Whitby Town work hard for 1-1 draw at Bamber Bridge
Whitby Town battled to a hard-earned 1-1 draw against Bamber Bridge in atrocious weather conditions, as driving rain and a sodden pitch played a decisive role in a still entertaining Pitching In Northern Premier League encounter.
The Seasiders made three changes for the trip, with Shane Bland returning from injury, while Jake Charles and Nathan McGinley both came into the starting XI as joint-managers Lee Bullock and Jason Kennedy looked to freshen things up for only their third outing of February.
The visitors made the worst possible start, with Bamber Bridge taking the lead after just four minutes through Jamie Allen. In conditions that made defending unpredictable, Whitby struggled to settle early on, and the home side capitalised to go ahead.
Bamber Bridge continued to press in the early stages, putting Whitby on the back foot. Archie Lang was lively and a regular goal threat from distance, and saw a curling effort deflected behind for a corner on six minutes, though the resulting set-piece came to nothing.
The equaliser arrived in unusual fashion on 13 minutes, with the weather proving a major factor.
A back-pass from Bamber Bridge held up in the waterlogged turf, allowing Matthew Tymon to pounce. He rounded goalkeeper Aidan Dowling and, despite the difficult surface, managed to squeeze the ball home to level the scores.
Chances continued to come at both ends in a frantic, messy first half. Lang drilled wide from distance on 17 minutes, while Olly Molloy curled narrowly past Shane Bland’s post soon after.
Jake Charles then forced a smart low save from Aidan Dowling on 23 minutes as Whitby began to look the more threatening side.