| |
|
|
|
||
|
||
| FA Vase 1st Round | 250 | |||
| Saturday 23rd October 2004 | Whitley Bay V Newcastle Blue Star | 3-1 | ||
|
||||
In the build up to this game all the talk had been of the two managers. Andy Gowans of Blue Star returning to the club he managed to Vase glory in 2002 to take on the man who scored the winner for Bay that day, Ian Chandler, now of course Whitley Bay boss. Bay were unchanged from the team that had beaten Brandon 4-2 the previous week while Star had three members of Bay’s vase winning squad in their starting line up in Rob Livermore, Andy Bowes and Michael Fenwick, and another recent recruit from Whitley, David McMahon also started. Blue Star started quite well in the opening stages but it was Bay who created the first clear cut opportunity when Steve Leadbitter played in Neil Shotton and Graeme Waind in the Star goal did well to block the ball with his legs. Bay took the lead in the tenth minute when after producing a great save from an Adam Johnston volley from a Paddy Little free kick, Waind was dismayed to see the ball break to Peter Kirkham who blasted home from ten yards to score his first goal for the club. After another Little free kick had been deflected for a corner, Bay continued to push forward and doubled their lead after 19 minutes when Adam Johnston was put through one on one with Waind and slotted the ball past the keeper to score for the seventh successive game. Star were clearly rattled they fell further behind only four minutes later. Bay were awarded a free kick just outside the penalty area and Johnston stepped up to curl a superbly placed free kick into the top corner of the net. The feeling at this point was that if Whitley kept the pressure up they could repeat the 8-0 drubbing Star were handed in the FA Cup in 2001 at the Wheatsheaf ground. However, as in the previous week against Brandon, Bay took their foot of the gas and allowed Star to get a foothold in the game. First David McMahon came close with a free kick and then forced Burke into action to tip away another effort. Star got on the score sheet after 35 minutes when Michael Fenwick was allowed space to fire in a tremendous curling shot from around 20-yards giving Burke no chance. Star continued to attack and Little did well to clear the ball from David Henderson when he was well placed. At the start of the second half McMahon fired wide from a good position and then Burke reacted smartly to block a shot from the former Bay man. It was good to see the Bay keeper reacting well as he had been clattered in the first half and was only able to continue after lengthy treatment to his face. Burke again foiled Star after 53 minutes producing a fine double save from Rob Livermore and then Michael Fenwick before Dave Henderson fired wide. This was to prove Star’s best chance to get something from the game as Bay contained quite comfortably for the rest of the half and created their own chances. Johnston cut in from the left ran along the edge of the penalty area before trying for his hat-trick when an earlier pass may have been a better option then a Paul Thompson cross just eluded Leadbitter. Bay brought Bell and Kerr on for Kirkham and Turner and after Fenwick had fired over for Star, Kerr linked up linked up with Johnston to set up Leadbitter only for Waind to comfortably take the header. Kerr’s pace caused the Star defence a few problems and if anyone was going to add to the scoreline towards the end it looked as though it would be Bay, but they were happy enough to ease into the next round.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kerr, Lee
