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Whitby Town boss unfazed by tough cup draws
WHITBY Town manager Harry Dunn is unfazed by two tough away draws in the FA Cup and Trophy, with newly-promoted FC Halifax Town and former Northern Premier opponents Hednesford awaiting in the first qualifying rounds.
The old Halifax Town club went into administration in February 2008 and never recovered, finally folding three months later.
As a Football League club, they took on the Blues in a famous FA Cup first round tie in 1982. 2-0 down at half-time, the Seasiders, then managed by Tony Lee in the Northern League, staged an amazing fightback with goals from Derek Hampton, Ronnie Sills and Phil Linacre securing a memorable 3-2 victory.
The Seasiders went on to lose 1-0 at Wigan Athletic in the second round of the competition.
Dunn was undeterred by either draw, stating: "You can't pick and choose opposition, we'll do our homework and take each game as it comes.
"Hopefully we'll do better than last season when Vauxhall trounced us 5-0 at home.
"I know Halifax manager Neil Aspin very well, he's been around for a long time, like myself and I'm sure they won't be taking it lightly."
Rather than wishing difficulty on Town's opposition, Dunn hopes they're riding the crest of a wave when the teams clash, especially as gate money is split in the two FA knock-out competitions.
"I hope both Halifax and Hednesford are up the top of their leagues at the time we play with them.
"To be honest, I'd rather go to Halifax with 1,000 or 1,500 people watching than a local side where they might struggle to scrape 150 and it's still a banana skin and a hard game to win. It'll be a difficult game for us, but also a difficult game for Halifax."
The Northern Premier League is now sponsored by another glue manufacturer with Evo-Stik taking the reins, following Unibond's 17 years of service.
Perhaps aptly then that the new season kicks off with a new challenge, as freshly-promoted Midlands outfit Mickleover Sports visit the Turnbull Ground on Regatta Saturday, 21 August – a first ever meeting between the sides.
Just like Town in 1998, the Derby suburb have enjoyed back-to-back promotions, winning the Unibond First Division South last season, after previously lining up alongside Pickering Town in the Northern Counties East.
An optimistic Dunn added: "We'll have to be doing our homework before the season.
"There's going to be some good games with Nantwich, FC United, Bradford and Halifax among others, it's going to be an exciting season."
Whitby Town Football Club have their summer ball tonight at the Pavilion.
Tickets are available for the 7 on the doors, they open at 7pm. There's a bar till 12.30am with highly-rated local acts Drunken Monkey, The Committee and Carl Robinson all performing. There's also the lucrative 250 summer draw with raffle tickets available from the Nationwide Building Society.
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Weather for Whitby
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 10 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North east
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Temperature: 11 C to 18 C
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