Interview by Julian Tyley
One of Whitley’s outstanding players throughout the season has been goalkeeper Mauro Asikaogu and it was his save from the 14th penalty of the shoot-out that sealed victory and brought the Newcastle Flooring Company sponsored Northumberland Senior Cup back to Hillheads for a 13th time, but the first since 2010.
During the post-match celebrations, he gave his thoughts at the end of his first season at the club, where he has missed just one game through injury and has become a favourite with the fans.
“Yes, it’s been a really good season. I’ve enjoyed it. We’ve got some great players here."
Referring to the play-off semi final, he said “It was a bit disappointing two weeks ago but we’ve made up for it tonight.”
The hand injury he picked up earlier in April looked like it might have ended his season but he explained “I got lucky with that one. I thought I was going to miss the next few games but it wasn’t as serious as I thought it would be so I only missed one game.”
How did he feel about the responsibility of facing penalties to decide the Final on the St James’ Park stage? “When it came to the penalties I was alright, I was confident of doing the job.”
Did he have an idea where the penalties were going to be placed or was it just guess work which way to dive?
“It was a bit of both actually, I was looking at them as they came up to take it to get a clue, and it was a bit of guessing as well.”
What about saving that last penalty that won the Cup? “It was a great feeling. Yes I was over the moon, it was not just for myself but for everyone else. We’ve done so much hard work for it.”
The fantastic support from the fans, including so many youngsters didn’t go unnoticed either. “Yes all the fans, their noise, they were great. It’s a nice feeling, they’re coming in their numbers so I’m delighted.”
