Whitby Town 1 v 2 York City (Pre-Season Friendly)
Whitby Town returned to the Towbar Express Stadium for the second home pre-season friendly of the season against former Football League side York City, following their nine nill victory over Fishburn Park in the inaugural Whitby Town Community Cup.
Whitby Town were the better side in the first-half controlling the speed of the match with some excellent possession of the ball, whilst mixing up the passing with some long balls over the York City defence and some well timed one and two touch passing through the midfield. The only thing that was missing from both sides in the opening fifteen minutes were some efforts at goal, the only real effort came on six minutes when Brad Fewster headed just wide from close range following a good ball in from Jacob Hazel.
On twelve minutes, the home side thought they should have been awarded a penalty as Jameel Ible looked to have been brought down inside the area. But despite the appeals from the Whitby Town players, referee Matthew Dicicco disagreed and allowed play to continue as the visitors cleared the ball to safety.
York City started to come into the game midway through the first-half when they had their first real attempt of the game dropped to eighteen year old Jack Degruchy. Having been played in after a smart passing move on the right-hand side of the box, he fired a right footed shot from the edge of the six yard box which was pushed away by Shane Bland in the Whitby Town goal for a corner.
A minute later, the home side broke on the counter attack and the ball found it’s way to Jacob Hazel, his shot from the right-hand side of the area beat goalkeeper Peter Jameson only to see the ball cleared off the line. Just four minutes later, the action was back at the other end of the pitch as trialist B for York City picked up the ball in the centre of the park and drove forward before firing a shot just wide of the target from 25-yards.
The best chance of the half fell to Jason Gilchrist after Whitby goalkeeper Shane Bland lost the ball on the edge of the box, which was crossed into the area were former South Shields player Gilchrist who was in a excellent position six yards out, but he managed to put his header wide under pressure from the Whitby Town defence.
York City won a free-kick on thirty-nine minutes around five yards outside the Whitby area which was taken by Sean Newton, but once again the Whitby Town keeper Shane Bland got down to his left-hand post and made another excellent save.
Whitby Town then went close on forty-three minutes as Lewis Hawkins’ long-range effort is saved by visiting goalkeeper Peter Jameson. He quickly played the ball out to the York City left-wing as the visitors won a free-kick just outside the Whitby area as looked to go ahead before half-time.
On forty-four minutes, the home side took the lead when a York City free-kick was cleared by James Martin who found Jacob Hazel on the half-way line, his diagonal ball found Brad Fewster on the left-hand side of the pitch about twenty-five yards from goal, Fewster then fired an outstanding effort into the top corner to give Whitby Town a 1-0 half-time lead.
Whitby Town joint managers Lee Bullock and Nathan Haslam will have been pleased with their sides performance in the first-half, the home side did make three changes during the interval. Whilst the visitors made ten changes leaving just goalkeeper Peter Jameson on the field for the second-half.
On fifty-two minutes, the visitor should have drawn level as substitute and experienced Football league striker Clayton Donaldson broke the offside trap and found himself clean through on goal. However, his tame effort on goal was hit straight at Shane Bland.
Whitby Town then went close twice in the space of two minutes, the first effort fell to Brad Fewster who collected the ball wide on the left before cutting into towards the York City area and from the edge of the box he let fly with a shot into that hit the side netting with visiting goalkeeper Peter Jameson well beaten. Just two minutes later, Lewis Hawkins called visiting keeper Jameson into action again but his shot is comfortably held.
York City drew level on seventy-six minutes, as the visitors were awarded a free-kick just outside the area on the right-hand side when trialist fired a free-kick beyond Shane Bland.
York City took the lead on eighty-six minutes, when former Bradford City striker Clayton Donaldson collected the ball just inside the Whitby Town area before turning his defender and firing a low curling shot into the bottom corner of the goal. York City proved to strong for their hosts in the final fifteen minutes of the match and Donaldson’s goal proved to be the winning effort as York City won the match 1-2.
Whitby Town will continue their pre-season programme with an away fixture at Northern Premier League (East) side Hebburn Town on Tuesday evening, before travelling up the coast at the weekend to face Northern Football League Division One side Whitley Bay.
Match Details
Whitby Town – Bland, Trialist A, Martin, Rowe, Ritson, Ible, Suddick, Hawkins, Fewster, Hazel, Shepherd (Subs) Trialist B, Burn, Cooke, Trialist C, Giles
York City – Jameson, Newton, Brown, Dyson, Trialist A, Gilchrist, Trialist B, Trialist C, Degruchy, Tralist D, Haase (Subs) Duckworth, Trialist E, Barrow, Wright, Trialist F, King, McLaughlin, Trialist G, Donaldson
Goals – (Whitby Town) Fewster (44), (York City) Trialist (76), Donaldson (86)
Attendance – 500
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