Turnbull Ground Saturday, April 16th, 2022 k/o 15:00   Northern Premier Division Attendance: 449         Whitby Town 2-0 Ashton United
2021 /22

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I had decided to try and have a catch up with an old schoolfriend over the weekend and take him on a road trip if he could tear himself away from the snooker!! This would normally prove difficult at the best of times as he is more of a big game big club fan and not one for lower leagues and a huge snooker fan. I had narrowed it down to a choice of four with the play off final in the isle of man( v New mills) the highest profile, Atherton Collieries v Warrington the closest or either Scarborough v Gainsbourgh Trinity or this game. Venturing into North Wales to pick him up we left at 8am hoping most of the bank holiday traffic had passed on Good Friday. Phil(Wilf ruled out FC IOM and i thought the North East would give him more of a break and give me some company on the drive, which was uneventful until congestion on the A64 York bypass. In the end we called into Scarbourgh midday and took some photographs (unfortunately i was told the old ground had totally gone now making way for a lidl and the only thing left was the old gates which had been moved to the new ground). Whilst time was getting tight especially as we had hoped to check out the area we still decided to move North to Whitby, the game was decided by two early goals, the first a penalty after 3 minutes converted by Green and the second four minutes later after an initial shot was blocked on the edge of the box the loose ball wasn''t cleared and the same player(Hawkins) rifled a powerful shot into the top corner. It was a nice day although the slight breeze got cold in the main stand as time went on. The second half produced a number of chances for both teams with Ashton having one cleared off the line but the overall quality seemed to dip. With good selection of food in the ground we opted for the steak pie and cheesy chips and after the game had a walk along the nearby cliffs overlooking the town. My phone battery died leaving me slightly worried about getting back to the motorway without google maps but i need not have worried with the pleasant A169 providing a nice driving experience and some fantastic views and the added bonus of calling into see Pickering towns ground. Traffic was light and we where back by 9PM for fast food and a few pints. The only negative was a flare up of Atheritis in my ankle which made changing gears painful for the last thirty minutes of the journey.