Report by Julian Tyley
Bay assistant manager Barry Rizza highlighted keeping another clean sheet and taking the chances that came their way as crucial elements in Whitley’s 3-0 Isuzu FA Vase victory over Knaresborough Town on a very wet and increasingly windy afternoon at Hillheads.
Giving credit to the Yorkshire visitors he admitted that “spells of the game were very tough. We didn’t know much about them but they’ve come off the bus and started quick and worked hard for each other. We took a quick lead but they had a very good 15 to 20 minute spell before half time so it was important for us to get in at half time one up, regroup and then just kick on from there.”
A good save from Mauro Asikaogu in the closing stages of the first half was followed by a glorious chance for the visitors following a slip by Mikel Thompson but Aaron White put his shot wide when clear on goal. “He had a great chance and should have hit the target but he didn’t. We condensed the middle of the pitch to try and force them out wide. They had the better chances in the first half so we were a bit lucky to go in at 1-0 but it was a good result in the end.
“I think compared to Wednesday night when we didn’t take our chances, today we’ve took our chances in front of goal and scored three well taken goals. We got stronger as the game went on. We had more options; we had a full bench, better options today and it’s just good to have that energy and lads coming on making a difference and fighting for their position in the team for next Saturday.
“It was another clean sheet. A lot of people talk about us just scoring goals but I think we’ve kept 7 maybe 8 clean sheets which is very important to us as a unit and a team so that was good.”
After the nine game winning run came to an end on Wednesday night, Barry was pleased with the response from the squad. “Exactly, good teams deal with losses and come back straightaway so it was important to get that win and go again and try and get another little run going.”
Did he have any preferences in this week’s draw for the First Round Proper? “Probably another home game but we’ll just see what comes out of the hat.”
