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Tuesday 24th September 2002 - Whitby Town 3-1 Frickley Athletic

After their recent improvement, the Blues were brought back down to earth after giving a relatively poor performance to go down 3-1 at Whitby Town. The Blues were without the services of the injured Paul Marquis but Antony Jackson returned after serving his suspension. The only other changes to the side saw Lee Morris partner Andy Evans up front in place of Paul Burke and Mark Samways return in goal.

The Blues had a good chance to take the lead after just 45 seconds when Mark Hancock sent over a cross from the right and Evans managed to outjump his marker at the near post but his header from 6 yards went over the bar. The home side were soon creating chances of their own with Samways saving a long range shot from Rand at the second attempt before Hancock forced Whitby keeper Dowell to save his curling 35 yard free-kick on 4 minutes. Just seconds later Samways was forced to make a double save as Reid broke down the right and shot across Samways on ly for the keeper to block the shot and then manage to save the follow-up header from Zoll. The home side began to dictate the play and took the lead on 12 minutes. The referee failed to spot a handball on the edge of the Blues' box as Whitby played the ball around well before Reid broke well down the Whitby right to send over a dangerous cross which Gildea knocked in from close range. It took the Blues around ten minutes to mount another serious attack but when they did Evans' played the ball in to Scott Kerr who was harshly adjudged to have have fouled his marker as he got past him into the box. On 26 minutes, and not for the first time, Evans was fouled just outside the box. Chris Gowen stepped up to take the free-kick which beat Dowell but clipped the top of the crossbar. Minutes later Evans went close when his close range header was well saved at the foot of the post. On the half hour mark Whitby went close to increasing their lead when Wilford's miss-hit shot beat Samways but Gowen was handily placed to clear off the line. The home side pushed strongly on the run up to half time with Samways pushing away a 20 yarder from Gildea whilst on 34 minutes Samways pulled off a great save to again deny Gildea as he somehow scurried from near to far post to block Gildea's shot as he looked odds-on to tap into an empty net. Then on 41 minutes he pulled of another good save to turn away a close range header from a corner.

Within ten minutes of the restart Lee Morris went close with a floated shot from a tight angle which beat Dowell but drifted wide of the right hand post but on 64 minutes the home side scored their second. A long kick upfield by Dowell was seized on by Wilford who shot under Samways from the edge of the box. Phil Sharpe then made a double substitution, replacing Morris with Burke and Ryan Williams with Duncan Milligan, which released Hancock from right full-back into a midfield role. Samways was then lucky to get away with a poor clearance which ricocheted off the head of Zoll across the pitch towards Campbell who had an open goal to aim at, albeit from around 35 yards out, but Jon Wordsworth made a brilliant saving tackle before he had time to shoot. On 75 minutes Evans headed straight at Dowell from a Hancock free-kick on the right whilst on 85 minutes Burke flicked on Gowen's free-kick to Evans whose close range shot was well blocked for a corner by Dowell. From the corner BURKE headed in from close range but any hopes of a revival were quashed two minutes later when Wilford cut in from the left along the edge of the box before shooting past Samways into the bottom left hand corner.

Frickley Athletic : Samways, Hemstock (Marsh 89), Gowen, Elkin, Wordsworth, Jackson, Hancock, Kerr, Evans, Morris (Burke 65), Williams (Milligan 65).  

Attendance : 275   

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