Tuesday 4th April 2017 - Jarrow Roofing

Courtesy of Mr Twitter

The second bus came along as expected with the visit of Jarrow for a rare Tuesday night game. There was no Boy Mark or Woodie as they were taking part in the final race of the NS Poly's Grand Prix (I can't bear to type the name in this blog) so at the start of the game it was just me and Mr Twitter standing behind the goal at the Car Park End. Bob eventually joined us to make quite a crowd - after all 3 is a crowd!
There was relief for Charmey when he passed a late fitness test on his nose: damaged in the service to his country. His coming together with the Allotment End's pitch-side barrier when kissing my Allez-le-Bay Tricolore had not kept him out of the big game.
We were soon rewarded for our journey out as Liam Brookes was playing like a possessed man who could play really good football. The Brookster was leaping, heading, kicking and all that sort of stuff at the right time and....his passes, headers and shots all went where he wanted them, mostly. Seven minutes in, the man-mountain or tree, since he's quite tall and thin, planted a shot past Jarrow's Top Brass in the visiting goal.

Brooksy's brassed somebody off! !-0 the Bay

The tall wonder then proceeded to terrorise the visitors with shots, headers and controls that had them tangled all ends up. However the score remained 1-0. The lads were to rue these missed chances as the unthinkable happened...Chow managed to score from outside of the six-yard box! Unfortunately the Chowster was playing for Jarrow, in a deeper midfield / defence / goalkeeper position, and it was a screaming 35-yarder that left Flynn with no chance. This must have annoyed former Bay electrical wizard, Lee Kerr, who had also signed for the Roofers. The Bald Eagle (...or is he more a Bald Badger?) unleashed another cracking strike from distance (though not quite from 35 yards out) which left an out-of-position Flynn with no chance. After their great start the Bay were behind!
The whole of the first half had been accompanied by the sound of the Roofing's management duo who, like a combination of Mourinho and Klopp, constantly bawled their instructions to their team. Despite the fact that their team were 2-1 up and playing well, the pair didn't let up. At half time, the visitors headed for their dressing room fully deserving their lead.
In the second half, this was all turned on its head as the Bay, once again started strongly. Brooksy had been replaced by Robbo and now it was the Bay's powerhouse who was unsettling the visiting defence. Soon after the restart, the Bay were level. Super-Charmey, with a nose for goal, unleashed a fearsome half-volley that cracked off the post and with the Brass Monkey frozen to the spot, Kyle slotted home. The game then swang from end to end with Robbo shooting wide, Jarrow's Dennis Knight, appearing not to be wearing shining armour, hit Flynn's post. In the end, a 2-2 draw was a fair result, but the excitement in the second half had most certainly been worth it. Even Bob enjoyed it. High praise indeed!

Saturday 2nd April 2017 - Consett (h)

Like buses, we had waited for a home match for over a month and a half and then three arrived all at once. So it was that the Bay's final three home games of the season arrived in the merry month of April!
My morning had already been spent running the Cragside 10km where I was delighted with a 48:08 finish but bemused to find myself the first placed female in the 45+ age group and that I had changed my name to Liesa. Who knew? Certainly not me!
Arriving at the ground, we could hear a bit of a commotion coming from the 'holidaying' Consett fans who had made an effort for their trip away to the seaside. Unfortunately, the weather hadn't rewarded them much for their efforts. Despite the beach theme, they had sensibly decided against the speedos and towels...for which all were extremely grateful! Encouraged by a continental-style leader with a megaphone they managed to drone out the usual medley of 60s and 70s hits on the PA.
They started off singing a tribute to their own sugary treat, forward Michael Sweet, with a version of  'sensational' 80s pop 'song' : Black Lace's Agadoo that featured the lyrics:
"Michael Sweet, Sweet, Sweet, Will you score a goal for me? (repeat) With the left, with the right, ...." and then I lost track of the lyrics as I carried on my voyage to the furthest end of the ground. Full marks for that though chaps!
 They were almost celebrating soon after the kick-off when their favourite Bonbon was denied by our own children's favourite, the Flynnster, who managed to get a foot on the tooth-decaying-one's shot.
A bad challenge on our own Comet, Haley, saw him being replaced by the young David Hall and the Bay began to settle down. On 32 minutes, the moment all Francophiles had been waiting for arrived! Actually it was probably just me.

Photo courtesy of Julian  Tyley
http://whitleybayfc.com/
To me.....to you!

Thibault's left foot struck the ball sweetly and it fizzed into the bottom corner of the net! His first reaction was to run towards the Bay tricoleur I'd put up only 33 minutes earlier and after high-fiving me (still haven't washed) he then kissed his nation's flag...which also won't be washed!
TBH: no change really on either front, despite my wife's frequent protestations.
The rest of my good friends pretended not to have noticed as I turned around and had also taken a couple of steps away from me as they sang "Football fwend". Jealousy should never be encouraged I was told, so I didn't rise to their envious taunts.
The choir behind Flynny's goal had grown strangely quiet after that goal and their keepie-uppies with one of their many beach balls was ended when it nestled in one of the bare trees at the the Car Park End.
Just before half time, it was suspension-bound Flynn who shone as he leaped about like a frisky gazelle to keep out Consett with two saves in quick succession.
At half time, the remaining beach balls were shepherded to the Allotment end by the younger members of the touring crowd, presumably while the older ones lubricated their vocal chords.
There was more disaster for the beach ball gang as the second half began when another of their inflatable number ended up over the fence. Matters got even worse for them as the ball looped into their penalty area. Before neither keeper nor defender could react, Kyle Patton had steamed in to score. 2-0 to the mighty Bay.
On the plus side for the holidaying fans, their beach ball was returned. In fact things got a lot better for them as their favourite Candyman managed to beat Flynny's grasping fingers to pull the Steelmen within one goal.
Soon after the Bay had to steel themselves for the fightback. Supermac had to clear off the line when the ball eluded the flailing Flynn's grasp then our super keeper himself had to steal the ball from Sweet's greedy feet.
The home fans in the 313 crowd were more than grateful to hear the ref's final whistle as the visiting fans picked up their beach equipment to head back from Hillheads to their own hilltop forts. The Bay were 7th in the Northern League after an extremely physical encounter that Baldie Bruce was totally the fault of "the worst refereeing display in history". Certainly not an exaggeration there, Brucie!

Shanksy has left!

The man himself in a
 familiar, thoughtful pose!

It was sadly announced over the weekend that the Shankster had parted ways with the club. I would just like to wish him luck with whatever he does in the future and thank him for so many great memories. His goals haul over the last couple of seasons for the Bay has been nothing short of miraculous and I hope he remembers if he comes back to Hillheads how popular he was here and not to do the old 'former player' routine and knock in a hat-trick...
Thanks for the memories Shanks and look after that young family of yours too!

Saturday 25th March 2017 - Dunston (a)

Glorious!

 It was the last day of winter and the sun had finally appeared in all its warming glory!
Personally, the previous week had been a nightmare with the passing away of one of our pet chickens: and no Pecky was not eaten!
The morning had been spent travelling too and from Durham Hens to purchase two replacements to avoid our remaining chicken, Clucky getting lonely. Flappy and Eggy Pop moved in.
Then came the bad news that The Boy Mark was still waiting for his new dishwasher to arrive and so couldn't drive me to the game! Thankfully, Claire (Little Claire's Mum) came to the rescue and so, along with Mr Twitter, we headed off into the bright afternoon sun.
Memories of the Bay's smash and grab FA Vase Quarter-final victory in 2011 always spring up when I pass the Metrocentre and today was no exception.
Arriving at the ground it was good to meet up with running buddy from NS Poly Running Club (can't type the NS words): the follicly-challenged Bruce. After my last post in February he challenged me to up the interest level as he was a bit bored with the last post. In an effort to appease the fleet-footed one, I thought I'd try the old dinosaur-on-the-pitch routine.

However, maybe all I needed to do was take a picture of Dunston's number 1 fan: Derek the Dunston Dog! If only the coaches listened to his barks more often! (I made up his name BTW: call it poetic licence!)

As it was I needn't have relied on doctored photos and clever animals: the match itself would provide all of the drama you could have asked for.
Early on, Peter the Elf from Rivendale (completely lost on Mr Twitter he's never seen Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit!) was given a start after impressing for the reserves the previous week and he helped set up Robbo, who fired high and wide. The Robster came again and this time his drive was well saved.

shortly after, it was Supermac's turn and his blistering drive was turned over by the bouncing Jack Norton in the Dunston goal. In fact not only was Mr Norton excelling in goal, he was also amusing us with his guidance for the home defence. Shouts of :
"That's the line I want!" and "Get him!", "Get out!", Get up!" could well have been used in the mid 1990s by the likes of the Shamen but unfortunately his defence didn't appreciate that fact as they ignored his stream of shouts.
Next it was Thibault whose one on one effort was saved but the rebound landed perfectly for Kempo, who slid the ball through a crowd into the yawning net. 1-0 to the Mighty Bay.

Dunston bounced back and when the Flying Flynn took out a Dunston forward, he was duly shown the red card. Where was Chow when you needed him? There was no reserve team keeper on the bench so up drove General Patton in his Sherman tank.
Yes it was all up to Supercal to save the day! The visiting fans were not sure about this one.
At half time Supercal was run through his paces by the subs and in between them completely missing the target and smashing the ball quite easily past the hapless Cal, our concerns about Supercal's prowess in goal grew.

Supercal to the rescue?

"In Cal we trust!" turned out to be the motto for the second half and the maestro did not disappoint. The PATtern of play became clear straight away as the PATrons of the UTS Stadium screamed their dissatisfaction with their team. Not wanting to PATronise him, Cal did a sound job. He certainly wasn't a PATsy or a PAT-er-cake, as he raced out to deal with every ball that came his way: with varying degrees of success. He may not have had the PATter of Flynn but he kept the away sheet clean. Like PAT Butcher after her fags, Supercal leapt for every ball with an almost PATernal care for his goal. Not even PATrick Stewart could have driven the USS Enterprise past him. He was inspirational, even though he did look a bit of a PATootie in his Pink shirt. (sorry that one was Mr Twitter's).
Despite Professor Wilko having to clear one off the line, after Supercal's initial save, and Dunston's Liam Thear rattled the crossbar, Supercal was solid.

Sing in the Cheap Seats!

But it wasn't all Dunston. First Kempo's shot was saved then Liam Brooks wriggled into the box like a snake but his effort lacked any pace. Supercal PATted one out of the air with both hands as Dunston grew frustrated. Brooksie could have sealed the win if he had rolled it to Teeny PATton but the chance went begging and out for a throw-in.

Finally, after over 5 minutes of injury time according to Mr Twitter, the full time whistle was blown and the Bay could celebrate the 1-0 win. Supercal certainly deserved the PATs on the back he received! The Bay march on...to a home game no less! When was the last time that happened?

18th February 2017 - Dunston (h)

The big competition to be on the cover of the next Facebook and Twitter Matchday message was won... by yours truly; beating off the stiff competition from the field of one. What a nice way to start the day!
The weather, that had been distinctly spring-like in the morning, unfortunately cooled quite quickly as kick-off approached.
The lads, on the other hand, weren't letting the cooling wind get them down as they started brightly.
First Kyle 'Little brother' Patton bore down on goal but elected to pass instead of shoot and the chance was lost. Then Robbo, hoping for a post-Birthday hat-trick, made the perfect start slotting the ball perfectly between visiting keeper Jack Norton's legs. It was all so quick that I was still consulting the team sheet in the programme when the goal was scored. There was jubilation on the 'packed' terraces.After that bright start, the lads took their foot off the gas and let Dunston get back into the game.

Terrace chaos!

There was a set-to between Dunston's Daryll Hall (not the actress: definitely!) and Robbo the Birthday Boy. The enormous Hall towered down upon Robbo for some shared thinking as he went head to head with his smaller opposition.
The highlight of that period was Callum Anderson's race with a visiting forward for a through ball. It was the Bay player who won the race, exquisitely stepping over the ball on the dead ball line before back heeling it to Professor 'Halftermholiday' Wilkinson to gleefully clear.
Into the second half and the ref adjudged the Prof to have brought down a visiting forward, which from our vantage point at the other end of the field looked a bit harsh. Warren Byrne stepped up and sent the ball low to Flynn's left as he dived right.
The Bay came straight back and when Big Brother Patton (BBP) twisted in the box and was brought down there were calls for our own penalty but the referee (unfairly in our opinion) didn't agree. Soon after, BBP was unlucky to see his header bounce harmlessly off the crossbar after Thibault had headed the ball back across goal.
Yet again, the referee lacked our unbiased distance view as a bout of head-tennis ended with Dunston being awarded another penalty. This time Byrne was outwitted by Flynn as he once again shot to the Bay super-keeper's left who dived to save. Lying on the ground, Flynn still managed to volley clear for a corner that came to nothing.
The lads picked up the pace after that and Norton was leaping to punch clear on a number of occasions as the lads searched for the winner they thought they deserved.
It was also nice to see the visiting Norton winning the day's politeness award. After the ball was collected by one of the Bay fans and passed to him, he gave a respectful "Thank you". He didn't think we really meant it when we applauded him for his great example of manners. His good manners may have been rewarded when substitute Liam Brooks hit the post.
His politeness disappeared, however, when the Bay took the lead in the final minute.

A pinpoint corner from BBP was met by Callum Anderson. Although the final touch was off a defender, nobody cared. For the second match running, the Bay had won 2-1 with a great team performance. The boys were still in town!

5th February 2017 - Bishop Auckland (h)

The lads really hadn't been given their just desserts. They had been finding life tough of late and despite some great play at times, that holy grail of a win was still elusive. Having missed the 4-0 win at Chester-le-Street on Jan 3rd, the Boy Mark and I were desperate to see our first win since November 19th. On the plus side, this young but talented team had continued to show spirit, the last example of which was recovering from being 4-1 down away to Ryhope CW to draw 4-4.

Flat pitch - free of divots. Rollered? 

Today the visitors were high-flying Bishop Auckland so those less optimistic members of the Bay fraternity were a tad fearful coming into the ground. On the supporting side, there was a reunion as our pal Mr Stato, along with Mrs Stato, returned for their first game for ages from stage left and like an American sitcom from stage right appeared the elusive Bob and Moira with the continuation of their tantalising tales of happy retirement. After the pleasantries and welcomes back had been said it was down to the serious business: the pitch. It looked in pretty good nick we thought: at least at our end. Well done Groundoman! (Or woman)

Tangoman:
not happy!

The game kicked off at a typical Northern League pace and rhythm and it was obvious that the lads were not going to let Bishops have things their own way. Desperate to avoid falling behind this week, bodies were being flung at every shot and every ball was being keenly contested. Bishops were in the ascendancy however as the Bay struggled to find their rhythm going forward.
It was great to see Robbo back muscling his way up front and Little Patton was looking bright and confident on the break. However, it was the brightly coloured Bishops, and their tango'd goalkeeper, who took the lead when a backpass to Flynn was completely missed as it bobbled over his foot and Andre Bennett was on hand to score into the empty net. Bobbly pitch?
However another game of pinball ended up with the ball at Robbo's feet and he took his time to calmly slot the ball past Scott 'Orange Tango' Pocklington who was not happy.
But Bishops held the sway so Haley and the Prof were constantly being called into action. My favourite clearance was Haley's header that saw him end up on his knees with the ball still bouncing around him so he dived forward from his kneeling position to head clear. He repeated the trick a few minutes later but this time from a standing position as the pressure mounted.
With half time looming, it was the Bay who had the last shout when a Thibault cross found Kempster whose effort was spectacularly saved. Mr Twitter was on hand to inform me that it was a great save. Thank goodness: I would never have realised!

Into the second half and it was more of the same: Bishops pressing and the Bay hitting on the break. A long ball saw Robbo racing towards Bishops' Tangoman and when the orange one met the ball first it struck Robbo then past the stranded keeper who had to dive at the Bay goalmachine's feet as he shaped to shoot. Penalty shouts were had by all!

Not happy #2

A tackle from Thibault on the Bay's left hand touchline saw the Frenchman booked and Bishops temporarily down to ten men. The Bay took advantage of this and took the lead. Kyle Patton's trickery and cross saw him slide the ball across the box for the Kempstervator to just beat a defender to slot home from two (maybe three) yards. The Bay fans went...wild.

As a result of that goal we were able to post our entry to the Bay's Twitter competition to see pictures of smiling Bay fans. Fingers crossed our effort is received favourably as a place in an upcoming twitter matchday post was at stake.
For the Bishops, the unfortunate Stuart Thompson had to be helped around the outside of the pitch by two visiting officials.
The Bay surged forward as confidence returned to their ranks and Elder Patton had a great freekick that clattered the bar while sub Liam Brooks showed some great skill to create himself space but his attempted shot found the Aldi car park (sort of).

At the final whistle we were delighted to have finally seen a rare victory, 2-1, against one of the top five teams. Also pleasing was a 283 crowd: good considering those funny black and white people were playing to a sellout crowd in the big Toon. Whisper it but the Bay maybe on the up again!

21st January 2017 - Morpeth (h)

The last few years of supporting the Bay have, I have to admit, been hard going. As one of the biggest clubs in the Northern League, I don't think I'm being arrogant in saying this, we have had some pretty lean times since the glory Vase years and 2012 seems a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Having said that, there have been some highs: last season's run in the FA cup being one, but mostly it has been hard going. Just like that team in the big Toon, we are living on distant glories, as Wednesday's 4-0 defeat away to Shildon in the league cup demonstrated.
So, today, I was not relishing the visit of the 'big boys' from Morpeth. Their fanbase is still growing on the back of their Wembley Vase victory and their ground is picturesque but low on capacity. On the pitch they have a strong team that the Bay have struggled to match recently. Two 3-2 defeats at the 'Peth may seem close in scoreline but in the Northumberland Senior Cup especially we were extremely lucky not to lose by more and only some saves from the flying Flynn and last ditch defending from a fearless Bay defence kept the lads in the game.
First topic of conversation: Aldi! Again!! Entering the car park it was once more packed. Saturday Aldi shoppers? Can't you use your own car park? Having just watched the first half hour of my French team RC Lens and witnessed them losing 2-0 at home to the crocodiles from Nimes; I was in an angry, and maybe slightly petty, mood and that was after recovering from the Trumpiness over the pond. Does he realise what his surname actually means in the Queen's English?
However, it was great to see more hard work had been applied to the pitch and the conversation with

Rolled, cut and dedivoted!

Mr Twitter and co turned to the noble state of the pitch: it had been mowed, rolled and.....dedivoted! Bravo to all those who gave up their time and apologies that I wasn't one of them. Sorry.
It was also good to see, for the second home match running the return of Russ: the supporting legend of the Vase era. He was in a fine, lubricated voice too and thoroughly proved my theory that sound can travel faster than light. Managing to organise his work to get to the match was the Bay's gain.
Talk of the pitch turned to the vision of not one but three versions of wrestling's Stone Cold Steve Austin! The bonces of the nearest linesman, referee and Morpeth's Keith Graydon all glinted in the fading afternoon sun to add extra spice to our off-track conversation. This went further off-piste, so to speak, as the subject of the original Steve Austin: the six million dollar man crept in. What were his bionic powers? Later on, the subject of the bionic woman came up and her super powers? Glad to say, Russ could recite the whole of the opening sequence to the original 70s series. Time well spent studying there! Of course a quick search on Google sorted out our conundrum on powers during a quieter moment of the first half.
The lads looked up for the game and were not giving any quarter but still flying Flynn had to be quick off the mark twice in the opening quarter of an hour to race out and clear from advancing strikers. The first occasion, the ball rebounded kindly for the Morpeth forward who shot past Tom but thankfully SuperMac was back to clear off the line. Flynn was then called on to make a fingertip save to keep out another spectacular effort.
The Bay were giving as good they got and new boy Gilbey's run into the box and pass found Peter Glen Ravenhill (PHR). Unfortunately, despite the pitch's good condition, he couldn't pull the ball from out of his feet and his shot lacked power and was easily collected by the green-clad (or was it yellow?) Dryden in the Morpeth goal.
There was better to follow when a bit of magic from both Potter and Thibault ended up with Professor Wilko heading home. Bay in take lead shocker!

It could have been better a couple of minutes later but PHR's shot flashed wide after great work from Tom Gilbey, racing through on the Bay's right hand wing. They were both working hard and almost had their reward.
Our jollity and merriment lasted four minutes before Morpeth's Mark Davidson rose unchallenged to head home. 1-1.  There was time for the mesmerising Gilbey to clear off the line as Morpeth pressed hard for the lead. Still it was better than we had expected: the lads were level at half time and we had taken the lead.
The Bay kept Morpeth waiting so there was plenty of time to discuss the farce that had been South Shields v Morpeth in the FA Vase with my 'Peth fan Keith. He, along with many others, had been stunned when their game had been replayed after 'Peth had just scored to lead 4-2 against 10 men Shields when the floodlights had mysteriously failed. Losing the replayed game 4-0, hastily organised at Morpeth in barely 4 hours, had exacerbated him, although his daughter, Eve didn't seem as concerned and a lot calmer about the affair.
There was more acrobatics from Flynn, saving another one v one, as Morpeth pressed. The visitors were not having everything their own way as two close offsides deprived the Bay of goalscoring chances. However it was Tommy Flynn who was working overtime, acting as an extra sweeper then racing back to make saves on his line. On 77 minutes he performed more heroics as he sprang acrobatically with a diving-swing-spring save to keep the scores level.
Finally, the pressure paid as man of the match Flynn was caught out of position, after another super save, and Sean Taylor scored into the empty section of the goal.
But still the Bay weren't finished and a belter from SuperMacD was palmed away by Dryden.

The 2-1 win hadn't flattered the visitors but the lads had worked hard and all over the pitch there were great signs that the Nash/Woodhouse/Moore era was bearing fruit with a greater emphasis on playing confident football. The aim now is to not to panic and support the management trion both on and off the field and allow them time to develop this young, talented team. If the lads can stay together for next season then all the hard work will be worth it. Just need to get a few wins to get the confidence to go with the hard work. Easy!

Btw: Well done on your Man of December award, Tom Potter! Magic and fully deserved!

7th January 2016 - Seaham Red star (h)

Basically, we owed this lot a return leg pasting. The worst afternoon many of the Whitley faithful had ever witnessed was the 6-1 thrashing at the home of our visitors. Nothing went right that day with crucial injuries and a distinct lack of substitutes meaning a miserable trip home on the first day of October.
My first rant of the day came when we watched a number of cars parking in our car park so their owners could go and visit Aldi. Hasn't the supermarket got its own big car park? I think if someone parks in our car park then they should be made to join us at Hillheads! Where were our hordes going to park their cars? Parking rage got to me!
Mr Twitter had been working imaginatively of late to enhance the Club's Twitter feed and his latest offering was the team sheet picture. Seven of the 11 who had taken the field for the Bay in October were in the starting line-up today and it was nice to see our our own Eiffel Tower of a player, Thibault Charmey, given his place in the starting line up after featuring in a great team performance at Chester-le-Street which saw the Bay win 4-0. Also making his home debut was new signing and Durham Uni student, Tom Gilbey to bring the number of Toms on the team to 3...was this a Bay record?

Thibault tribute flag and also a much improved pitch after hard
work put in by supporters and staff to flatten divots and cut it.

Apparently though it wasn't rolled!

The Tom Trio (and the rest of the team) started brightly and the Bay attack was causing the visitors problems, forcing errors in every position.However, as the half progressed, Red Star began to ease themselves into the game.
Gilbey was looking confident and both he SuperMac were supporting our two wing wizards: Kempster and Potter. Also looking bright was Kyle Patton who was being sent chasing some great balls from big brother Callum. Unfortunately his lack of physical presence meant he generally came out second best to the larger visiting defence.

After 16 minutes, it was our former favourite Birdy Bird who forced Flynn into a great save. This warning wasn't heeded and a few minutes later, Birdy was in on goal. The fit-again Wilkinson challenged him and was penalised by a penalty that Craig Lynch hit low to Flynn's right. Thankfully, the Prof wasn't booked. Next thing we knew, Callum A. was booked for kicking out at a Seaham midfielder as he was disappearing off into the horizon. The game had been turned on its head.
Next Callum Patton did an excellent impression of Superman as he avoided any contact with a defender's foot by flying horizontally over the challenge. The extremely tall linesman was only able to rely on his bird's eye view so he flagged for a penalty. Nice one! As the former Voice of the Bellend put it..."I could have fitted my grandma into that gap..." He's been missed!
Superpatton it was who took the penalty. 1-1

Better was to follow as the Bay went onto the attack again. This time it was Monsieur Charmey who robbed a defender and rolled the ball across the goal. We (me and the Boy Mark) thought that it had hit a divot and bounced past the unhappy Shawn Newbrook in the Seaham goal but it turned out to be Kempster's outstretched foot. A much happier half time crew headed for Tommy's.

Unfortunately just two minutes into the second half, Professor Wilko employed a less than studious tackle to give away another penalty that was confidently dispatched by Lynch again. Seaham went on the offensive and with 18 minutes remaining took the lead. Bradley Staunch powering a header home to make it 3-2. Revenge for October looked unlikely.
Then it was the Bay's turn to wake up for the rest of the match as they battered the visiting defence. Marshalled well by Wilko and Nick Allen, the defence pushed up the pitch as a unit to deny the Seaham midfield any time or space space to operate in and time and again they picked up clearances and began setting up attack after attack. The exhausted Thibault was replaced by Brooks and Callum Anderson by Peter Glen-Ravenclaw sorry, Ravenhill and the visiting defence were creaking. Brooks finished off a great move at the far post only to be denied by the offside flag and Newbrook was being tested from every angle.

Wild scenes of celebration!

With the game looking over, it was Super Gilbey who effortlessly curled the ball past Newbrook's outstretched arm and into the top corner of the net! 3-3: hardly a reward for the possession and effort put in but justly deserved.





As a footnote: Morpeth Town were winning 4-2 at ten man South Shields when the floodlights failed with 7minutes remaining of their FA Vase tie. Did someone forget to put 10p in the meter?