Memorial Stadium: Bristol Rovers v Whitby Town (Saturday 4th November 2023)

The Memorial Stadium hosted an Opening Round Tie in the FA Cup with League One Bristol Rovers facing 7th Tier side Whitby Town.
The Gas had very recently just parted company with Joey Barton with Andy Mangan taking caretaker charge in the meantime. His first match in the dugout ended with a 2-1 win at home to Northampton Town. The Gas were just on a slightly sticky patch in the league before that with only 1 win in the last 5, leading to the change in manager.
Meanwhile for the Seasiders, this was their first proper FA Cup tie in over 20 years. With the last coming against Plymouth Argyle in the 2001-02 season. Taking the Pilgrims to a replay but narrowly losing out 3-2. Whitby Town are one of the sides that have to navigate 4 qualifying rounds just to get into the proper rounds, defeating Goole, Prescot, Morpeth and Chelmsford to set up this tie. It amazes me how sides in this lowly tier manage to maintain so many games in the league and qualifying rounds for both the FA Cup and FA Trophy. And for some working other jobs alongside their football commitments!
On the day then, and it was all guns blazing for both sides from the off with John Marquis opening the scoring on 5 minutes to throw an early blow at the Yorkshire side. A nicely set up goal almost showing the difference in league standard between the sides. However, less than 10 minutes later, the Yorkshire set their mark on the game. Scoring just outside the box with a fine finish on the turn, cue jubilation in the away end.
This definitely came as a shock to Rogers who set the record straight on 18 minutes with the talented Luke Thomas getting on the scoresheet. All of a sudden a goalfest was brewing in Horfield. 3 minutes later Jevani Brown made it 3-1 as Whitby struggled to efficiently clear their area.
Just before the break, on 40 minutes Whitby conceded a penalty with Anthony Evans being barged into, and it was he who stepped up to cooly slot away and the tie was effectively over at half time.
But the Seasiders weren’t going down without a fight, Connor Simpson with a lovely curved finish on the edge of the area to make the score line 4-2 on 59 minutes A strike so impressive it rang applause from the home end, and rightly so. A slight bit of nerve floated around the Memorial after this with an eire of uncertainty in the air, however Rovers once again took control of the match on 66 minutes when an own goal made it 5 for the Gas. Very unlucky for Harrison Beeden as the cross aimed towards Aaron Collins, bounces off the defender into the back of the net. This was effectively Collins’ first impact since coming on a minute earlier.
Just 4 minutes later, another substitute Harvey Vale scored at the near post for 6. He too had recently been subbed on at the same time as Collins. A frantic day of goal scoring was brought to an end this time by Collins. And that was all she wrote in the opening round of the FA Cup, Rovers cruising through into Round 2 and it just didn’t work out for Whitby Town. However, they did make their travelling fans proud and created a day that they will not forget. Mutual respect was shown at Full Time with the home end applauding Whitby Town for their effort on the day.
Whitby did try to be brave and full respect for that. There were moments where the difference in leagues between the sides were really shown. However, I believe the Seasiders will learn from an experience like this. A slight disappointment could be 3 goals going in at the goalkeeper’s near post but these things can happen when dealing with quality players such as Collins and Thomas. A very enjoyable day in Horfield as my day came to a close.