Report by Julian Tyley
Approaching the end of September, most Northern League clubs have had a hectic start to the season and both Whitley Bay and last night’s visitors Newcastle Blue Star were fielding depleted squads with injuries having taken their toll.
Looking back on the game, Bay manager Jay Bates made reference to those facts and admitted he was content to take a share of the spoils.
“In hindsight it’s a good draw when you look at what we had available today with people working away and some were not well and were struggling a bit at half time with no energy.
“Baxter pulled out this morning and a couple of others pulled out as well so to be fair you’ve seen the numbers. We could only make one sub so for doing that I thought it was a deserved draw. For the first 10 – 15 minutes we started off really well, we moved quick and we’ve got our goal. Then for some bizarre reason we allowed them to get in their rhythm. They’re good footballers, they were pleased that we’ve got a good playing surface because they like to get it down and play football and move people about. I think they were sitting 7th in the league before tonight and have won a few games in a row. You can see why they’re up there, they’re fit young lads who can move the ball about, so to take a 1-1 draw, yes you can say it’s disappointing because we’re at home in front of the fans, but before the game I would have taken it.
“It has been a long season so far, a lot of midweek games, a lot of travelling, but you could see in the second half although the legs were tired, it was a battling performance, not one of them stepped away from it, they dug in to the very end. We’ve come out the first 10 to 15 minutes of the second half and we’ve created good chances, a couple of good shots but then we stepped off but for the last 10 minutes we went back on the front foot and got at them. It was a more open game then and both teams could have won because we were both going for it.
“Football’s not pretty sometimes, but it doesn’t need to be when you get a battling performance like that.”
The injuries allowed two Bay players to make their first starts of the season which Jay found encouraging. “We are down on numbers but it meant I could see more of the two lads that have come in and not just come off the bench. That was the first start for Shane Donaghey and it was the first start for Thomas Wilson.
“Then there was Finlay (Parker). It shows how short we were that we had to sign him on this morning just to make up numbers in the team. He was with us pre-season but then he went back home on leave from Newcastle University, so it was good for him to get out there and you could see what he’s about. He’s got good energy in the middle of the park and he gets himself about.”
