7th Mar 2020 Mens 1st v Whitley Bay & Tynemouth Mens 1s(Home) 4 - 4 draw
Ben Rhydding’s last home game of the season had nothing riding on it with them being safe but for Bay, in the dog fight at the bottom end, it meant everything. Rhydding started well and were so close to scoring when George Gamble slid into the post narrowly missing but Whitley Bay took the lead, scoring from a turnover and the game was on. Rhydding came close again with Max Helme, sliding in to score and narrowly missing. Rhydding kept the pressure on and Will Musgrave scored a scorcher of a goal into the roof of the net to level at 1-1. Musgrave struck again, latching onto a great ball in from skipper, Rob Ramsden to make it 2-1. With 3 goals being scored in the first 5 minutes, it promised to be a game to give the crowd their money’s worth.
Whitley Bay came back quickly, scoring from a corner to level at 2-2. Rhydding continued to create many chances but it wasn’t until the stroke of the half time whistle that they converted a corner, with Musgrave roofing the ball for his hat-trick into the net to take them to 3-2. Rhydding were on a roll now and played some lovely hockey. Will Jones hit a strong line ball for Charlie Smith who jinked and jived his way into the circle and slipped to Max Helme who was able to finish to take the lead to 4-2. Rhydding looked to be completely in control and would never have thought at this stage that Whitley Bay would come back to claim a draw at 4-4. As the game came to a close, Rhydding’s marking lost concentration and a scramble in the circle allowed Whitley Bay to score to get them back to just one goal adrift. At a critical point in the game, Rhydding sustained a yellow card and with just minutes on the clock, Bay scored from the break down of corner to make it 4-4. Back to full strength, Rhydding could have maybe found the winner but another naïve yellow card put paid to that.