Great performance despite of the result

Whitley Bay and Tynemouth Ladies 1’s travelled to Manchester to face Conference North leaders Brooklands Poynton. The previous fixture earlier this season saw Brooklands run out as easy winners with a convincing 3-0 victory against a lack lustre Bay team.

Today’s fixture started how the previous game had ended with Whitley Bay finding it difficult to play the ball out of defence and Brooklands dominating possession. The home team carved out chance after chance without converting and the Bay thought they had weathered the storm until 23rd minute. Brooklands were awarded a penalty corner which the Whitley Bay defence cleared but for the ball to be handed back to the home team. Brooklands played the ball down the baseline and slipped this to the penalty spot for Helen Turner to convert with an easy tap in.

The second half saw a change in formation from the away team which created more width and improved possession. Whitley Bay started to dominate the game, pressing the ball well which resulted Brooklands gifting the opposition with opportunities which they were unable to take. During this period of pressure Whitley Bay were awarded a number of penalty corners which the Brooklands keeper and defence managed to stand firm to.

Although Whitley Bay’s second half performance was much improved from the first half, Brooklands were able to see out of the game and collect another 3 points in their pursuit of promotion to the premier league.

Whitley Bay take a lot from today’s game and performance as they look forward to this weekend’s home fixture against Ben Rydding at 12.30pm, The Parks Sports Centre.