Report by Julian Tyley
Jay Bates was a very satisfied Bay manager after watching his side record a 4-0 victory over Tow Law at Ironworks Road on Saturday.
“We knew it was going to be tough coming here, they’ve just come off a 6-1 win against West Allotment so their confidence would have been high. So we’ve had to come here and challenge them and match them for their work rate and aggression, which we did. Then once we’d done that we got it down and played our football like we try and do every week and it was good, with Callum Larmouth scoring a hat trick on his birthday, so it was nice to come down here and get the three points but most important get the two strikers scoring, Mackenzie and Callum.”
It was not by any means a straightforward victory and the home side had the better of the opening stages. “I think the first 10 – 15 minutes they harassed us, they picked up a lot of second balls and they got it down, played football and they were positive up front and they gambled. At one point they had four up front and were on the front foot which is good. We like that as well because sometimes we can be a counter-attacking team so when they’re out of position we can get at them.
“After the 15 minutes I thought we got it down and played some nice football. We scored two goals but in that phase as well Alfa hit the post and another chance that was saved, so yes we deserved the two after that.”
Jay was delighted with the quality of Callum Larmouth’s finishing which earned him his first hat trick of the season. “It’s what Cal does, he was played through by George over the top and I think he’s played it with the outside of his boot around the keeper and it was a great finish for his first one. The second one, the free kick, the keeper says he didn’t see it but the power behind it, it went straight past him so fair play to Callum.
“Everyone’s going to have a spell, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing against. Every team’s going to have a 10-15 minute spell and you cannot always have the possession, teams will get on a high and they’ll get a bit of flow into their system. We can be a slow starting team. When we start fast we play really well but when we start slow it can take 10 to 15 minutes then we ease our way into the game and that’s what happened today. We were playing really well and if there wasn’t a half time I think it would have been a comfortable 6, 7 but the half time came and gave them a bit of hope.”
Jay said he could tell that the Tow Law players had stern words from their management at the interval. “Obviously they were going to come out and give a little bit extra second half which is what they did.”
As well as Callum Larmouth, Mackenzie Sharpe came in for special praise from his manager. “It’s not all about scoring goals at our team, Mackenzie holds it up well, he harasses defenders, his work rate is second to none, he chases back, he wins a lot of aerial battles, he gives defenders a hard time, but it was nice for him to get a goal today. He’s been low on confidence with not scoring goals. He said to me last week that he’s never had a goal drought before and was finding it a bit difficult, so it’s nice for him to get a goal today.”
Defensively Whitley were strong and they need to be to keep a clean sheet against a side that kept going to the end. “The back four, George dropped back in and Scott’s now starting to get a lot fitter with his injury clearing up so he’s looking a lot sharper. Robbie’s starting to get his confidence back as well. I think their left winger was their best player to be fair so it was a tough game for George but when Josh goes out at right back it just steadies the ship. You can play Josh there as well as centre half or centre midfield.”
Referring to the notorious sloping pitch at Tow Law, Jay commented “You saw I think in the second half on that slope one ball looked like it was going out for a throw but went out for a corner. You get the advantage, you get the disadvantage, it is what it is but you’ve got to come to games like this. You know what to expect when you come to Tow Law. It’s going to be a battle but I think we still tried to play football on that pitch and that was a bright note for myself, that’s the way I want us to play.”
