Match Report

Howes about that!?  ‘King Kurt’ nets four as Guisborough surge to second place in table

Guisborough Town 5, Birtley Town 0

Guisborough Town rocketed up to second in the table with a comprehensive 5-0 drubbing of Birtley Town at the Kevin Edward KGV Stadium on Wednesday.

A fantastic four-goal personal haul by Guisborough striker Kurt Howes laid the foundations for this emphatic victory, with second half substitute Elliott Beddow weighing in with another incredible individual effort – assisted by none other than his strike partner Kurt!.

Guisborough Manager Nathan Haslam was clearly delighted with both the result and performance of his team – but it was the manner of how his team are responding to the way he wants them to play.

After the game he commented:  “Naturally delighted, it was a very good performance and one that I wanted as a reaction to Saturday’s point at West Auckland.

“When I say that Auckland are a good side so a draw there is good but I think we are a lot better than that.  We needed more intensity at Auckland and that was the main message from that game that we need to be more intense in ev4rything that we do both with and without the ball.

“So for the full 93 minutes tonight we’ve done exactly that and we’ve put Birtley well and truly to the sword.

“We can do this now because we’ve got a nice deep squad and freshened things up with quality and when you’re able to bring on five excellent subs like we did against Birtley it’s a nightmare for the opposition to deal with.

“I think that being able to freshen things up like this keeps our players on their toes – they know they have to perform and the good thing is the players are all together with this now and are beginning to understand why we have to do this now.

“They didn’t understand at the start but they do now and they’ve seen the results and seen that we’re fresh and based on the performance tonight against Birtley the intensity is there again and we need to take this into Saturday now against Redcar Athletic,” declared Nathan.

Speaking of Kurtis Howes and his four-goal performance against Birtley, Nathan said:”I’ve gone on record as saying he’s the best finisher at the club from the time I’ve been here.

“He gets into some great positions in the box and we’ve just got to understand what Kurtis’s strengths are and help him play to those strengths and get him the goals, as we’ve done tonight.  Apart from his finishing, he’s relentless in his work ethic out on the football pitch and he’s a great example for anyone to watch.  He’s very unselfish in what he does and he doesn’t get a lot of plaudits for the work-rate he puts in.

“Some would say he’s not a natural striker but he’s scored four goals tonight, he’s doing all the right things and long may it continue.”

Turning to the versatility in the squad Nathan said that was very important as shown against Birtley.

“Yes, versatility is very important – we’ve played 16-year-old Tommy Dowson in a holding midfield role tonight and he’s done brilliant for a lad at his age.

“He’s got more senior players around him to help him and we’ll continue to develop him but for a 16-year-old that’s an outstanding performance tonight.

“We took our captain and central defender Ben Errington off at Auckland on Saturday as a precaution but tonight we’ve fielded what you could term as a makeshift centre half pairing of Dylan McAvoy and James Frazer they provide balance, speed, aggression and between them and the rest of the team we’ve kept another clean sheet. This is just another example of the depth of this squad.”

With Ben Errington missing through injury Nathan gave the captain’s armband to Joe Ferguson and he praised Joe for the way he has handled the responsibility and risen to the challenge.

“I’m actually old school and like to think we have 11 captains out there but I’m really pleased particularly how he had young Tommy alongside him tonight and he’s guided him well during the game and I’m so pleased with Joe – he’s a great example.”

Looking ahead to this coming Saturday’s big FA Cup home game against arch rivals Redcar Athletic, Nathan added:  “We’re all excited about that game – it’s a break from the league so in effect that gives us a free hit.

“But we’ll be up against opposition that are very good and a very strong outfit.  They’re well-resourced and they’ve got some good players that we all know and we’re certainly the underdog.

“So it’s all on them to come and get the win but we’re not here to make up the numbers – we’re in it to win it and hopefully on the day on Saturday we can perform like we have tonight and be as clinical as what we have been tonight I think it’ll make for a juicy tie.

“There’s no fear from this Guisborough group and hopefully it’ll make for another great game.”

Nathan also thanked the Guisborough Town supporters who’ve been turning up to the KGV in numbers with over 300 again for the Birtley game.

“This is phenomenal for a club like Guisborough Town – if you’re getting over 300 crowds at this level is some achievement.

“Part of it is down to us in terms of how we’re playing but as a football club it’s so well run and we do everything well behind the scenes and overall it’s a great experience for anyone who comes down here.

We do a cracking job but on the pitch it’s for me and all my staff and the boys to put on the kinds of performances that we’re providing and if that gives the supporters something to smile about, then long may it continue,” added Nathan.

In the match against Birtley, the play from both sides was fairly scrappy for the first 20 minutes or so.

But they Guisborough clicked back into gear and Kurt Howes scored two excellent goals in quick succession in the 29^th and 37^th minutes with some great assistance from his teammates and so the Priorymen went in at half-time with a comfortable 2-0 lead.

Any thoughts of Guisborough failing to capitalise on a good start – as happened so often last season – were banished just three minutes into the second half when substitute Elliott Beddow was sent away by Howes and Elliott rounded the Birtley ‘keeper and slotted home from an acute angle for 3-0 to the Priorymen.

Guisborough were applying relentless pressure on Birtley and Kurt rounded off his four-goal haul with two superbly-taken penalties both of them clinically despatched into the bottom right hand corner for a final score of 5-0.

Apart from a superb all-round team performance, another of Guisborough/s second half substitutes Muzzy Abdullahi provided some fantastic entertainment in the last 15 minutes with some lightning speedy runs and dribbling trickery which had the home crowd voicing their delight!