Interview by Julian Tyley
Whitley Bay manager Jay Bates felt his side had done enough to take more than a single point from their trip to Kendal on Friday.
“If you’d asked before the game, I’d have been happy with a draw, coming down on a Friday night to Kendal. I know they’re not having the best of starts in the league - we’re not either - but when we’ve come off the pitch the lads were disappointed. I think we earned more than a draw but we’ll take it, dust ourselves off and go again on Tuesday.”
The 1-1 draw maintained Whitley’s unbeaten record against the Mintcakes since they were moved to the Northern League three years ago.
With the game switched to a Friday night because of Kendal’s Westmorland Senior Cup commitments, fewer than normal Bay supporters made the long trip but those who were there witnessed an entertaining game which could have gone either way.
“I think we started brightly, had a couple of opportunities but didn’t take them. The final third was lacking in the first half. Their goal was against the run of play. a corner set piece. They took advantage of that and scored at the near post and then nearly got a second one. To be fair the lad’s free at the back and there’s a block on the line but after that, the last 15 minutes of the first half, I think we dominated the game, got ourselves back on the front foot and created a couple of chances but they just didn’t go in the back of the net.”
Whitley’s equaliser came very early in the second half. Jay explained that Jack Errington played a long ball up the centre of the field, ”it’s taken a bounce over the defender’s head, Macca, (Mackenzie Sharpe) has flicked it around to Alfie Livermore and he’s blasted with his left foot into the bottom corner. It was a good finish, something we talked about, areas we could improve in the second half and get balls in behind their back three.”
Jay acknowledged that the goal came at an important stage. “It did. I think we put them under a lot of pressure to be honest, we kept the ball well, retained it well. The final third again it wasn’t quite clicking at the right time, but to be fair to the keeper he’s made a couple of great saves. One from Jamie Storey when he clipped it onto the bar and then when Macca’s come through, hit it with his right foot and it’s taken a little deflection which took a bit of pace off it. A couple of times the keeper’s done well with long distance shots He’s parried it into right areas. He did have a good game.
“You’ve seen how hard it was for them to adapt to our formation. We played a 4-4-2 diamond and I think they struggled to cope with it in the first half. We kept the ball quite well and they were a bit lost in the middle of the park. I thought we had a lot of the ball and when we lost the ball we pressed well and won it back in key areas. Since last week we’ve changed up a little bit with personnel, went 4-4-2. A couple of people on the bench were disappointed they weren’t starting but I think when they’ve come on, you could see it, Nathan with his energy levels, he had to come on for Luca who took a hamstring injury, but the difference from Saturday to tonight, you could see it. It was much better.
“Now we’ve got two home games to look forward to. Whickham on Tuesday then Easington on Saturday. We know what Easington are about. They’re sitting second in the league, their manager Olly Hotchkiss has done very well. We know what they’re about. We’ve played them twice in the FA Cup this season”
