Guisborough Town 2-2 Newcastle Benfield

Match Report

Guisborough were left to rue a missed penalty eight minutes from time as they fought out a keenly-contested 2-2 draw with Newcastle Benfield at the KGV Stadium on Saturday.

The spot kick was taken by the normally assured marksman Kurtis Howes, but he had only come on as a sub 10 minutes earlier and he seemed to telegraph where he was putting his kick and it was a relatively weak one which Benfield ‘keeper Andrew Grainer dived to save.

Earlier, the Priorymen had got off to a great start with a goal from Ben Cummings. It stemmed from a brilliant attack down the left with Sonni Coleman crossing to the far post where Joe Pickett leapt high to head the ball back across goal and there was Cummings to score from close range for 1-0 to Guisborough.

In the 11th minute the Priorymen came within a whisker of doubling their lead when Jack Blackford let fly with a scorching shot from 30 yards out but the ball hit the inside of the left Benfield post and bounced to safety. On 24 minutes only a brilliant tackle by Guisborough central defender Alex Nelson kept Benfield at bay.

Ten minutes later Guisborough right back Call Martin produced an equally fine tackle to dispossess Benfield striker Jay Errington as he was about to shoot when well placed. In the 40th minute, however, Benfield made their spell of pressure count when Errington burst down the left and scored with a fine diagonal low shot into the far right corner of the Guisborough net for 1-1.

After the interval it took the Priorymen just 12 minutes to get their noses in front again when Sonni Coleman scored his first goal since re-joining Guisborough from Redcar Athletic. A bad error in the Benfield defence allowed Coleman to make space for himself in the box and he rifled the ball home with ease for 2-1.

But just after the hour mark Benfield drew level for the second time in the game as Guisborough failed to clear a long free kick into the penalty area and the ball fell kindly to visiting centre back Liam Scorgie who clipped the ball home just inside the far left post for 2-2.

LATE DRAMA

And that’s how it stayed to the final whistle despite the late drama over the missed Guisborough penalty.

After the game Guisborough Manager Steve Bell commented:

I felt this was two points dropped today rather than the one point that we earned. We started the game well but then sat back and if I’m honest despite that early goal we were poor for most of the rest of the first half.

In the second half we were miles better and definitely the more dominant team. Then at 2-2 we miss a penalty to win the game. It wasn’t the end of the world to finish with a draw but this was definitely two points dropped.

The attendance was a rather disappointing 208, probably affected by the fact that Middlesbrough were at home.

A shout out to the two female Referee’s Assistants Chloe West and Hope Cairns. Hope was herself a very late substitute official, stepping in after original linesman David Batty, a policeman, was called away at short notice to help police a rally and march in Newcastle. So well done to the two lady officials.

Guisborough’s next match is this coming Wednesday, 1 November (KO 7.45pm) when they entertain National League side York City at the KGV in the North Riding Senior Cup.

Report: Bill Perfitt