Whitburn Athletic 0-1 Whitley Bay

<p>After back to back away wins, and three unbeaten, we were looking for our first home win of the season. We started poorly, slowly, and in a total disjointed manner, yet unfortunately that wouldn't change throughout the entire 90 minutes. On a big pitch that should suit the way we want to play and perform, we couldn't string 2 passes together, nor release the ball without 4/5 touches or without wanting way too much time on it. Mark Symington kept us in it during the first half as he pulled off a few great saves, as we created minimal shooting opportunities ourselves.

<p>The second half was a slight improvement early on as we pushed on and got into their box more often. We came close to breaking the deadlock twice, as the crossbar first kept out Liam Donnelly after a phenomenal save by the away sides keeper, then a second time when substitute Paulie Bell caught one sweetly from range. It was Whitley Bay who did eventually start, and finish the scoring in the final 10 minutes as Symington, our hero of the day so far, was finally beaten by a scrambled lob which went in off the base of the post.

<p>This game could have been summed up in one word for us, shocking. It isn't all about the mistakes you make though, it's about how you learn from them, so we'll move on and look to our next game which is again at home, this time to Bedlington Town.