Jen and I were back in the UK for a couple of weeks and we rented a cottage at Sandsend, just outside of Whitby. We took my mam, daughter and the two grandkids along for an old-fashioned seaside holiday.
Whilst I’d made all sorts of tentative plans to get to a few local matches, it was the second weekend before a lull in activities gave my grandson Harry and I the opportunity to nip along to the Turnbull Ground for Whitby’s seventh-tier Northern Premier League fixture with Hednesford Town.
It was a tenner admission for me with the boy getting in for free. I’d not seen a game at Whitby before, although I’d walked past their ground a few times. They’ve got a big stand down one side with a smaller covered standing area opposite. The only other time that Harry has been to the match with me we were in the Fenton Suite hospitality at the Boro. I thought that standing might be too much of a shock to the system and so we sat in the main stand.
I was disappointed to discover that Whitby’s Matty Tymon was out injured. He’d played in an under nines team with my son Tom twenty years ago and my main recollection is how much better he was than the rest of his team mates. Whilst Tom and the others spent their time chasing the ball and then either mindlessly booting it up field or dribbling until dispossessed, Matty was laying the ball off or diligently making off the ball runs to create space that went unnoticed by the rest of the team.
In Mr. Tymon’s absence, I focused on former Boro youngster Junior Mondal who you’d think was named after a pair of kid’s football boots. He buzzed about up front with very little service but had a decent touch. It looked to me as if he was good enough to play at a higher level, but he was hauled off early in the second half so maybe I’m out of step.
I think the highlight of the afternoon was Harry’s support of Whitby. After checking that it was fine to cheer on another team in the absence of the Boro, he would shout out “Come on Whitby” every few minutes. Naturally I’d offer similar encouragement but in a mangled ‘club singer’ style or Gazette seller growl. The boy sighed and shook his head in the way that his mother does.
Whitby went a goal down in the first half before conceding a second late on when a pacy run from a Hednesford player culminated in him wellying it home. The hosts notched a consolation at the end, no doubt as a result of our encouragement.
Trail of the Lion King 