Bay held to a draw in League opener

WHITLEY BAY 1 NEWCASTLE BENFIELD 1
Saturday 3rd August
Whitley were held to a draw by local rivals Newcastle Benfield in their opening game of the season. It was a game of few chances and was preceded by an immaculately observed one minute silence in tribute to Tommy Moody, a magnificent servant to the club, who sadly passed away on 21st July.
After a busy summer in the transfer market, seven of the players in Whitley’s starting line up were making their first competitive appearance for the club while former Bay captain Peter Glen-Ravenhill made his debut for the visitors.
The first notable chance came after five minutes when Nathan Stephenson was brought down 25 yards from goal on the Bay left, but the resultant free kick came to nothing.
Seven minutes later, Stephenson opened the scoring in spectacular style. Spotting the experienced Andrew Grainger slightly off his line, Stephenson lobbed the ball over the keeper from 20 yards. To the delight of the excellent crowd of over 400 fans, the ball dipped just under the bar to give Whitley the lead.
Both sides were playing the ball around neatly but the game developed into a midfield struggle with neither goalkeeper seriously tested during the remainder of the first half. Just before the interval Whitley defender Thomas Bott, on his return to the club, cleared off the line after the ball had been played across goal from the Benfield left.
Whitley brought on James Proctor for Stephen Ramsey after the interval, while Sonny Best gave way to Michael Colquhoun shortly afterwards.
The visitors were now looking the livelier side and it came as no great surprise when they drew level in the 63rd minute. A free kick just outside the right corner of the Whitley box was played through the Bay defence to the back post where Brad Varga got the vital touch.
There was a special welcome when Whitley made their final substitution, with FA Vase legend Lee Kerr taking to the field on his return to the club.
The warm weather began to take its toll as the pace of the game slowed. Both sides pushed forward in search of a winner but as in the first half, defences were on top and attempts on goal failed to find the target.
There was no shortage of endeavour but in the end, both sides were probably content to come away from this opening fixture with a point.
WHITLEY BAY: Lister, McFarlane, Martin, Emmerson(Kerr 67mins), Graham, Bott, Orrell, Dinsley, Ramsey(Proctor 46mins), Stephenson, Best(Colquhoun 54mins)
Substitutes not used: Bexton, Parnaby
Caution: Martin
Referee: Derric Wade
Attendance: 417