WHITLEY BAY 1 MARSKE UNITED 2
Tuesday 1st March
Whitley can count themselves very unfortunate not to have taken at least a share of the spoils from an entertaining encounter with League champions Marske United at Hillheads on Tuesday evening.
Striker Ash Davis came straight into the side after rejoining the club from Blyth Spartans but Adam Shanks and Craig McFarlane were both ruled out through injury. As was the case when he made his debut for the club in 2012, Davis got on the score sheet and made a significant impact, his strength and pace troubling the Marske defence.
Whitley started well and less than six minutes had been played when Davis produced a powerful shot that flew a yard wide of the target. Alex Kempster, outstanding in the previous two games, then set up a chance for Chris McDonald whose shot cleared the bar before testing keeper Robert Dean with a 25 yard effort.
Whitley deservedly went ahead in the 26th minute when Davis neatly controlled a long ball from Callum Anderson, broke clear on goal and finished clinically from eight yards.
Good work by Youldon out on the right edge of the 18 yard box set up an opportunity for Whitley but when he played the ball across the face of goal there was no one on hand to apply the finishing touch.
Marske had posed little threat to the Bay defence and their equaliser after 36 minutes came completely out of the blue when Liam O’Sullivan was given space to cross from the left and Jamie Owens stole in to strike a superb volley past Gladstone from close range. It was their first attempt on goal and three minutes later they nearly took the lead but were denied by a goal line clearance from Chris McDonald. Whitley finished the half strongly, and after Davis had a shot pushed behind by keeper Robert Dean, Jake Fowler saw his shot blocked and just before the interval, Aiden Haley’s first time effort flew past the post.
Just 20 seconds after the break, Dean was forced into another important save, bravely pushing away a close range shot from Kempster. Davis then nearly restored Whitley’s lead with a great dipping shot but Dean was equal to it, palming the ball just over the bar. Whitley continued to press forward and substitute Josh Day tried his luck from 20 yards but his shot was comfortably taken by the keeper. Despite creating the lion’s share of the chances, Whitley’s finishing was letting them down and after Dean raced off his line to clear a long ball inches ahead of Kempster, they were hit by a sucker punch when the visitors broke away and Preston’s cross was met by Mulligan whose header bounced off the ground and crashed off the underside of the bar and into the net.
The goal was a real blow to Whitley while Marske were now happy to run down the clock. A late effort from Aiden Haley was well saved and the champions held on, the win taking them up to third in the table.
The sides meet again on Saturday in North Yorkshire when Whitley will be hoping for a reversal of fortunes.
Summing up Whitley’s performance, manager Ian Chandler said he was disappointed. “We should have taken something out of the game. Even a point would have been acceptable but a few people in the team were not quite firing. I thought we were the better team and had enough chances in the second half to win but every shot seemed to go straight at their keeper.”
WHITLEY BAY: Gladstone, Munro, McDonald, Anderson, Laws, Gibson, Haley, Fowler, Youldon(Day 63mins), Davis, Kempster
Substitutes not used: Atkinson, Jennison, Blake, Prosser
Referee: Craig Dean
Cautions: None
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