8th September 2018 - Whitby Town (h) FA Cup 1Q

The day started with my best Whitley Bay parkrun in two years (22:46 for the record) but it didn't really feel like it was going to be a lucky day for the Bay. A sense of foreboding followed me up the hill. These reasons bounced backwards and forwards in my head:

•  the team had won the last three games, scoring 18 goals...they had to fall sometime.
• Whitby were two leagues above us.
•  there would be a big crowd without any Premiership or Championship games on: the players were bound to freeze.

I had arranged to meet the Boy Mark at the ground but was late: buying new blue and white ribbons at the Singer shop in town for my car: great for spotting your car in car parks! He texted me to say there were lots of 'scary people' singing in our 'new' stand. I could hear them as I reached the ice rink...definitely not Whitley fans.
Sure enough, there were the usual crowd standing in the stand but they had decamped to the near side of the stand, trying to hear each other over a big group of visitors (to the Bay anyway). The back of the stand was taking a right battering as a makeshift drum as our visitors sang their medley. The were frequent inspersed choruses of "Sea, sea, seasiders" and "We hate Scarborough". The latter of which was my particular favourite. I had an immediate vision of two small groups of fans in a mostly empty stadium shouting abuse at each. You can't beat non-league football for comedy.

The Town Boys! The Seahorse did well today?

They were certainly welcome, as they had woken up our normally sleepy afternoon/evening terrace. Even Bob and Moira agreed before we launched into a discussion about favourite washing powder. It was also good to see the return to Hillheads of Chrissyboy: Mr Wednesday. It turned out he had attended the 6-1 victory against Barnoldswick in the previous round. His love for his adopted town's team had been re-awoken. There were a number of returnees from the Vase days and it was nice to see a 680 crowd enjoying the mild afternoon weather. The predicted rain was staying off too. What could go wrong?
Also returning was Josh Nearney, not that I noticed until I looked at the team sheet. I only hoped it stayed that way.
There were few chances at either end in the opening minutes and so the conversation swang around to the increased traffic using the Aldi causing problems on Hillheads Road. This followed onto the problems of the British Education system caused by years of government interference. Thankfully, 'The Raven's freekick interupted this topic: McHugh, in the visiting goal, turning it away smartly. Then Whitby started piling on the pressure with their numbers 9 and 10 finding themselves plenty of space at times to run clear on goal but thankfully Flynn was equal to them, saving on a number of occasions. The only time he failed to stop a shot, Ibby Hassan was on hand to clear off the line. All the while the Whitby Massif continued their sonic barrage and it only seemed a question of time before they were to be rewarded.
Thankfully, at half time the score was still 0-0 and we felt lucky to be level.

This is what part of 680 looks like...apparently!

There was a definite shift in the second half as the Bay boys seemed to be a lot taller and less willing to be knocked around. There also seemed to be a bit of gamesmanship creeping in to the Town game as they seemed to fall over easier with tumbles of varying degrees of artistic licence. It looked like Ibby was in trouble when a goalbound shot bi-passed Flynn completely only to strike Ibby's hand outside of the penalty area. Thankfully, the ref decided it was only a booking and a freekick to the visitors.
Despite the continued effort from the home boys, the game was still edgy and the visitors were dealing fairly comfortably with the Bay pressure. Too many crosses ended up in McHugh's hands or being booted clear by the Town defence. At the other end, Flynn and co were having their work cut out keeping a tricky set of forwards away from the goal. But battle they did.
It looked like all their hard work had been undone when a Whitby forward steamed into the box and was brought down. The ref theatrically pointed to the spot, seeming to enjoy taking the limelight. Up stepped the visiting penalty taker who launched a stinger away to Flynn's right.

 However, Bay's number 1 dived full length to pull off a remarkable save. He appeared to take a boot for his troubles and lay forlornly in the penalty area as play continued. As the ball was cleared to the wing, there was another incident and Whitby's Jassem Sukar was shown a second yellow card. With Town down to 10 men, the game was there for the bay to take. However, they pulled nine men behind the ball, leaving one up front and managed to smother the Bay's attack for long periods. The crowd were doing their bit to raise the players but it was hard going against an experienced team.
Callum Anderson's header zipped just wide then Ramsay headed wide. The lads managed to break with three players but the chance was lost when Ramsay (I think) chose to selfishly shoot rather than pass to an unmarked Bay player. It looked like the Bay would be travelling to the home of Prawns (Whitby that is) when Foalle sent the home crowd wild.
There seemed to be nothing on for 'The Raven' as he flew down the wing in the 89th minute (my book is still available as a paperback btw: http://bit.ly/89thminute). With a defender battling furiously for the ball, Captain Fantastic managed to swing in a left wing cross that was met by the superbly positioned Foalle to score. He couldn't hide his delight and neither could we!

The last few minutes were filled with tension and everyone was delighted to see Foalle head to the corner with the ball in the 93rd minute. Finally the whistle blew to spark celebrations not witnessed for many years. Fans were hugged by jubilant players and if anyone had suggested that the players didn't care then this was the perfect example of how much they did.

The fans and players applaud each other

The lads were into the second round and with a Vase game to come the following week against Whickham, these are certinly exciting times to be a Bay fan. We'll make sure we enjoy them as this team can only get stronger. Good decision to leave Josh?