8th February 2020 - Thornaby (h)

Six games on the trot the Bay had lost but today it was time for the big guns... my Bay socks purchased from 'Win or Lose'. A real retro look: blue and white stripeys with Dr Martins. Surely these fine accessories would do the trick.

The last time I had seen the Bay, was the 2-0 defeat to Guisborough, coincidentally the last time I wrote a blog. Since then, the lads had been knocked out of the Northumberland Senior Cup 2-0 at Morpeth before losing 9-8 on penalties at Consett in the league cup. This had followed a miraculous fightback from 3-0 down to draw 3-3 with two extremely late goals. Yet another new player had arrived on the transfer merry-go-round, this time Andre Bennett had snuck in, unannounced by Twitter. The son of Sunderland favourite Gary Bennett had made a good impression inspiring the afore-mentioned fightback at Consett.

I really had been chomping at the bit to have another chance to try out my duo-cams, remembering to put the OLDER AND MUCH CHEAPER, FAKE GOPRO at the far end of the ground in case it attracted any unwelcome interest, I spotted some friends of mine who were at their first Bay game EVER, so went to stand and chat with them. In the process, I must have switched off my Gopro and missed the opener for Thoraby (as some of the locals spelt it). Not the start we'd been after. The goal had been scored by a one James Rowe which reminded me of a former British ice hockey referee called Mike Rowe. As a supporter you always felt confident that you would get a good game from him, sadly his namesake James wasn't making me feel so confident about today's game. Hadn't Bossman-Nathan passed my advice onto the players to make sure they scored before the opposition if they wanted to win? Obviously not.

On the plus side, my friends, one of whom had spent many happy hours sticking pins into both my fine blogging body (she is an acupuncturist) were thoroughly enjoying their broth from Tommy's Tea and Broth Shop.

Our black and white fans were thoroughly impressed with the broth.
Acupuncturist friend (Vicky pinsticks)  not included due to hair malfunction

They had also been impressed with the way that the Bay had been trying to play football with the usual neat passing moves. Unfortunately, the usual lack of final shot was frustrating.

There were a number of openings for the Bay and a few penalty shouts... see what you think but today, Graeme Hopper was giving us nowt! Oh how we wished for a Mike Rowe!

shout #1

shout #2

a shot...not a shout... from Giles.

shout no 3

Salmon hits the side netting.

However for all these shots and shouts, the Bay were still not able to score. This all changed when super-striker Craig the Mac played the ball through to Marcus Giles. The youngster, perfectly controlled the ball before lobbing the ball sublimely over James Dawson into the Thoraby net. (you'll have to go back in the archives to find out the Thoraby references).

The mood amongst the majority of the 343 there had improved vastly by half time and a cracking second half seemed on the cards. There was a worrying situation for your favourite Bay blogger as the roses creeping through the fence at the allotment end snatched my hat off me. Next time I'm bringing my secateurs! Not only did they wave in the wave of cam2, but they attacked and stole from me. Luckily, before they could run off, I rescued my property!
Craig McFarlane seemed to be waging a one-man quest for a goal as he tried everything. However the footing in the Thoraby penalty area appeared to be extremely tricky as our illustrous leader became the latest Bay player to slip at the crucial moment. He didn't seem too happy to be substituted later on but I'd like to think he had just run out of steam.
Connor Smith's arrival for Luke Salmon saw the winger popping up all over the place and after an amazing dribble, looked odds-on to score but he took it too far and the eventual shot thumped against the crossbar.

and Smith must score...

The instructions from the bench were clear as the lads continued to create, and waste openings, as their lack confidence in front of goal betrayed them. At the other end, my MUCH CHEAPER AND OLDER camera had nothing to show for its 45 minutes of recording. (I'll stop now btw, I think the message is out).

There was a final shot and penalty appeal in vain but it was not to be the Bay's day. Thoraby had battled for a draw in an entertaining game and got it. At least the sequence of defeats had been stopped.
Point of interest, before the last run of good form, the Bay drew their first two games... A draw against Consett and today mimic that sequence... so watch out Whickham!
Another plus was the fact that Vic and the gang had enjoyed the experience. Hopefully they'll be back soon!