Match Report

Two-goal Matty stars as Guisborough power their way to impressive derby win over Marske

Marske Utd 0, Guisborough Town 3

(Northern League – Division One)

For a brief period of about 15 minutes of Guisborough Town’s derby clash at Marske United, the Priorymen sat proudly for the first time in many seasons at the very top of the Northern League Division One.

For 30 miles up the A19 high-flying Whitley Bay were only drawing at Easington Colliery while Guisborough Town had taken a 2-0 lead four minutes after half-time at Marske, meaning the Priorymen leapfrogged the Bay to claim top spot in the table.

However, despite going down to 10 men just before half-time, the Bay managed to recover in the second half and ran out 2-1 winners over the Colliers to end the afternoon back as league leaders again.

But a comfortably convincing 3-0 victory over arch-rivals Marske left Guisborough only a solitary point behind Whitley Bay when all the results were in – and the Priorymen were indebted to two excellent goals from recent signing Matty Willshaw and a third from his strike partner Kurtis Howes.

After the game, a clearly cock-a-hoop Guisborough Manager Nathan Haslam commented:  “Obviously I’m really happy, it was a local derby with what turned out to be a comfortable victory and a clean sheet to boot.

“WE WERE CLINICAL AND TOOK OUR CHANCES WELL”

“Conditions were very difficult for both sides with strong winds, but I thought we were very professional throughout but we created enough chances and today we’ve been quite clinical and taken our chances well to win comfortably, with all due respect to Marske.

“It was good for us to play the first half against the wind and to see what Marske could throw at us.  But we contained them and it was a bonus to go in at half-time a goal up, thanks to a great Matty Willshaw header after and excellent cross by Toluwani Osiyemi,” continued Nathan,

He paid special tribute to Willshaw, in particular his work-rate which he described as “relentless” along with his multi-talented all-round game which made him a real handful for opponents to handle.

Nathan once again commented on the great support Guisborough took to Marske, with at least an estimated 100 Town fans in the crowd of 417.

“It was great to see how many of our red and white colours were there in the crowd, particularly a good amount of them behind us in the dugout and it definitely gives our players a boost to see such a good following and it’s good for us to be able to give them a performance they could enjoy,” added Nathan.

He said Guisborough’s next game on 11 October at home to fifth-placed Horden CW at the Kevin Edward KGV Stadium provided a great opportunity for the Priorymen to hopefully extend their brilliant home run of eight wins on the trot.

Report by Bill Perfitt