Marske United  0 Whitley Bay 1
Saturday 15th October
Whitley made it three wins in a row with a hard earned victory at Marske, thanks in large part to excellent and disciplined defending which resulted in a second consecutive clean sheet. Prior to this fixture, Whitley had won only twice in ten visits to the Mount Pleasant ground and with the hosts on a good run of form, this had all the makings of a tough game.
Whitley made just one change to the side that so impressively defeated Newton Aycliffe in midweek, Alex Kempster returning in place of Ross Wilkinson, who was suffering from a back injury. The pattern for the first half was soon established when Marske’s Peter Bulmer cut in from the right and got a shot on target but Tom Flynn pushed the ball away from danger. Play was confined largely to the Bay half but a series of corners were well defended and Marske’s best chance of the opening half hour came when Corey Nicholson rounded off a good move with a shot that Flynn saved superbly with his legs. In a rare break upfield, Marske keeper Robert Dean had to race out of his goal to head the ball clear just ahead of Kempster but this was a brief respite for the Whitley defence. A 25 yard shot from Dinsdale flew just past the post before Flynn made another fine save to deny Earl. Three minutes before the interval Butterworth fired in a low shot that was deflected wide and despite all the pressure – the corner count was 9-0 in Marske’s favour – it looked as if Whitley would hold out until the interval.
Two minutes into stoppage time and completely against the run of play, Marske were made to pay for failing to capitalise on their territorial advantage when Kyle Fryatt played the ball through to Adam Shanks whose shot from 15 yards slipped through the fingers of Dean and into the net to give Whitley a surprise lead. It was Shanks’ 50th goal in 70 appearances for the club, a hugely impressive record and it was to prove decisive. Stunned by the goal, the Yorkshiremen had no time to recover before the half time whistle was blown.
The second half began with Whitley posing much more of a threat, immediately pushing forward and putting the home defence under some pressure. Nathan Mulligan was cautioned six minutes after the restart for holding back Shanks as he tried to break through on goal but the resultant free kick came to nothing. Andy Robertson was replaced after picking up an injury and Josh Nearney took his place in a reshuffled formation. The game was much more evenly contested now, and although Marske were still posing a threat, they were struggling to get shots on target and were denied by assured defending, with Nicky Allen impressive in the air, while Callum Anderson produced a vital and well timed tackle to stop Earl in his tracks.
Good work by Kempster gave Shanks a sight of goal but his first time shot from 18 yards was saved by Dean. The same two players combined again two minutes later but this time the shot whistled past the far post.
In a bizarre incident nine minutes from time, Dean misjudged a high ball and it bounced over his head leaving Logan Powell, who had replaced Shanks just seconds earlier, with the easiest of chances as the ball rolled towards a completely unguarded goal but the young striker hesitated and his scuffed shot was poked wide by an alert defender racing back. Fears that the miss could prove costly were allayed as the hosts failed to make the most of two late corners. Whitley kept pushing forward and McDonald almost set up a chance with a mazy run along the by-line but Powell’s cleanly struck effort was blocked. Into stoppage time Powell then created an opportunity for Callum Patton but his shot curled past the post.
The final whistle was not long delayed and the sizeable contingent of Bay fans were able to celebrate a memorable victory, giving the players a rousing reception as they left the pitch.
WHITLEY BAY: Flynn, Munro, McDonald, Anderson, Allen, Patrton, Fryatt(Haley 83mins), Fowler, Robertson(Nearney 53mins), Shanks(Powell 81mins), Kempster.
Caution: Shanks
Referee: Rebecca Welsh
Attendance: 214
Manager Ian Chandler was understandably delighted with his team’s performance.
“It was a fantastic performance today from all involved, delighted with the attitude of the lads and the result. It was made all the better for seeing the many Bay fans in the crowd. “The game was maybe split into two halves with us defending extremely well in the first half when Tom Flynn made two brilliant saves and Mr Shanks popped up in first half injury time to smash a trickler in! “The second half was much more controlled by us when we created several chances especially Logan’s where he really should have scored. However this did not detract from a well executed display with commanding man of the match performances by Callum Anderson and Nicky Allen, who is now showing what he can do.â€
