West Allotment Celtic 1-2 Guisborough Town

Match Report

Gutsy Guisborough Town maintained the momentum gained from their incredible late FA Cup comeback against Newton Aycliffe in midweek by grinding out an invaluable 2-1 league victory at West Allotment Celtic yesterday.

A 55th minute penalty from James Frazer and a superb strike by Cole Kiernan in the 69th minute were enough to earn the Priorymen a well-deserved win despite a late 85th minute goal giving West Allotment faint hopes of snatching a late point.

After the game, a delighted Guisborough Town Manager Steve Bell commented:  “In the end this was a really pleasing three points. It wasn’t a pretty game and definitely not one of our greatest performances but we dug deep and gritted out an ugly win. 

“I told the lads at half time after a pretty uneventful first half that this was one of those horrible days where we had to stick together, grind it out and just get the three points and that’s exactly what they did. So I’m really pleased to get the league season up and running,” added Steve.

To be fair to both teams, strong cross winds throughout the game made it really difficulty for either side to put passing moves together with the ball being carried out of play far too often.

Chances were few and far between in the first half but Guisborough came closest to breaking the deadlock in the 26th minute when livewire midfielder Joe Pickett went on a piercing run down the left and crossed for James Frazer to get in a good shot from the edge of the box but the West ‘keeper saved with his legs.

On the few occasions West threatened the Guisborough goal central defenders Nick Hood and Tommy Marron stood resolute and strong.

Right from the start of the second half, it looked like Guisborough Manager Steve Bell’s half-time pep talk had worked as the Priorymen looked more purposeful and it was no surprise when they took the lead from the penalty spot on 55 minutes.

SURGED INTO PENALTY AREA!

Midfielder Jordan Fielding – who had another fine game – surged into the West penalty area and was flattened for a nailed-on penalty and up stepped James Frazer to hammer the ball home for 1-0 to Guisborough.

Guisborough doubled their lead in the 69th minute with an absolutely superb ‘trademark’ goal by substitute Cole Kiernan, continuing where he left off against Newton Aycliffe by coming off the bench and finding the net once again.

This time it was brilliant work down the right by Pickett who slipped a perfect ball through for Kiernan to beat his man and fire a fantastic low shot diagonally into the far left corner for 2-0 to the Priorymen.

West threatened briefly in the closing minutes and in the 85th minute Callum Larmouth scored a superb individual goal with a 25 yard unstoppable wonder shot which gave Guisborough ‘keeper Robert Dean no chance.

But Guisborough safely saw out the remaining few minutes to record their first league victory of the season following disappointing defeats in the opening two league matches.

Guisborough’s next match is their FA Cup replay at Newton Aycliffe next Tuesday, 15 August (KO 7.30pm).

Report: Bill Perfitt