Morpeth Town boss Craig Lynch 'delighted' with vital win over Whitby Town in battle for survival

Morpeth Town boss Craig Lynch has admitted that he was “delighted” with the manner in which his side returned to winning ways against Whitby Town on Easter Monday after suffering a stinging defeat to Lancaster City on Good Friday.

The Highwaymen endured a mixed Bank Holiday weekend, slumping to a 3-0 loss away from home before recording a dominant victory by the same scoreline at Craik Park 72 hours later.

An early strike from Jeff Henderson handed Morpeth the lead against Whitby after just six minutes, and from there, Lynch’s men produced an assured display, with Nic Bollado doubling their advantage shortly before half-time and Ryan Chater wrapping things up with a third at the death.

Reflecting on a vital three points, Lynch said: “Delighted. Look, it's a massive win. It's easy to say after you've won that it was a must-win, but obviously anyone that's looking, it was a must-win today. Obviously, results, some teams have picked up points, but we just had to concentrate on ourselves. To score after six minutes takes a bit of pressure off, doesn't it?”

He added: “I thought first half, they [Whitby] had a lot of possession, but I watched their game against FC United [of Manchester] and look, they've got some good footballers, but they're struggling to put teams to the sword. I was still comfortable with our shape, even though we were moving the ball. It was about just keeping your head, keeping your cool, and just making the move side to side.”

The result leaves Morpeth one point adrift of safety with three games remaining, and an unenviable trip to title-chasing Hednesford next up. But despite the two sides being separated by 17 places and 31 points, Lynch is of the opinion that his men can still cause something of an upset.

He said: “We've got to go there with belief. If you don't have belief, there's no point turning up. And we've got quality, so if we put both together, we'll give Hednesford a good game - I've got no doubts about that. It's just important that we turn up like we have today.”