Interview by Julian Tyley
Whitley Bay striker Mackenzie Sharpe got the only goal of the game against Horden CW and was clearly delighted to find the target in the 88th minute after failing to put away a whole host of earlier chances, especially during the first half.
“I feel like we dominated the first half but just couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net but I’m happy to come away with three points.”
Sharpe, who has now scored 21 goals in all competitions this season, could count himself unlucky not to have given Whitley an early lead when his shot into the roof of the net after just six minutes was ruled out when he was flagged offside despite appearing to many in the ground to have broken forward from an onside position.
“I don’t think I was offside, but once the official gives it, it is what it is”.
He then mentioned a significant incident during a break in play the second half. “I went over to the management at the side to get a drink and Rizza said ‘we’re going to get one here’ and as a player on the pitch and a forward you’ve still got to believe you’re going to get a chance and score, and thankfully we’ve finally got one and took it.”
Describing his feeling of relief at the moment he scored, he said “I was thrilled when I saw it hit the back of the net”
“The thing is, you get in your own head as a forward when you’re having chances and not scoring them. I must have had about 12 chances in the first half and I missed them all and like I said it can get in your head. However you’ve just got to stay focused and think you’ll score the next one.
“We had a lot of energy in the first half especially; we absolutely dominated them! I don’t think they had a shot on goal. But again once you’ve given that energy and you’re having that many chances it is a question of ‘Is it going to happen?’
Up against a goalkeeper of the quality of Robert Dean is a challenge for any striker. “He’s a big lad and he fills out the goal. He’s a good keeper, he’s experienced and he knows what he’s doing.”
Looking ahead to the final few weeks of the season, Mackenzie emphasised “ We want third, we want the home draw, so we’ve just got to keep pushing. We said at the start of the season that we wanted the play offs and obviously we had an electric start so we were thinking maybes we could win it, but I feel the pitches didn’t give us an advantage when it was boggy. It doesn’t really suit our style of play but now they’re better, the weather’s better and I feel like we’re starting to play the ball around on the pitch again.”
