Report by Julian Tyley
Unsurprisingly, ‘disappointment’ was the initial reaction of Whitley Bay manager Jay Bates to his side’s defeat to local rivals North Shields.
“I don’t think any team deserved to win that one, obviously they’ve won 1-0 but it’s a mistake on our behalf and it’s an easy mistake that should have been rectified. Other than that, there wasn’t much in the game from both teams. It was a Boxing Day game that didn’t have the spark, it seemed like too many people had enjoyed their Christmas a bit too much. We’ll go back and look at things on the video but we’ve just got to put it to bed, move on now and look forward to the Senior Cup against them and obviously the next league games (starting on Saturday at home to Marske United).
“I think it’s one of them days when we haven’t turned up and we got out of it what we deserved which was nothing. Neither goalkeeper had a good save to make today. It was a mistake that won it and that was it.”
There was a scare for Whitley right at the start of the game as Jay explained. “First minute, there was a ball played back to Mauro. It’s got stuck under his foot and fortunately for us the attacker didn’t read that. The pitch wasn’t the best today but it was the same for both teams so you can’t blame the pitch.
“There was a lot said at half time about commitment and energy and in the first ten minutes of the second half Alfie’s hit the underside of the bar. If that goes in it’s a different game. After that they sat in and just made it a dog fight and that’s what it was second half. After the first 10 to 15 minutes it didn’t look like any team was going to score.
Commenting on the huge crowd, which led to a delayed kick off in order to get everyone into the ground Jay added “That was a fantastic crowd, 1600 plus, but the lads should expect a big crowd. It just wasn’t the game everyone thought it was going to be, was it?”
The previous weekend, several players were unavailable for the game at Newcastle Benfield but that was not the situation on this occasion. “It wasn’t for the lack of players available, we had enough players. It just looked lack-lustre. As a I said at half time it wasn’t what a Whitley Bay performance should be, especially in a derby.”
Looking ahead to the second half of the season and with the team currently sitting third in the table, Jay emphasised “Our main priority apart from the FA Vase, was to get up in the play offs at the end of the season and if you look at the Senior Cup there’s a nice draw against North Shields and the winner of that one could get a good semi-final draw. We’re still in the League Cup against Horden away, so there’s still things to play for in the new year so hopefully we’ll still get the crowd behind us, coming along to support the lads. The good thing about football is the next opportunity and the next for us is to focus on the league and the Senior Cup.”
