Report by Julian Tyley
Whitley made it two wins in four days with a closely contested 1-0 victory over Newcastle Benfield at Hillheads on Tuesday evening. Manager Jay Bates was happy to see his side continue their improved form which has seen them beaten just once in their last seven games.
“Good progress, two wins, two clean sheets. The lads dug in tonight, the football wasn’t pretty but at times it doesn’t need to be pretty to take three points and that’s what it was. A lot of it was sloppy and at times the passing was astray but we got the goal early and we hung onto it. I think from every man that went on everyone of them grafted and the desire - we said it at half time no one beats us for desire and heart and passion for the game. Sometimes we’re not pretty, that’s what it wasn’t tonight, pretty, but we’ll be happy with the three points.
“It's encouraging to get two clean sheets but that’s what the defenders are there for, to defend. And for the fans, I know at the beginning of the season we said we were coming to do entertaining football and score goals. That’s what we usually do but you’ve seen the other side of it today and it’s the ‘doggy’ side, the team cohesion, I would say, the resilience that we showed, it’s what West Auckland have done against us when they took the 1-0 last week. We had all the play that day but they managed to walk off with a 1-0.
“To be fair to Benfield they had a good squad out there today and they had a lot of the ball but Dan didn’t have a lot to do and the defence stayed strong.”
The one moment of danger in the first half came when Callum Guy spotted Dan Gladstone off his line and tried a shot from the halfway line. “That’s what he does, he’s a clever ten and finds space and once he gets it on that left foot he scores a lot of good goals like that. Fortunately for us it’s done a big a bounce and went over the bar so were happy with that.”
Attention turns to the Isuzu FA Vase and a trip to Harrogate Railway in the 2nd Qualifying Round. this weekend. “I’ve been down there before. It’s a nice little ground. I went down with West Allotment three years ago and managed to get a good win so we’ll be going down there on Saturday and looking for the same again.”
