Winsford United 0 Whitby Town 2

UniBond Premier

By Nick Smith

THIS match had a distinct end-of-season feel to it, and for some of Winsford United's team it probably was.

The fact that the Blues only managed two shots in the whole game is immaterial, because, as manager for the day Steev Saughnessy admitted later, it was clear their minds weren't on winning a football match.

Departed manager Dalton Steele had two glorious moments at Whitby Town during his time at Winsford. A 4-1 win in the FA Cup in September 1997 and a thrilling 2-1 league win a year later. It's a shame Winsford couldn't repay the travelling supporters with a similar sense of occasion.

Without Steele's customary touchline hysteria to wind them up, the Blues players at times looked like lost schoolboys in their own playground.

Then when you see one of the club's best players running on and acting as the physio you know you're short-staffed.

But you're not going to get any sympathy from the UniBond Premier's top scoreers and Paul Pitman, who has scored almost 400 goals for the club, was always going to get one, simply because he had so many chances.

Full back Paul Stoutt was denied by a sprawling John Bagnall in the first minutes and the tone of the game was set. A quarter of an hour later, Pitman had his first sniff of goal when he pounced on Talbot's slip but could only scoop his shot over the bar.

The inevitable first goal arrived on 29 minutes, when Ben Dixon steamed in to nod home a corner and only Bagnall's agility prevented Pitman making it two a minute later.

Gary Thomas made the half-time tea taste a little sweeter with Winsford's first shot on goal, but his first-time volley from Shaughnessy's cross flew over.

Pitman was clear twice more in the second half, screwing one shot wide and being denied by Bagnalls fingertips for the other.

The omnipresent keeper then made a great double save, scrambling back to his line to scoop the ball away from the feet of the onrushing Carl Chillingsworth, who himself came close with a volley agaoinst the post.

But Pitman tapped in a far post cross from Kenny Goodrigg after 74 minutes, to finally get his name on the scoresheet and secure a 2-0 win - on the day, no more than a mere statistic.

Winsford: Bagnall, Wheeler, Harris, Hibbert, Talbot, Jones (sub Bridge 80), Thomas, Lambert, Shaughnessy, Steele, Hussin

Whitby: Kelly, Stoutt, Logan, Goodchild, Waller, Dixon, Goodrigg, Borthwick, Chillingsworth, Toman (Cooke 17 (Haddon 87)), Pitman

Attendance:175

Man of the Match: John Bagnall

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.