Large crowd thrilled as Whitby Town Legends draw 5-5 against Leeds United Legends
A four-figure crowd packed into the Towbar Express Stadium on Sunday afternoon to support Whitby Town Football Club as a side of former Seasiders took to the hallowed turf once again against a strong Leeds United side.
It was an enthralling contest between the two Yorkshire sides, as FA Vase winning goalkeeper David Campbell captained Whitby Town, while Carlton Palmer skippered for the Leeds United side.
Making up the star-studded Whitby squad were the likes of Kevin Burgess, Danny Brunskill, Danny Farthing, Dale Hopson, and many more former fan favourites, while the Leeds squad on the day were made up of former Premier League and Champions League royalty including Michael Bridges, Stuart Dallas, Ian Harte and Ross McCormack.
Harry Dunn returned to the Whitby Town dugout as manager, alongside Dennis Wheeler. There were up against a Leeds United management team including current Manchester United Academy Coach Russell Beardsmore as Head Coach.
Unfortunately for Town, their legendary goalkeeper had his game cut short, surviving just six minutes before pulling up with a calf strain, leaving regular goalkeeping coach, Neil Ince, to take his place between the sticks.
And Ince was soon picking the ball out of his net as David Norris, regularly a thorn in the Whitby Town first team when playing for Lancaster City and Workington in the Northern Premier League in the past, prodded home an opener in the 17th minute.
Not all was lost for the Seasiders as they levelled matters just two minutes later thanks to a throw-back goal which saw Hopson pick out Burgess with a corner delivery, with Burgess cannoning a header home via the crossbar.
Further first-half goals followed, albeit at the wrong end of a Whitby perspective, with Dallas restoring the Whites' lead with an experienced finish, while Matt Kilgallon struck an impressive third on the stroke of half-time - ending the first half on 3-1 for Leeds United.
Going into the second half, Whitby made the perfect start, pulling the score back to 3-2 almost immediately through a commanding back-post header from Brunskill, or "Bruno" as he was affectionately known by the Town faithful during his playing days.
But Leeds restored their two-goal advantage with their first real venture forward of the second half. Ross McCormack's run from deep saw him capitalise on a tiring Whitby defence before unselfishly squaring the ball for a tap-in.
Jason Kennedy, currently part of the Seasiders' management team got the scores back to 3-3 with a tidy close-range finish, with the player-assistant manager also going close to netting a screamer shortly after following Hopson's corner delivery to the edge of the box which was struck narrowly over the crossbar.
Brunskill proved he still had his instinctive striker's touch when he netted his second of the match for 4-4 as he capitalised on a spilled effort to tap home.
Whitby were impressive in the second half and had the lead for first time in the match when Hopson made sure the ball crossed the line after an initial save from Brunskill.
But with the clock ticking towards the 90th minute, the scores were tied once more as Leeds captain Palmer snuck in at the back post to head home a leveller.