19th January 2019 - Consett (a)

The sad news of Robbie Livermore's death had a profound effect on many of the Whitley fans, staff and players. Today would be a poignant experience for many, who all held so many happy memories of the popular ex-Whitley player. Was this the best day for the league leaders to face an emotional Bay team?
The weekend had started with concerns that the first snow of the year might call the match off. However, as usual, the Chronicle's implication that we should all be stockpiling food in the face of this horrendous light dusting of snow proved unfounded. There was no sign of any white stuff in the Durham Hills as The Boy Mark and I introduced Wednesday Chris to the wonders of Northern League away days. the set-up at Consett is a good place to start. Although we didn't take advantage of the bar, there was a good selection of snacks on offer from the hatch including the tempting sausage and bacon sandwich. Chris convinced us to share in his abstinence after an unsettling encounter with a Blyth Spartans Cheeseburger. We shared his pain:

The after-effects of a Spartansburger?

The emergence of Consett's Big Red Tunnel gave me the perfect opportunity to test out my new gimbal. I'm not sure how necessary it is that we don't see the players coming onto the pitch but maybe it added to the mystery that is Consett generally!

Courtesy of Whitley Bay Twitter

A minute's silence was perfectly observed. This was my second moment of remembrance for Robbie after Whitley parkrun's tribute to the former Wallsend Harrier runner. A well-loved man.

 When the game settled down, it seemed Craig McFarlane was determined to win the game single-handedly for the former Bay legend. His runs down the wing were causing no end of problems and it was great to see him firing on all cylinders in a way we haven't see too often since his return. It is such a shame it was in such sad circumstances.
It was Maca's jinky run that gave the Bay a surprise lead. His shot simply rolling along the 4G pitch; almost curling around the struggling Kyle Hayes.

The defensive dynamo was back at it when he forced Hayes to dive full length to beat away another cracking effort. Consett had no answer to the veteran left back.

As the game rolled on so did the fog and the cold. As Baldy Bruce put it:
"Don't complain about it being cold at a Whitley parkrun until you've experienced Consett's tropical temperatures." It was guesswork what was happening at the other end of the pitch and when we heard the home fans cheering we knew it was 1-1. But the Bay did not give up.

They battled in defence and tore into the home defence with every breakaway. This was a transformed team. Unlucky to lose at West Auckland the previous week, there is at last hope that the consistency the team had been searching for might have been found: just behind Tommy's teahut in a box marked: "consistency".

Consett made it 2-1 but we had no way of knowing of what had happened.
We even had difficulty seeing the near goal, having stood at the side of the pitch in the hope of  seeing more of the game. When a corner was swung into the mists, either the bar or the keeper kept out a header but Olly Martin was on hand to score the rebound. I should have stuck to my usual spot behind the goal!

However, the Consett confusion obscured our view once again as the home side took the lead three minutes later. The Consett pooch had lost all interest and preferred to hastle its owner to throw its tennis ball to chase: she wasn't obliging, though.

With two minutes left, a Ravenhill screamer surprised and delighted us all. 3-3. The linesman on our side was perfectly placed to spot the ball hadn't completely crossed the line as Luke Salmon swam down the wing and eventually the ball found itself to The Raven to launch home.

A suspected injury time winner for Consett dampened our mood but we were delighted when the eagle-eyed Boy Mark spotted they hadn't restarted the game with a centre. We were similarly delighted to return to the warmth of the car and disappear into the fog. 45 minutes later we were home: sort of.
3-3 a great return from the home of the leaders.

5th January 2019 - Dunston (h)

There were few Whitley fans who gave the boys any chance against Dunston. The visitors had only lost one game in the league: a week earlier 1-0 at home to Bishop Auckland. In contrast our heroes had only won once in twelve. Arriving at the ground, the great and the good of Hillheads (Paul and Mr Hall) all agreed that avoiding humiliation would be a satisfactory result.
"2 or 3-0 would be a decent result"
The 8-0 scoreline in the return leg was still painful, as did the 3-0 Shields victory before Christmas. It was a real struggle to get up the hill. One of my running mates was making his first visit to Hillheads in 8 years. He said he had enjoyed his last visit: his season ticket for those Black and White people keeping him from visiting Hillheads. I told him that things had changed since those post-Vase-victory days. He should also not judge the team on one experience. My faith had been sorely dented by the season's progress. I remembered that I had started the season vowing not to renew my season ticket if things didn't improve and my return of five wins from 14 games was not inspiring, especially if four of those wins were from the first six fixtures attended.
Even receiving some new 'lucky' Bay socks couldn't give me any confidence about today's match. I had slumped to a new low in terms of supporting the Bay: and that was saying something. David Hall received my complete moans after I had wished him a happy new year: even though he had told me he was enjoying reading my first book (the 89th Minute: a Supporter's History of NUFC 1983-2000: available in Doug's Cabin or on amazon bit.ly/89thminute).

Courtesy of @WhitleyBayFC twitter

 I was delighted to see Chris and James Wednesday again and glad to say that despite some of the recent performances the former had had to endure, he was back yet again...camera in tow! Maybe I should ask him to provide some photos...there's an idea!
I was still trying to get my go-pro-thing to stay upright when a lofted cross was lobbed superbly home by Olly Martin. 1-0 to the Bay.

Wednesday Chris had just suggested resting my floppy camera stalk on the advertising hoarding when another cross-cum-shot was kindly sidefooted into the net by Dunston captain Daniel Halliday. We were mildly delighted and completely shocked!

In total shock! The Bay 2-0 lead shock!

Dunston were completely shocked too but that didn't last nearly long enough, as the Flynnster and his defence were called upon to leap left, right and centre as Dunston turned up the heat. There were still odd occasions when Whitley managed to break clear but they were few and far between. Our hope was that the lads could hold onto their two-goal lead until half time. The pesky ex Bay-boy Liam Brooks spoilt that with a corking strike that had Flynn beaten all ends up as it flashed into Flynn's right hand top corner. Suddenly things were looking bleak.
The second half arrived and the Bay still held the lead. The lads battled on and began to look more dangerous on the break. Andrei was there to help but his curling effort just wouldn't curl enough.

 The inevitable finally happened when Dunston pulled level. It had to come, we all felt, and it did in the 62nd minute. The ball had been cleared off Whitley's line too many times and so finally Dunston got what their second half assault deserved. To most in the stadium, the logical next step would be a Dunston goal but no matter how hard they tried there was always a Whitley boot, head or Flynn in the way. Even so, in the 72nd minute there was the most unexpected of twists. The ball ended up at Olly Martin's feet. He twisted. He turned. Then he rolled the ball into the far corner of Karl Dryden's net.

The whole team run to celebrate with the fans behind the goal as Hillheads erupted...in its own little way. Dunston grew even angrier! Their renewed assault on the Whitley goal was more ferocious. It only seemed a matter of time before they scored to spoil the victory-starved home fans. Thoughts were full of the last few minutes against Benfield and Guisborough.
But those missed opportunities were not to be repeated.
Today was to be Whitley's day! The lads held on and rightly milked the applause at the final whistle. For Dunston, there was the ignominy of an embarrassing on-pitch inquisition. For now, the memory of 8-0 had been put to one side.
This amazing result, a real smash and grab, now needs to be the start of a new run of form. The same ethic has to be on show in all the games the team plays this year. It won't be easy, with trips to West Auckland and Consett coming up next, but the lads need to dig deep again each week. There is still the League Cup to fight for and relegation to be avoided. There is also the club's pride to be restored. The Bay faithful will be hoping that 2019 is the year the Bay's rose again: It's in their hands!