Report by Julian Tyley
Whitley were beaten 2-0 at Shildon in a top of the table (2nd v 4th) clash on Saturday and manager Jay Bates had no complaints about the outcome.
“You look at them at home on the 4G. They’re a good footballing team, they’ve won 13 out of 14 games at home now. I think we got taught a footballing lesson off them today, a very good Shildon team. I think they overran us in every department. I can’t remember their goalkeeper making a save and our keeper has made three or four great saves, so yes they deserved their win. I think they’re the best team we’ve played this season.
“Their forwards don’t get involved much, they just wait for the balls to come into the box. The left back is a really good player, his energy levels are high. The two wide men are very quick and direct. The two midfielders are probably the two best in the league so yes, they’ve got a very strong team, especially on this surface, you can see the difference.”
It was a win that took ‘The Railwaymen’ top of the league, overtaking Guisborough, whose game was a victim of the wet weather. Both goals came inside the first 25 minutes and Whitley never recovered from that setback.
“They just surprised us in the first half with the two crosses; the first one Erra’s got beaten in the air and it was a great header by Billy. The second went just under the back post past Mauro and the kid standing on the line’s got it in. We just got caught out of positions, gambled a little bit with Robbie going forward. You cannot allow their right winger space and he got into a few dangerous positions and pulled the ball back and Mauro did well to keep them out.”
Despite being under a good deal of pressure, Whitley did not concede after the break. “Yes we did do alright second half. I think we dealt with the crosses in the second half a lot better. But they deserved that win and it could have been a lot more.”
Looking back on the game as a whole, Jay pointed out the absence of two of his midfielders, Luca Shilling and Jake Forster. “We like to have two in the middle. Meeshi and Luca, but Luca’s been a big miss today and he’s done well while Jakey’s out injured. He gives that bit of energy in there and that’s what we missed at the end of the day.”
Weather permitting, Whitley play their fourth consecutive away game this Saturday when they make the trip to North Yorkshire to take on Northallerton Town.
