Blues denied by 94th minute strike

Published Date: 10 September 2009

A LAST-gasp equaliser from FC United of Manchester denied a heroic Whitby Town side all three points on Wednesday night.

Blues boss Harry Dunn said despite a strong defensive performance, the draw seemed more like a defeat after FC United buried a 94th minute leveller.

"To be fair to them, they had an awful lot of pressure most of the second half, we defended manfully but couldn't defend the last corner, they scored, we kicked off again and the final whistle blew," said Dunn.

"We went 1-0 up through Jimmy Beadle and both Karl Charlton and Ryan Blott had chances but didn't put them away and a second would have finished the game.

"We were disappointed not to hang on."

In front a crowd of 1,716 at Bury's football league ground Gigg Lane, the Blues went in front on 66 minutes when Beadle's powerful drive was deflected past FC keeper Sam Ashton.

Town looked set to earn a precious away win but were undone when FC United substitute Jerome Wright let fly with a left-footed shot from the left wing that crept inside the near post.

Until then, Whitby were on course for their first win in three games, having defended brilliantly against an onslaught from the highly-rated home team.

Whitby could have even added a second with 20 minutes to go when Charlton broke free in the final third, but stroked a shot just wide of the post.

The referee added on five minutes after a Ben Deegan challenge on Town's Denny Ingram led to a 22-man confrontation in the middle of the park. United made full use of stoppage time, pressing the Whitby goal and finding the breakthrough with Wright's clever finish

FC United 1 Whitby Town 1