FC United of Manchester beat the blues of Whitby

Published Date: 01 September 2008

By Andrew Snaith

WHITBY Town's slump continued after a fifth straight defeat, this time at the hands of new boys FC United on Saturday.

The result leaves the Blues struggling at the bottom of the table.

The club formed by Manchester United followers angered by the Glazer takeover three years ago were indebted to a farcical second goal which changed the game after Whitby had enjoyed the better of the early exchanges.

The Blues recalled ex-boss Lee Nogan to the side, with Kevin Burgess returning from injury and new signing Jimmy Beadle handed a debut.

Town began well in front of more than 2,000 supporters at League Two Bury's Gigg Lane, the current home ground of FC United.

However, a number of corners came to nothing, and from their first real attack, United found themselves ahead on 12 minutes. It was neat and well rehearsed as the men in red zipped the ball in quick triangles around Town's defence, but Mark Tinkler and Ashley Lyth were left flat-footed as Kyle Wilson nipped in to slot past keeper Ben Escritt from close range.

Alex Janes headed down accurately but too close to United keeper Sam Ashton from a right-wing free-kick after arriving at the far post – but continued pressure finally brought a Whitby equaliser just after the half hour.

Skipper Tony Hackworth raced onto a through ball and forced his way to the right edge of the United box where his early shot deflected off the boot of a covering defender, looped over Ashton and into the top-left corner of the net.

But just to typify the Blues' season so far, makeshift defender Tinkler pulled up with a leg injury four minutes later, and limped off, to be replaced by Richard Forster.

And Town were lucky not to go in at the break with a deficit when a minute before half-time, Wilson marginally beat the offside trap but fired straight at Escritt when one-on-one with the gloveman.

Whitby began the second half strongly and Hackworth again strode clear but saw his unconvincing angled drive charged down by a backtracking defender.

Burgess struck an optimistic 25-yard effort which Ashton caught comfortably and cleared to the other end where United almost re-took the lead. A corner was forced and the set piece was headed goalwards by Simon Carden, only for a blue head to divert it off his own goal-line.

The Lancastrians kept up the pressure but were handed an enormous slice of luck on 66 minutes.

Carlos Roca twisted and turned by the touchline on the right flank, 12 yards from goal. Shadowed by Alex Janes, the United sub slipped as he tried another stepover, but found the nearby linesman flagging for a free-kick, much to the disbelief of both sets of fans, plus Janes.

Roca then got up to curl the free-kick into the Town box where Carden's header was blocked on the line, only for Wilson to nod home from point blank range.

The former Skelmersdale man then hammered the final nail in the Town coffin just two minutes later.

This time there were no officials to blame as the Blues' defence parted like the Red Sea, leaving Wilson to complete his hat-trick.

Whitby should have pulled a goal back with nine minutes remaining.
A terrible error from United captain Dave Chadwick saw him gift the ball to Tom Raw inside the Reds' penalty area, but he hesitated and Chadwick got back to block.

More misfortune struck for the visitors seconds later when Ashley Lyth clashed heads with Carden, and collapsed to the ground unconscious. Luckily, nearby players reacted quickly to place the Whitby defender in the recovery position, but he was stretchered from the field still out cold, and with all three changes made, Town had to continue the match with only 10 men.

However, with Garvie tricking his way down the right flank frequently, the Blues had one more gilt-edged chance deep into injury time.

Again it fell to Raw as he collected Danny Brunskill's long ball over the top, but when one-on-one with the stranded Ashton on the edge of the area, the striker chipped straight into the United stopper's hands.

Whitby: Escritt, Burgess, Janes (Garvie 69), Lyth, Tinkler (Forster 35), Nogan (Brunskill 76), Huggins, Beadle, Raw, Hackworth, Charlton. Subs not used: Ledgeway, Brumwell. Attendance: 2,071


Result: FC United of Manchester 3 Whitby Town 1