FC United grab late victory at Whitby Town
Debutant Kyle Hawley came off the bench to score a late winner at Whitby Town on Saturday afternoon as FC United won their seventh consecutive match in the Bet Victor Northern Premier Division.
The 2-1 victory means that the Reds remain in fourth place but they will leapfrog Lancaster City and Basford United if they win one of their games in hand. Leaders South Shields have stayed seven points ahead by beating Lancaster.
The Reds bounced back after last week’s FA Trophy defeat at Barrow with a hard fought and well deserved victory on the North Yorkshire coast. They are now unbeaten in 10 league matches.
The game started slowly with both sides struggling on a pitch that at its best resembled a chewed up and spat out crinkle cut crisp. FC seemed to adapt the quickest, Adam Dodd putting in a dangerous cross that Alex Curran just couldn’t quite make contact with. Whitby had a chance on 12 minutes when the dangerous Paul Blackett lobbed a shot over the bar.
Just before the half hour mark there was controversy when Tunde Owolabi chased a through ball. He was nudged by Kieran Weledji into keeper Shane Bland who went down. Players from both teams came together and in the end the referee gave cards to Owolabi and Regan Linney from FC with just Weledji having his name taken for the home side.
The second half started with more controversy when on 49 minutes Owolabi nipped in ahead of Weledji and looked to be clean through on goal. His run was checked by a high foot from the Whitby defender who saw red for his troubles. Three minutes later FC United took the lead when Dodd crossed for Curran to power a header home.
The red card seemed to galvanise the home side and Blackett almost took advantage from a slip from Lewis Lacy but fired wide. However, the scores were level on 66 minutes when Blackett again got in and was adjusted to have been nudged by Lacy for the softest penalty you will ever see.
Blackett dusted himself off and blasted the spot-kick past Cameron Belford. With 12 minutes left Belford and Blackett were in action again, the keeper tipping a long shot past the post.
With time looking like it was going to run out, substitute Charlie Ennis crossed to the far post where Morecambe loanee, Hawley tapped the ball into the net for the winning goal on his debut.
Report by Steven Wood
Website man of the match: Alex Curran. Ran the game on a difficult pitch and scored the goal that his performance deserved.
The 2-1 victory means that the Reds remain in fourth place but they will leapfrog Lancaster City and Basford United if they win one of their games in hand. Leaders South Shields have stayed seven points ahead by beating Lancaster.
The Reds bounced back after last week’s FA Trophy defeat at Barrow with a hard fought and well deserved victory on the North Yorkshire coast. They are now unbeaten in 10 league matches.
The game started slowly with both sides struggling on a pitch that at its best resembled a chewed up and spat out crinkle cut crisp. FC seemed to adapt the quickest, Adam Dodd putting in a dangerous cross that Alex Curran just couldn’t quite make contact with. Whitby had a chance on 12 minutes when the dangerous Paul Blackett lobbed a shot over the bar.
Just before the half hour mark there was controversy when Tunde Owolabi chased a through ball. He was nudged by Kieran Weledji into keeper Shane Bland who went down. Players from both teams came together and in the end the referee gave cards to Owolabi and Regan Linney from FC with just Weledji having his name taken for the home side.
The second half started with more controversy when on 49 minutes Owolabi nipped in ahead of Weledji and looked to be clean through on goal. His run was checked by a high foot from the Whitby defender who saw red for his troubles. Three minutes later FC United took the lead when Dodd crossed for Curran to power a header home.
The red card seemed to galvanise the home side and Blackett almost took advantage from a slip from Lewis Lacy but fired wide. However, the scores were level on 66 minutes when Blackett again got in and was adjusted to have been nudged by Lacy for the softest penalty you will ever see.
Blackett dusted himself off and blasted the spot-kick past Cameron Belford. With 12 minutes left Belford and Blackett were in action again, the keeper tipping a long shot past the post.
With time looking like it was going to run out, substitute Charlie Ennis crossed to the far post where Morecambe loanee, Hawley tapped the ball into the net for the winning goal on his debut.
Report by Steven Wood
Website man of the match: Alex Curran. Ran the game on a difficult pitch and scored the goal that his performance deserved.
First Posted ~ 13:19 Sun 19 Jan 2020
News ID ~ 8616
Last Updated ~ 22:45 Thu 4 Feb 2021