Match Report: Whickham dispatch Penrith at The Glebe

Whickham 2-1 Penrith 

Whickham produced a hard-fought win to see off relegation threatened Penrith at The First Mortgage Glebe on Saturday afternoon.

Dan Turner put Whickham ahead before Robbie Hebson made sure Penrith went into the break on level terms.

Scott Robson secured Whickham the three points in the second half from the penalty spot.

It’s a win that keeps the Lang Jacks in touch with those above them and only three points off the top six.

The game only took two minutes to kick into gear as Robson played a ball over the top of the Penrith defence to Dan Turner who delicately chipped the on rushing Harvey Reay to open his Whickham account.

Ten minutes later Robson once again looked to provide as he crossed in to Kyle Patton who was eight yards out but his shot was well blocked by Joshua Crews.

Robson continued to pose a threat as minutes later he latched onto a through ball on the edge of the area, with Reay in no man’s land, but his lob went narrowly wide of the goal.

Penrith then began to have a spell of sustained possession and had two shots from inside the Whickham box blocked in quick succession by Dom Agnew and Alex Nelson.

The Bonny Blues found their equaliser five minutes before the break as Luke Hunter forced a stunning save from Nathan Harker down to his left, but Hebson was in the right position to head in the rebound.

It wasn’t until the hour mark before another chance and Scott Robson once again found himself in behind with an onrushing Reay but his lob went well wide of the empty goal.

The match became an end-to-end encounter for a period and minutes later and DJ Taylor had two attempts at beating Harker from close range but both shots were denied by the Whickham stopper.

The winner for Whickham came 15 minutes from time as Kyle Patton ran onto a ball in behind and knocked it past Reay who brought him down and referee Tom Lishman pointed to the spot.

Scott Robson stepped up and smashed it down the middle to score his 18th goal of the season.

Whickham found joy again in behind, this time on a counter attack, as Robson was played through and carried the ball 30 yards before his shot was saved by the feet of Reay in what would be the last chance of the afternoon.