“We were terrific”

Whitley’s management team were obviously delighted with the 5-0 victory at Guisborough. Joint manager Tony Fawcett felt Whitley were dominant “I thought we were terrific, I thought we dominated the first half. The game was played in their half and we had chances. I thought they kept their shape well and tried to get bodies behind the ball but didn’t have much going forward and so we were quite comfortable on that front. We created excellent chances that I would have expected our lads to have taken. We didn’t and it makes it a more even game which lets them get their tails up at half time. We did talk about not taking chances and that they might come back to bite us. At half time we said that they’d have a bit more fight in them in the second half and in fairness I thought they started quite well; but we thought that if we can score they’ll roll over and that’s exactly what happened, once we scored it was all one way. I thought we were terrific in the second half and we couldn’t ask for more.  There were some terrific goals, and good football.”

As well as both Adam Shanks and Lewis Orrell scoring twice, Kieran Brannen got his first of the season and he came in for praise from Fawcett. “I’m pleased for Kieran. He comes to training all the time and works really hard and gives everything he’s got for you. He’s gone on today; we had a chat before he’s gone on to give him some guidance and he’s listened and done really well. I was really chuffed when he scored, really pleased with him.”

Derek Forrest was pleased with how well Whitley controlled the game. “Looking at the bigger picture, the control we imposed on the game was great. We asked the lads to just go after them a bit more, we did that second half and got the goal we were always confident we could get. Sometimes it’s about getting the first and second one and it’s not always as easy as it looks, but then when it does open up, it’s great!  On an individual level he added “It was good to see Luke Taylor back in the team as well. There’s a really good togetherness in the squad.”