Report by Julian Tyley
Whitley Bay manager Jay Bates agreed that it was a case of ‘job done’ as his side came away with a 1-1 draw at Birtley in their final game of the regular league season, with nothing hinging on the outcome. He then added that the most exciting part of the season is about to start.
“Don’t get people injured, that was the priority for today’s game and I think we’ve come through ok. Mikel took a little knock in the warm up but he’ll be alright. It was an end of season game, they’d nothing to play for and we’d already confirmed third place.”
18 year old goalkeeper Aaron Foster was given his debut as Mauro Asikaogu was recovering from an injury he suffered the previous week and it was an ideal opportunity to bring in the young keeper. “It was good for him, I think Aaron did well in goal today, he slotted in perfectly had quite a lot to deal with. They go very direct and long throw ins to the boxes and a lot of crosses so to go in goal for his debut in a Northern League Division Oner team was good for him and obviously it was a great penalty save. He couldn’t hold on in the last minute, but we could have put it to bed before that. I think we had a couple of good chances and then even after we’ve conceded Alfie’s gone up the other end and the keeper’s made a great save. It’s one of them games where the first half was a bore, second half end to end where both teams could have won it.
“There was some good play in the second half. We tried a little bit of formation change in the first half then went back to what we’re more familiar with after half time.”
There was a controversial moment midway through the second half when the hosts appeared very fortunate to keep eleven men on the pitch after Kieren Aplin looked to be elbowed in the face. “It was 100% a red card” said Jay. “The Birtley people were saying it was a red and I don’t know how he (the referee) could see anything other than a red card.”
As for conceding the late equaliser Jay commented “It didn’t matter for me or the club but conceding did matter to Aaron. He obviously wanted a clean sheet and that’s the only reason why it’s a bit disappointing conceding that late on.”
Looking ahead to Tuesday night’s Northumberland Senior Cup semi final at Newcastle Benfield, Jay added “We've still got two people missing in the middle of the park. Jake Forster will still be out injured and Luca is still away so there might be a bit of movement around within the team, we’ll see.”
Then on Saturday it’s the play off semi final at home to West Auckland. “We know all about West Auckland, we’ve played them three times this year and they’ve beaten us three times so we owe them one!
It’s certainly an exciting time for all at the club - players, management and fans - with potentially four knock out games in the next two and a half weeks. Jay summed it up by saying “This season starts now, that’s what I’ve said to the lads. It’s all about recovery so yes, it starts literally from today so let’s see how this next week unfolds.”
