Official Frickley Athletic Website 

In wet and tricky conditions the Blues suffered a heavy home defeat against a lively Whitby side. Steve Richards' plans were thrown into chaos before kick off by the non-arrival of Mark Tyrell and Chris Gowen so Richard Bashforth was brought in at left wing-back with Gary Duffty coming in on the right. Paul Foot was relegated to the subs bench.

It could have been a different story as Frickley missed a good chance to take the lead early on. Simon Collins sent over a cross from the left which Pitts was forced to head over his own bar and from the corner Collins headed back across goal but Graham Lewis just failed to get the vital touch needed to direct the ball into the goal. Two minutes later Ure beat Wilkinson in a race to a long ball and lobbed goalwards but it bounced wide of the left hand post. The Blues were starting to look stretched at the back as the back three of Ogley, Jones and Price were repeatedly left on their own against a Whitby side who broke with pace. On 21 minutes Robinson put a 25 yarder wide of the right hand post but five minutes later the visitors took the lead with Dawson seizing on some sloppy midfield play by the Blues to unleash a curling 25 yard shot which, with Wilkinson slightly off his line, hit the underside of the bar and bounced over the line. This gave the visitors confidence and with their next serious attack ten minutes later they added a second when a free-kick from the right was glanced over the advancing Wilkinson and dropped just inside the far post. Savic then had a good chance for the Blues as Bernard played him in but he took too long, allowing a Whitby defender to block his effort. Then, on the stroke of half time Whitby added a third. From a Blues attack Whitby sent the ball quickly out of defence to Gildear on half way. He evaded Price's challenge and bore down on goal. Wilkinson managed to half block his shot but Gildear carried on running to turn the ball in from about a yard out, despite Jones' attempts to block him.

Half time saw Paul Foot replace Richard Bashforth in the defence with Price moving further forward and Collins moving out to the left but this still left the back three isolated every time Whitby broke forward. The Blues first real effort of the second half saw them rather unfortunate not to pull a goal back. Collins picked out second substitute Carl Fothergill on the left and he cut inside before finding Duffty on the right hand corner of the box. His cross was cleared only as far as Rob Hanby who hit a low, first time volley from 20yards which had Mohan rooted to the spot but Hanby was unlucky enough to see his effort blocked by a Blues player, possibly Bernard. The ball came back to him but this time he fired over the bar. Duffty then sent over another cross from the right which Hanby knocked back to Lewis just inside the box but his shot was charged down. However, the Blues did manage to pull a goal back on 79 minutes. Lewis picked out Collins on the left and he played the ball in to Bernard who in turn fed FOTHERGILL. He turned and fired a low shot into the left hand corner. The joy was to be short lived as within 2 minutes Whitby sub Booth shrugged off Ogley's challenge on the edge of the box to score from 18 yards. On 85 minutes Duffty found Price in space some 20 yards out and he hit a first time shot which Mohan did well to hold on to in the conditions whilst on 88 minutes Mohan pulled off a great save to deny Foot from point blank range.

Frickley Athletic : Mark Wilkinson, Hanby, Bashforth (Foot 45), Collins, Ogley, Jones, Lewis, Price, Savic (Fothergill 55), Bernard, Duffty. Unused sub. Gregory

Whitby Town : Mohan, Dawson, Logan, Pitts, Dixon, G. Williams, Haddon, Veart, Robinson, Ure, Gildear. Subs Dillelio, I. Williams, Both

Attendance : 243