Last gasp goals deny Men's 1s

Whitley Bay & Tyne started brightly after a fine win last week and were happy to transfer the ball around the back and hold onto possession to look for openings in the young Oxton back line who started the game deep into their own half. It didn’t take long before the home team’s dominance told and Chris Traynor deflected the ball home at the near post after a good attacking move down the right baseline. The home team continued to push but it took until the finals few minutes of the first half before Alex Lockey got behind the Oxton defence on the baseline, pulling the ball back for Traynor again to finish first time into the bottom left corner to give the home team a much deserved 2.0 lead. Whitley Bay & Tyne would have liked to have had more goals on the sheet after a half which Oxton didn’t step foot into the home circle or have a shot on goal.

Oxton came out after the second half a little more lively and the home teams passing didn’t look as fluent, but they looked to have killed the game when Andrew Titmus fired the ball home on his reverse stick to make the score 3.0 with 15 minutes remaining. Oxton with nothing to lose pushed men high and managed to win a penalty corner, which was scored with a low powerful strike to give the away team a glimmer of home. To make things more difficult for Whitley Bay & Tyne, they went down to 10 men after needless dissent towards the umpire. Moments later another corner was converted by the away team from a low flick into the bottom right corner to make the game 3.2. Whitley Bay & Tyne were stunned and looked to steady the ship to see out the game. They thought they had done just that, but with less than a minute on the clock the ball was smashed into the area forcing a goal line scramble. The ball fired off the keepers pads and onto the attacking players foot before he put the ball over the line. The defenders looked relived but they soon realised the foot had not been seen by both umpires and the goal was to stand to give the away team a remarkable, but very fortunate equaliser right at the death.

A very frustrating day for Whitley Bay & Tyne who should have taken all the points comfortably in this game. Despite the result Whitley Bay & Tyne are still in touch at the top and are confident they can put in a real challenge come the new year.