Despite Saltburn Athletic being drawn at home in this North Riding County Cup Match we elected to play a 10am KO at Kader in order that the Players could go to the Boro game that afternoon. Kader were riding high in Division 2 following a good run of form in which they had just beaten the League leaders Mount Pleasant. Conditions were good for this North Riding County Cup game. Saltburn reverting to a 4 - 4 - 2 formation of:  

William Walters

 

James Caird                 Charlie Whitfield             Elliott Graham       Sam Hitchin

& 

Liam Williams          Alex Whiley (Capt.)         Mark Atkinson       Steve Hoggard

Josh Hudson                   Sam Clark  

 

Subs: Josh Axe and Luke Waller

 

Saltburn took the game to Kader and had the better of the early exchanges creating some good goal scoring opportunities which unfortunately were not converted by Josh and Sam who were playing up front. Saltburn were up for this game and their commitment was apparent. It was however Kader who took the lead against the run of play. A ball in to the box from the left wing was met by the Kader forward whose early strike eluded William Walters in the Saltburn goal. Saltburn continued to press forward putting some good passing moves together but the equaliser did not come and at half time the score remained at 1 -0. The team were encouraged to approach the second half with the same confidence they had shown in the first half and an equaliser would inevitably arrive. The continuing pressure on the Kader defence soon paid dividends. Alex Whiley collected the ball outside the penalty area and side stepped two or three Kader defenders before hitting a low shot in to the keeper’s bottom right hand corner to level the score at 1 -1. This spurred Saltburn on and the Saltburn defence (and in particular Charlie Whitfield and Elliot Graham) were resolute reducing Kader to half chances in front of goal. The Saltburn midfield of Liam Williams, Alex Whiley, Mark Atkinson and Steve Hoggard showed some determined tackling to gain the advantage in the middle of the park.

It wasn’t long before Saltburn seized the initiative when Josh Hudson picked the ball up in the box and hooked a shot across the goal to put Saltburn 2 -1 up. Cool heads were now required and to the team’s credit they battled away as the clock was running down. Saltburn were now winning the majority of 50/50s and some slick passing made it very difficult for Kader to get back in to the match. With less than one minute of normal time remaining ( and no-one wanting to play extra time ) Alex Whiley received the ball some 25 yards from goal on the Saltburn  right and without hesitation looked up and struck a lovely shot which looped high over the keeper to put Saltburn 3 -1 up and seal their place in the quarter finals. There was jubilation from the Saltburn contingent and Kader were gracious in defeat with their Manager acknowledging the deserved victory.

Some very good performances were put in by several Saltburn Players but the Man of the Match was a joint award to Alex Whiley (who led by example scoring two goals) and to Liam Williams who had his best game in a Saltburn shirt.