UniBond Premier

11th March 2009

Attendance - 183

Team -: Liversedge, Burgess, Bishop, Lyth (Janes - 91), Forster (Ross - 73), Beadle, Scott, Hackworth, Raw, Rae (Brunskill - 71), Charlton Subs not Used: Garvie and Lambert

Report - by Andy Baxter -
A pleasant Spring evening at the Turnbull welcomed both sides to this Unibond League Challenge Cup semi-final with the winners to meet Guiseley in the final. Both teams fielded strong sides with few changes from their line ups of 4 days earlier in their respective league matches. Whitby did however play Jimmy Beadle as centre back, a position the home fans had not seen him occupy before and he did very well.

The visitors enjoyed the best of the opening exchanges forcing Whitby to defend in numbers. But it was the home side who broke the deadlock after just 10 minutes when a cross from Karl Charlton was headed past the Ilkeston keeper, Aaron Jameson, on loan from Sheffield Wednesday, by Leon Scott. Then the Seasiders increased their lead within 3 minutes when woeful defending by Ilkeston allowed Charlton to square the ball across the area to the incoming Tony Hackworth, who calmly placed his low angled shot past the beaten Jameson.

Ilkeston responded well to these early setbacks and drove forward in search of a goal, Simon Harrison coming near with a shot which narrowly missed the Whitby left hand post. But to their credit, Whitby settled again and hassled Ilkeston for every ball, winning most and creating openings against a busy, visitors back four. A deflected clearance by Ilkeston found Charlton whose powerful shot flew narrowly past the post and at the other end, a free kick saw Simon Harrison thunder a low shot at goal, only for the Whitby captain, Richard Forster, to stretch out a toe and clear it off a crowded goal line.

Ilkeston came out much more positively in the second half and after an early effort from debutant and their Man of the Match, Danny Sleath, were given their life line on 53 minutes from a needlessly conceded free kick on the far side, which was floated over to the near post for the unfortunate Whitby defender, Kevin Burgess to head in to his own net.

Whitby responded with some neat play, carving their way through the Ilkeston rear guard and Beadle hit a fine shot from the edge of the box which went agonisingly close for Whitby's 3rd goal. But the visitors still showed belief and character to pressurise Whitby into some panic defending and little up front worthy of mention. This saw the unusually quiet Michael Raw substituted by Danny Brunskill and moments later, injury struggling Forster was replaced by Sean Ross.

In the final 20 minutes, Ilkeston really turned the screw and Whitby were forced into desperate defending, clinging onto their slender lead. But with only a minute left of normal time, another free kick for the visitors on the right, was met unchallenged by Tom Cahill, who steered his side foot volley past the beaten Nick Liversedge in the Whitby goal.

Although neither physio appeared on the pitch, referee Nigel Bannister must have decided that far too much time had been wasted and promptly ordered 5 additional minutes to be played after the 90 minutes on the clock. But extra time came and Whitby immediately brought on their final substitution Alex Janes to replace the impressive Ashley Lyth.

The feeling around the ground was airing towards the visitors stealing this match but Whitby had other ideas and following a superb chipped ball to the back post, Brunskill forced it in off his chest and a minute later, he headed just over the bar. But Ilkeston did not lie down and die and a nicely flighted ball into the area 6 minutes later, was rewarded by Cahill's glancing header finding the Whitby net.

With the score at 3-3 going into the final 15 mins of extra time, thoughts turned to another penalty shootout, but these thoughts were short lived when Ilkeston took the lead, thanks to substitute Amari Morgan-Smith who beat Craig Bishop to a long through ball, and slammed his shot past the beaten Liversedge. Whitby were stunned but with only 5 minutes left, a corner found Janes for Whitby whose header was cleared off the line by Murphy. Ilkeston then had another chance from Duncum but sealed their place in the final after Whitby had pushed everyone forward in search of an equaliser, and were caught on the break with Cahill charging on goal and shooting for his hat-trick, only for Liversedge to get his fingers to the shot but unable to stop it finding the net.

A thoroughly spirited performance from Whitby who really shouldn't have lost this match when they were comfortable enough at 2-0. However, Ilkeston battled hard and in the end deserved their fight back victory with none of the 183 who watched this match being able to leave the ground saying they didn't see a well fought, clean and enjoyable cup tie.