Whitby, the home of Captain Cook and very good fish and chips. Whitby is also the home of Count Dracula, so be warned as April 12th to 14th is the Goth festival, so with all the black and white make up, I doubt they are Rangers fans.

A brief history of Whitby FC sees that around the first world war Whitby was a town with two clubs, both playing in the Scarborough and District League The two clubs amalgamated in 1926 as Whitby United. The new club was admitted into the Northern League and the club’s name was changed to Whitby Town in 1949. In season 1996-97, Whitby won the Northern League and completed the double winning the FA Carlsberg Vase at Wembley, beating North Ferriby United by 3-0. Now in step 4, Whitby won the UniBond League First Division Championship at their first attempt to gain promotion to step 3, and they have now become a consistent Northern Premier League outfit.

Anyhow, back to football. Still trying to get the required points for safety we may have to do something that we have yet to do. That is to win away at Whitby. In 5 visits our best to date have been 2 draws, these being our last two visits, so let’s hope it is an improving run. This game included, all our visits bar one has been at the tail end of the season, games being played in April or May. Last season’s 0-0 draw was the only one to have taken place in the first half of the season. We therefore need to build on the 3-3 draw at home to Whitby on November 24. In that game we took an early lead only to be pegged back by two Whitby goals in a 5-minute spell. We equalised however within a minute. In the second half, Whitby edged ahead again only for us to equalise on 80 minutes.

Whitby currently lie 11th in the league with a home record of won 6, drawn 6 and lost 6, so parity must fail this Saturday, hoping the 7 goes on their lost column. For those traveling by car, the post code for the Turnbull ground is YO21 3 HZ, and you will find the ground high up on the north cliff area of town. I am sure if you had a powerful shot over the bar at one end it could land in the seas. For train travellers, you may as well forget it as Whitby is served by only 3 return journeys each day, and you must get to Middlesbrough to catch one. Or, you can do what many fans are doing this weekend and that is to make a weekend of it. Hopefully as well as coming home with 3 points we hope to have savoured the fish and chips that are on offer on the harbour side. You always know the quality of fish and chips on offer by the crowd of seas gulls that hover over you while eating. Have a good day, or weekend, as we build for that final push.

Games played on April 13th this century.

2002 Weymouth       A             1-0 Southern League
2009 Solihull              H            0-2 Conference North
2013 Blyth Spartans H            2-4 Northern Premier League