UniBond League Challenge Cup

March 5th 2005

Attendance - 209

Team - D Campbell, Williams(Obern 79), Veart, Farthing, Linighan, Nicholson, Scaife(Robinson 54), McTiernan(Johnson 76), Wilkinson, Ormerod, A Gildea.

Report - by Andrew Snaith - Goals in each half from Scott Nicholson and Brian Linighan fired Whitby Town into their second cup final of the season on Saturday at a mud-strewn Turnbull Ground, but Nick Scaife's dislocated shoulder may throw a spanner into their promotion hopes. The Blues thoroughly outplayed First Division title-chasers Willenhall, but it was testament to the hard work of groundsman Eric Wilson and his team of helpers that the match was played at all after a torrid week of weather on the Yorkshire Coast.

The Seasiders, without midfielder Neil Bishop and striker Griff Jones- both snatched by rivals Scarborough, were boosted by the return of versatile forward Ant Ormerod and the combative Alex Gildea from injury. Willenhall, who made the long trip from the Wolverhampton area at 8am, went into the match lying second in the Unibond League's First Division.

But it was the hosts who threatened first inside three minutes, when Scott Nicholson's innocous looking 20 yard potshot was taken by the wind and brilliantly tipped over at the last second by keeper Nathan Vaughan. Moments later Vaughan pulled off an even better stop- Dave McTiernan slid in a square ball from the left for Nick Scaife to run in and rifle golwards, only for Vaughan to push the stinging effort round the left-hand post.

At the other end, Willenhall won a string of wind-assisted corners but did little to threaten Blues stopper Dave Campbell, until Dean Perrow's effort was clawed wide.

Premier Division Whitby grabbed the lead though on 17 minutes in route one style. A neat ball over the top from Linighan found Nicholson unmarked to head home from 12 yards, with the visitors vainly chasing an offside decision that never came.

The Blues pushed the accelerator to the floor and teenage forward Jack Wilkinson headed narrowly wide, with another Scaife bullet flying just past Vaughan's right-hand post seconds later.

But the men from the Black Country could and should've evened things up when Perrow found himself in the clear but shinned well wide from an excellent position. Gary Hay was then denied by an excellent last ditch trademark slide-tackle from Danny Farthing.

The Blues threatened twice more before the break, when Wilkinson broke well but steered wide from a strong position and Ormerod's pin-point right-wing cross was headed goalwards by McTiernan but somehow turned onto the top of the crossbar by Vaughan.

Whitby's hopes took a turn for the worse on 54 minutes when Scaife, only just recovered from a cracked rib, was caught by a reckless mis-timed slide-challenge and fell awkwardly to the ground, right in front of the referee. The official, who confounded the crowd by grinning through the match and not producing a single card did nothing other than award a Whitby free-kick, as the popular local midfielder was led from the pitch holding his shoulder. Graham Robinson took to the field in Scaife's place- the injury later turned out to be a dislocated shoulder which may sideline Scaife for at least six weeks.

Fortune spat in the face of the Blues once again a minute later, when Wilkinson's brilliant clipped pass released McTiernan who slid the ball past the onrushing Vaughan, only for his effort to stick in the thick mud on the goal-line and enable Creighton to hook clear.

However, Whitby finally scored the second goal their fine football deserved with little over twenty minutes remaining, when Gildea's chip was headed across goal by Ormerod for the towering Linighan to nod home from point blank range.

Two minutes later, a brilliant three-man passing move cut through Willenhall like a hot knife through butter when Wilkinson and Robinson fed Gildea, who slotted past Vaughan, only to see his shot trickle agonisingly wide.


As the hail sped down, Speedy striker Steve Johnson replaced McTiernan and fit-again Mark Obern came on for fellow full-back Graham Williams.

The game looked to be heading towards a tame finish, only for Perrow to force a superb reflex save from Campbell diving to his left, who did even better to keep hold of the greasy ball in the nightmare conditions. That stop turned out to be even more vital that first thought when Perrow finally slid home a low cross two minutes into injury time. But it was to be only a consolation for the away side, who were thoroughly outplayed for much of the game by a Whitby side who really should've put the game to bed long before.