Whitby Town target FA Cup boost to help get over Celtic defeat

This loss could be a wake-up call for the Seasiders with joint-manager Lee Bullock admitting after the game that the York City FA Cup match is the perfect opportunity to respond.

“We’ll obviously need to perform better than we did on Tuesday,” said Bullock.

“We’re not under any pressure at all. We just need to perform better and put in a good showing.

“The pressure’s all on them, especially after losing on Tuesday evening as well.

“It will be a great experience to play in a big stadium with a big crowd and we feel we could cause an upset with a better performance.”

Whitby were well below par and Celtic thoroughly deserved their victory given to them by Marcus Dackers after 72 minutes.

Stalybridge were dominant throughout the game, however Town didn’t help themselves, failing to register a shot on target throughout the 90 minutes on Tuesday evening.

Shane Bland made a blinding save just after the half-time break as he denied Charley Doyle superbly, whose effort was destined to find the back of the net.

The Whitby keeper tipped his strike over the bar.

The night got even worse in stoppage time as defender Jameel Ible was shown a straight red card for what the referee deemed as a kick out at a Stalybridge player after he was fouled.

Despite the defeat the Blues remain in third place in the Pitching In Northern Premier League Premier Division table.

Whitby are now five points behind second-placed Matlock and seven behind leaders South Shields, but they do have a game in hand on the top two clubs.