REPORT | Whitehouse Winner Downs Ten Man Dynamo

The visitors were reduced to ten men with the half-time interval approaching as Luke Thorogood was shown a straight red card for an altercation with Lamin Colley.

Taddy have been renowned to struggle against ten men and the match appeared to be following in the same vein until Colley pulled across the face of goal allowing for Billy Whitehouse to tap in his third goal of the campaign.

At this stage the result was more important than the performance although Collins and co may be somewhat concerned that they didn’t come away with a three or four goal cushion.

Simon Collins stuck with the same side that were held to a 1-1 draw to Stocksbridge three days prior with Chris Howarth and Joe Lumsden ruled out in the warm-up.

It was chilly October evening at the i2i Stadium and there was little to warm the cockels in the opening stages as Michael Ingham smothered a close-range Devante Reittie effort.

The first clear-cut opening of the contest arose on 22 minutes when Lamin Colley teed up Pete Davidson allowing the midfield maestro to drive into the penalty box before smashing agonisingly wide of the far post.

Both sides were very well organised and refused to give much away to one another with referee Lewis Dawson the talk of the half for some questionable decisions.

Lamin Colley went close for the hosts when digging into his box of tricks and brilliantly cryuff turning away from both Luke Foster and Thorogood before being denied by goalkeeper Charlie Taylor.

With the referee already playing a key role in the contest, he went on to make a game-changing decision on 39 minutes. Mr Lewis Dawson had already blown to stop play due to a head injury sustained to a Loughborough man before Luke Thorogood appeared to stamp on Lamin Colley when attempting to retrieve the ball back.

Then after a lengthy discussion with his assistant, a straight red card was shown to Thorogood leaving the visitors to battle it out with ten men for 50+ minutes.

As expected Loughborough retreated bodies behind the ball in the second half in order to reduce the gaps between defence and midfield.
The vast majority of action was all to take place in the visitors’ half as Pete Davidson saw his low strike comfortably saved by Taylor.

Taddy were pushing hard to net the elusive opening goal and they came close eight minutes in when some tricky wing-play from Billy Whitehouse saw his cross perfectly find Aiden Savory only for the attacker to head straight into the thankful hands of Taylor.

A certain amount of credit does have to go to Loughborough though as they still attempted to venture forward and they almost got their just reward on 55 minutes when a powerful run and shot from Ryan Robbins forced Ingham into a save.

Simon Collins continued to urge his side to ‘play quick’ and doing just that created another opportunity to break the deadlock. Swift and intricate touches from Colley and Savory opened the door for Casey Stewart but again the resulting effort was straight down the throat of Charlie Taylor.

The Loughborough stopper was becoming a real thorn in Albion’s side as he was refusing to be beaten as he come to the forefront once more to deny Pete Davidson’s low fizzing strike.

However Taylor was eventually beaten on 68 minutes when Lamin Colley’s skewed cross rolled kindly into the path of Billy Whitehouse who could not miss from three yards out. Finally, a break-through for the Brewers!

Tadcaster threatened to make absolute sure of the victory but again, credit to Charlie Taylor, kept making saves. Lamin Colley attacked Whitehouse’s deep cross only to be smothered by the stopper before he made arguably his best save of the night digging out Casey Stewart’s curling effort.

Going into the final ten minutes, Taddy were still flying forward pushing for a second but Loughborough were giving it everything to try and pinch a point.

Somehow Albion’s lead wasn’t doubled on 81 minutes when Casey Stewart’s close-range effort was somehow kept out by a combination of Taylor and the post before Lamin Colley somehow couldn’t stretch enough to turn in the rebound from three yards out.

Pete Davidson thought he’d done enough to finally get the better of Taylor when smashing a sweet volley towards the bottom corner but again the goalkeeper was equal to it.

Tadcaster did eventually celebrate a second goal in the dying embers when giant central defender Harry Coates rose highest on a Whitehouse corner to thunder an unstoppable header into the back of the net. Off Albion went to celebrate, but the goal was disallowed after referee blew for a push in the area.

Full-Time: Tadcaster Albion 1-0 Loughborough Dynamo

Tadcaster: Ingham©, Barkworth, Hardy, Roper (Rose 58), Coates, Mycoe, Whitehouse, Davidson, Colley, Stewart, Savory

Unused: Langton

Loughborough: Taylor, Riley, Keenan, Holmes©, Foster, Thorogood (OFF 39), Young, Read, Reittie, Robbins, Gordon

Subs: Thornberry, Birks, Brown, Spearman