made way.

And it was Dave Logan’s side that threatened with in-form striker Brunskill turning on the edge of the Celtic six yard box and firing against the foot of keeper Morgan’s right-hand post inside three minutes. Then as Richards reclaimed the ball on the left wing, the former Hartlepool teenager crossed for Brunskill to bicycle kick instinctively goalwards and Tom Morgan to pull off a top-drawer reaction tip-over the crossbar.

At the other end, recent signing from Wakefield-Emley, striker Damian Reeves scuffed badly from a good position right in front of goal on nine minutes.

But Farsley were not to be denied and grabbed the lead on 21 minutes through another former Emley player. Defender James McDaid’s unconvincing effort from close range was deflected into the path of Bambrook on the edge of the Whitby box, and the veteran made no mistake, hammering the ball into the top right corner of the net, giving Escritt no chance.

Reeves again poked disappointingly wide before Whitby levelled the scores through a familiar source.

Robinson’s ball over the top picked out Brunskill who outsprinted the covering defender and slotted neatly past Morgan and into the bottom-right corner of the net from 12 yards for 1-1.

A minute before the break, Whitby’s top-scorer turned defender Aron Wilford found himself unmarked after an almighty goalmouth scramble, but his confident finish from six yards was chalked off for offside.

In added on time at the end of the first half, Celtic’s Reeves again found himself well placed at the near post, but, for a third time, scuffed the ball off target when well positioned.

The second period saw both sides make changes, with the hosts, previously unbeaten in six, introducing two impressive young forwards in 14-goal 21-year-old Bradford City loanee Kevin Sanasay and 10-goal Mark Bett. In contrast, Whitby, in their all white away kit, brought on experienced former Darlington utility man Phil Brumwell in place of on-loan Scarborough under 19 midfielder Mark Barber.

Farsley’s pacey forward line soon began to cause problems for the Seasiders, with Escritt in top form to pull off a fine double save from Bett at his near post. Centre-half Danny Farthing then slid in to deny Celtic again from his own goal-line as the Seasiders just about clung on.

A typical forward’s challenge from Brunskill, saw the ex-Spennymoor man join Wilford in the referee’s book. And tempers were soon to boil over, when Craig Veart, another former Moors player, became the third Whitby man to receive a yellow card, prompting a mass brawl as Sanasay refused to accept Veart’s hand up and a shoving match ensued.

Unsuprisingly, the referee failed to knock a firm line anyone’s way and not one card was issued to a player on either side- despite almost every on-field representative becoming involved.

This got the sparse crowd, which included a coach-load of Barnet fans on-route from their postponed match at Rochdale involved and the atmosphere spurred on the players. Sanasay fired straight at the busy Escritt and Whitby enjoyed a lot of possession but struggled to find the killer final ball.

McDaid’s cavalier forward runs and shoot on sight policy were rather let down by his dire finishing, but the substitute strike-pair were looking increasingly dangerous, with most of the headway made down the Whitby left.

Eventually, just as the tie looked to be heading for extra-time, some neat play released Sanasay who beat Paul Atkinson into the Seasiders’ box and fired clinically low past Escritt just three minutes from time.

The North Yorkshiremen threw everything they could at their Leeds-based hosts and created as much in the final seven minutes including added time, as they had for the rest of the half. Long term injury victim Tom Raw made a welcome appearance for skipper Scott Nicholson late on, firing straight at Morgan deep into injury time following Nicholson himself’s acrobatic bicycle volley moments earlier.

But it was the home side who held out to book a home tie with Runcorn FC Halton in next month’s semi-finals and keep up their excelent recent record at Throstle Nest against the Blues in knockout competition- following on from their 1-0 extra-time play-off win over the Seasiders last May. However, after last season’s fixture congestion, Town may look at this result as a blessing in disguise with many more fixtures in a hard-fought promotion-chase still to come.