Report by Julian Tyley
After a two week enforced absence because of the wet weather, Whitley were back in action at Hillheads, recording a 1-0 victory over Penrith, but as manager Jay Bates pointed out, there could have been far more goals given the chances created at both ends.
“I think we could have been 2-0 up in the first ten minutes but sitters were missed. Then again they had at least a couple of chances as well. We could have been 6-3 up at half time! Going out in the second half we were a little bit against the wind we held on to the 1-0 lead and you could see in the second half we were battling away, that’s what the rest of game was.
Alfie Livermore got the crucial winning goal on the half hour and the manager was quick to share out the plaudits. “For the goal, give credit to Macca (Mackenzie Sharpe) for the link up play. He’s just dummied the ball and let it go through to Alfie and it’s a great finish on his left foot. They’ve done that in the past when they were at West Allotment.”
Livermore had another chance just before the interval and the boss joked “He’s tried to lob a 6 ft 7 keeper on his line! But we’ll forgive him that one as he’s scored one previously!”
The heavy conditions following all the recent rain meant adapting the style of play. “We’re quite a footballing team, we like to bring the ball down and play it so these kind of pitches make it into a bit of a battle.” The players have been training hard despite the games being called off. “We’ve got no excuses, we’ve been out there, we’ve been doing a lot of training. A few of them were getting a bit of massaging before the game because of the running which was perhaps a little too hard on Thursday.”
Now just past the halfway stage of the season Whitley are third in the table, the win taking them up one place. “We’ve got to keep in touching distance and hope Guisborough and Shildon slip up. We’ve got them both to play. We’ve got Guisborough at home and Shildon away on their 4G which should suit us, so yes we’ve got to keep in and around them, push and challenge them hopefully and see where we are at the end of the season. But what we always said was the ambition this season was to be in the play offs, so we’re doing what we said we would to do.”
