13th March 2019 - Whickham (h)

Courtesy of WBFC Twitter

The mood around the club had improved slightly after the 2-2 draw at Shildon. Recovering from 2-0 down had at least shown that the lads had the character to come back when the chips were down. New boss Nathan Haslam now needed to make sure his first home match in charge ended up with the Bay getting the points.
I still wasn't happy to be heading up the hill. It was cold, Storm Gareth (or was that Gary?) was blowing the brave few a merry dance and the Bay still hadn't proved to me that they could put two good results together. I could be at home, in the warm, marking 30 year 6 science books! It was a close call but the Bay won out. Judging by the crowd, I wasn't the only one to have had a dilemma as to whether to come today or not.
Most of the 203 decided to stay within the protection of the two stands. Even Gibbo, Claire Mac and co had sought shelter. In the interests of close-up goal action, I convinced Coventry Neil to brave the elements at the Allotment End.
There was plenty of space for us, that's for sure.

The two teams were wearing their traditional home strips of blue and white and black white stripes. I was certainly glad not to be watching in black and white as to anyone with a blue colour-blindness the strips would have looked identical.
It was Luke Salmon who tried his luck first of all, but his effort was tipped away by keeper Dimitrios Tsapalos.

Thankfully, the lighter of the striped teams made the trip worthwhile with barely ten minuts on the clock.
It was the skillful Brannen, back in the midfield in place of Peter 'the Raven', whose cross struck a defender and there was Luke Salmon leaping onto the chance to drill home from the edge of the box.

Things got better for the 203, as the Bay went further ahead. This time, the wind confused both Bay and Whickham players and a cross ended up at the feet of Olly Martin, who swooped to make no mistake with his volley.

The Bay were 2-0 up, which was nice!

The match looked done and dusted seconds into the second half when an attempted clearance rebonded off Luke Salmon and into the net.

However, the team that had dumped us out of the FA Vase and beaten us in the league was not going to lie down. The wind went against the Bay this time, as Dale Burrell launched a long-range effort from just inside his own half that sailed over Bay returnee Dan Lister and into the net.
Play immediately swung to the other end and we were immediately celebrating a fourth home goal. Olly Martin setting up Dan Wright to score his first goal for the club.

Neil and I were delighted! Unfortunately, back came the visitors with their second goal. The last 20 minutes swung backwards and forwards but with no addition to the scoreline, Nathan New Boss had secured a home win at the first attempt! 4-2 final score and so far so good for our new bald eagle!