Whitehaven opened their account for the season with an entertaining 2-0 victory against fellow Cumbrians Milnthorpe Corinthians in the West Lancashire League.
The first half was pretty much even, Whitehaven playing with the wind behind them and should have opened the scoring when Taylor Hambling crept in at the back post only to see his shot hit the crossbar.
After this opportunity chances for both teams were few and far between, neither keeper making any meaningful saves in the goalless first-half.
The second-half started very much the same as the first with both teams cancelling each other out with no real clear-cut chances.
Then on 65 minutes Whitehaven defender Cody Benson scored with one into the top corner from around 15 yards out. The ball fell to him and he swung a leg to connect perfectly ando beat the Milnthorpe keeper.
The next 15 minutes was all pressure from Milnthorpe with the strong wind behind them. They launched long ball after long ball towards the Haven goal and it was a constant barrage. That Haven held out was down to superbly courageous defending from one to eleven.
Haven were still dangerous on the counter attack, through the lively pair of Travis Fyfe and Robbie Swinburn who had been causing Milnthorpe problems all night. Then late on substitute Carl Denver latched onto a pass, beat his man and fired the ball into the bottom corner to give Haven their second goal to confirm the victory.
Whitehaven had started the new season on Saturday away against Poulton Fc from Blackpool where they have notoriously found it a tough fixture.
The weather was great, the Poulton pitch was in fine fettle and Haven started the game brilliantly, controlling the tempo and dominating much of the possession.
But it was the same old story from the Haven men, not converting chances. Missed opportunities from Reid, Hambling and Smith and a disallowed goal from Tom Powell, which was clearly onside, meant Haven went in at half-time with only a 1-0 lead from a Poulton own goal.
The word from the coaching staff to the Haven players during the interval was continue the same way, but try to be more clinical.
What happened in fact was the total opposite, Whitehaven imploded, Poulton upped their game and it was a disaster.
Haven had an unforgivable 13 minutes in which Poulton scored three goals in quick succession and turned what had been a dominant Haven performance, to the Cumbrians hanging on.
Poulton scored a 4th on 73 mins, before a 94th minute consolation goal from Paul Lomas made it 4-2.
Whitehaven manager Jon-Karl Benson said: “Talk about a game of two halves! In the first half we were dominant, and it must have been 70-30% possession so we should have been out of sight, But credit to Poulton, they changed their shape and went more direct and it worked, so fair play to them.”
Haven are at home on Saturday to newly promoted Haslingden St Mary’s who were beaten 3-2 at home by CMB on Tuesday night after a 2-1 defeat at Burscough Richmond on Saturday..
Cleator Moor Celtic had a nightmare start at Fulwood Amateurs as they went down 5-0 with the home side quickly going top of the Premier Division.
A hat-trick from one of last season’s Premier Division Team of the Season players Spencer Lucas and a goal each from Will Simm and Kieran Jones gave them a dream start to the campaign.
Celtic didn’t have a game in mid-week so have had time to clear their heads before they have a stern test on Saturday at home to CMB.
