Staveley Miners Welfare made the long trip to the seaside to
face arguably the best side in the Northern Counties East League Bridlington
Town who over the last ten years have consistently been in the top six and have
won the title twice.
The Trojans made a number of enforced changes with Greg
Fitzpatrick following some excellent performances for the clubs 100% for the
season so far Under 21 side (including a recent hattrick) making his first team
debut at left back. Charlie Oglesby moving from that full back position into
the centre of defence in place of the unavailable Richard Mintoft and at right
back Ross Goodwin playing in an unfamiliar role to cover for the absence of
Chris Baugh.
Luke Walker made his starting debut in his second spell at
the club out on the right side of midfield replacing Adam Scott who was on the
bench following illness.
Staveley kicked off towards the gasholders on a pitch that
has had a vast number of games on it recently (Scarborough Athletic also play
on it) and was far from ideal and almost certainly contributed to the scrappy
feel of pretty much the entire game.
Queensgate has not been a happy hunting ground of late but
Staveley started brightly enough with Steve Carty exchanging passes with Jamie
Brown out left to release Ashley Rawson into space but his ball forward held up
in the bitterly cold breeze that was blowing across the pitch and dropped
nicely for a defender to clear.
With six minutes on the clock Nick Siddons in goal for
Staveley sent Courtney Hastings on a run into the box, he jinked this way and
that to shake off his marker Danny Brunton and found just enough space to
unleash a right footed shot across the home sides keeper, James Hitchcock who
dived to his right to cover it as it crept narrowly wide.
Jamie Brown pretty much had the left hand side to himself at
this point in the game and after trying a trick to beat right back Paul Wray
which didn’t quite work he took advantage of a brilliantly officiated offside
decision where Kieren Watson was not flagged despite being the wrong side of
the defence because he was not interfering allowing Brown to race on to the
through ball but despite James Hitchcock running out his goal to intercept,
Brown couldn’t find anyone in the box for a simple tap in which to be fair to
him was more down to the pitch than anything else.
Jamie Brown managed to beat Paul Wray two minutes later but
the wind which had thwarted Ash Rawson earlier took his cross out of play, but
it wasn’t all Staveley…
…Will Waudby had earlier given a demonstration of his left
foot by clipping a delightfully weighted freekick over the Staveley defence to
which Danny Brunton just failed to get on the end of and on fifteen minutes he
hit another left footed strike, from the left onto the roof of the Trojan net
but in fairness it was probably a cross and Nick Siddons had it well covered.
Tim Taylor was next to try his luck and he burst through a couple of Staveley
tackles before scuffing a tame effort well wide.
Back came Staveley and Courtney Hastings on twenty five
minutes after wriggling free on the left saw his cross parried by James
Hitchcock into the path of Jamie Brown who looked (from the far end of the
pitch) to have the simplest of tasks to put Staveley into the lead but a
combination of the pitch and covering defenders not only thwarted Brown but
Kieren Watson as well and the chance was lost.
If this report makes the game sound exciting it really wasn’t,
it was a niggly, tight stop start affair which threatened to boil over in the
thirty fifth minute…an over enthusiastic challenge – no more than that from
Greg Fitzpatrick resulted in a freekick for the home side but off the ball
several Bridlington players surrounded Matt Varley claiming that Staveleys
captain had kicked out as he picked himself up of the field following a
challenge when the ball had fell before
the freekick had been given for the Fitzpatrick challenge.
Common sense ensued however much to the derision of the
partisan home supporters when the officials, after a discussion decided that
there was no case for Varley to answer to, a great piece of officiating especially seeing as though the home side had
been dishing it out as well up to this point. Their freekick incidentally came
to nothing.
Bridlington however were imposing themselves more and more
on the game and as halftime approached Andy Norfolk had his shot deflected over
for a corner which came to nothing but back they came and in the forty fifth
minute they took the lead via a Joel Sutton penalty given for a rash challenge
on the edge of the box from Ross Goodwin…although there was a bit of doubt as
to whether it had actually been in the box but it was a decision Staveley would
have been screaming for had it been at the other end so no complaints.
HT: Bridlington 1- 0 Staveley MW
On fifty minutes Luke Walker who had swapped wings with
Jamie Brown set off on a run but was clipped and from the set piece Greg
Fitzpatricks excellent ball into the box landed invitingly for Matt Varley at
the far post but he couldn’t wrap his foot around it and the chance was gone.
Fitzpatricks impressive debut continued and he “fizzed”
another great pass inside full back Paul Wray for Luke Walker to run onto but a
very late flag for offside denied him the opportunity to cross.
Then another moment of controversy erupted when a corner won
after great work from Courtney Hastings
just after the hour was swung over from the far side which went under
the bar and was pushed behind the post and over the line by goal keeper James
Hitchcock but fortunately for him, at least the tautness of the side netting
meant that ball bounced of it and out to safety and the “goal” wasn’t given, a
decision compounded five minutes later when a member of the Bridlington ground
staff came out to attend to the netting.
Although they battled to the end that was as close as
Staveley would get to getting something out of the game and Bridlington secured
the vital points in their quest to win a third league title when a poorly taken
defensive freekick allowed Will Waudby to break clear and used that trusty left
foot again to square for Andy Norfolk to smash home six yards out with fifteen
minutes left.
Full Time: Bridlington 2- 0 Staveley MW
A game that lacked any real quality or flow and but for
three mistakes (the two goals and the goal that never was) had “0-0 written all
over it”.
Staveley had put in a very decent performance against a
resilient and stubborn Bridlington defence and midfield.
Getting men behind the ball, they are difficult to break
down and play very much on the counter but credit to them, unbeaten in 12 games
at any level means business - and they could yet turn up as the surprise late
comers in to the title race, albeit as yet, they are not at the 2 points a game
that normally sets the threshold for silverware.
It will be interesting.
Attendance: 119
SMWFC Line Up: 1.Nick Siddons.2.Ross Goodwin.3.Greg
Fitzpatrick.4.Ash Rawson.5.Matt Varley.6.Charlie Oglesby.7.Luke Walker.8.Steve
Carty.9.Courtney Hastings.10.Kieren Watson.11.Jamie Brown
