Report by Julian Tyley
Shortly after the final whistle at Newton Aycliffe, Bay manager Jay Bates gave his thoughts on Whitley’s performance in the 3-0 defeat which saw them exit the FA Cup.
“It’s a tough place to come anyway but if you’re gifting goals then it’s going to be even tougher. They’re a league above us and they’re a league above for a reason. They didn’t concede and they kept it tight once they’d scored and kept it like that quite comfortably. As I say, you can’t gift them goals. I don’t know what happened on the first goal, I need to speak to Dan about the first one, but the second goal was a certain mistake that was avoidable I would say, and after that it’s an uphill battle from then on.
“For their second goal he raced out and just needed to put his foot through it, but he took a touch and I don’t know why goalkeepers think they need to take a touch and bring it down. You just need to put your foot through it, especially when the opposition are coming down on you. He’s been around long enough. He’ll hold his hands up and take that on the chin and we’ll go from there with him.”
Aycliffe’s higher status, in the Northern Premier League East Division meant they were favourites going into the game and their tactical awareness was clear to see. “It was like men against boys at times I would say. We need to put our shoulders up and look after ourselves basically, but at the same time I’m not going to have a go at the referee. There was a couple of times I thought they got away with kicking the back of the ankles but fair play to them if you can get away with it that’s what you do.”
The early goal after just seven minutes was obviously not the start Whitley wanted and set them on the back foot. “We tend to grow into games so them getting that goal was a little bit of frustration. It was a silly goal to give away. like the last goal at Redcar. We can’t keep getting done off set pieces. We need to start defending a lot better off set pieces so getting on the training ground is going to help make that happen this week.
With Tuesday’s game against Blue Star postponed because of their cup replay, what were Jay’s thoughts on having a free midweek? “They say the only way to make things better is by going into games, but I believe we need to get on the training ground. We need to work on a few things, patterns of play, because at the minute we’re not scoring. We haven’t scored in four games so we need to get on that training pitch and start scoring goals, so giving us that break’s probably going to be beneficial before we go away to the FA Vase game next Saturday at Longridge.”
Asked if he was looking to bring in any new players, his response was “If they’re available we’re always looking to see if we can bring people in.” In terms of goal scorers he pointed out that Jake Forster has done that job in the past. “In the second half, in the latter stages, Jake Forster played as a nine. He did that job numerous times last season and he scored a lot of goals in that position, but when you take him out of midfield we lose a lot of running in there and battling, and that game today was a battle, and that’s where you need Jake Forster. A lot of the games going forward in the Northern League that’s where you need him, in the middle of the park so using him as a nine takes him out of position but, when you need goals you need other options and it’s one of the things that we’ll be looking at.”
Michael Scott made his debut after suffering injury in recent weeks. “He’s an extra player in defence. He had a scan, he’s got an injury in his abdominal area but it’s one of them were he’s going to play through it. He’s sore now and needs a rest up but he’s one of them that’s a battler. He’ll get on with things and if we tell him to do it that’s what he does.”
