MANAGER NOTES

MICHAEL DUNWELL

WELCOME TO THE MAP GROUP UK STADIUM FOR TONIGHT’S NORTHERN LEAGUE DIVISION ONE MATCH AGAINST WHITLEY BAY

Good evening and a warm welcome back to the MAP Group UK Stadium for our second successive home match, tonight we play host to Whitley Bay.

I’d like to start off by saying how pleasing it was to get the win at the weekend. I said after the game that it had been similar to how we had been playing for the majority of the season, but the only difference was that we put the ball in the back of the net, which was pleasing. We done that early, after Kev’s early goal, we got into our stride quite quickly and got the job done. There was a feeling of frustration that we hadn’t done it in the other games, but the overriding feeling was that it was pleasing to see us put the ball in the net. It was a good all-round performance as well, both defensively, attacking and collectively as a team. We asked them to put in a positive performance and they did. The squad morale is high, as it has been all season. They were frustrated after the previous three games, before last Saturday, because they done everything bar score. There wasn’t a lot wrong in those games for me to fault, so against Northallerton it was a bit of relief. The lads got together after the game, all socially distanced and following COVID-19 protocols. We had that planned regardless of the result and I think that was what everyone needed. There has been a bit of negativity about the place, which is what happens when the expectations are really high, especially after last season. We put that right and hopefully that can continue and we can go on a run in the league now. Hopefully we can get a bit of momentum off the back of that win over Northallerton. The

“PAST RESULTS DON’T MEAN ANYTHING BECAUSE WE’VE GOT TO TURN UP ON THE NIGHT AND PUT IN A PERFORMANCE TO WIN.”

games are coming quite quick. We’ve got tonight’s home game against Whitley Bay, then Newcastle Benfield and then Billy Town, so we’d have had four games in 10 days and if we can put some points on the board from those games, we’ll be pushing back into that top three, which is where we want to be. Tonight I’m expecting a tough game, as I do with every game that we play. Whitley are under new management and the players will be trying to prove themselves to the new management. They’ve showed that in the last two games with the never-say-die attitude after getting two late winners and they keep going right to the very end. They’ve won their last two games at the very end, so their fitness levels will be good. We’re expecting a tough test tonight, as we do with every team in this league. We’ll just approach the game how we normally do and try to go and get those three points. Going against them at home, we’ve generally done well against Whitley here. We’ve also done well away as well, to be honest. We had our first ever FA Vase away victory against Whitley Bay a few years ago. In the past, we’ve done quite well against them, but that doesn’t mean anything because we’ve got to turn up on the night and put in a performance to get the win and an important three points.