Match Report

Controversial climax to eventful game at Blue Star robs Priorymen of a much-deserved victory

Newcastle Blue Star 3, Guisborough Town 3

(Northern League – Division One)

The outcome of this topsy turvy game pivoted on some controversial – and what some would describe as highly questionable – decisions by the match officials.

The first flashpoint came just a minute after half-time when Guisborough – 2-0 up from a dominant first half – thought they had scored a decisive third goal when livewire striker Matty Willshaw rounded the Blue Star goalkeeper to ‘score’ from close range.

But Guisborough’s celebrations were cut short when a referee’s assistant raised his flag for off-side. After protests from the Priorymen the referee consulted his assistant on the line but the offside decision stood – much to the dismay of Guisborough’s fans and players alike. Had the offside decision – which was bewildering to Willshaw and his teammates alike – been reversed, it would have put the Priorymen into what would probably have been an unassailable lead.

As it was, Guisborough were clearly rattled by that offside decision and allowed Blue Star back in the game and they scored two goals in quick succession to level the game at 2-2.

To their great credit, Guisborough recovered from these setbacks to regain the lead on 84 minutes with a sensational goal from their ‘Super Sub’ Elliott Beddow.  Such was the relief and delight of the Guisborough players that poor Beddow disappeared under the weight of virtually all of his ecstatic teammates!

CONTROVERSY ERUPTED AGAIN!

But just when the Priorymen thought they were back on course for a well-deserved 3-2 victory, more controversy erupted in virtually the last minute of the game when the referee awarded Blue Star a hotly-disputed penalty.

A Blue Star forward seemed to go down very easily under a tackle and the referee pointed awarded the home side a penalty, which was dispatched into the left hand corner of the Guisborough net.

As if conceding a last-minute penalty wasn’t enough for Guisborough, the controversy escalated to even greater heights when the referee appeared to indicate the spot kick should be retaken for an infringement. But then, inexplicably, he changed his mind and confirmed the penalty had been scored to level the game at 3-3.

Guisborough’s players, team management and supporters alike in a crowd of 290 were mystified and frustrated by the ‘on-off’ penalty decision – so much so for stalwart defender Callum Martin who was shown a straight red card for questioning the referee’s apparent about-turn on the penalty.

The red card – and it’s punishment of an automatic three match suspension – was extremely tough to take for Callum, playing his first full game in a while, and what a great individual performance he had turned in.

Afterwards, Callum vehemently maintained that all he had said to the referee was that his management of the penalty and the debacle that had ensued was “embarrassing” (with definitely no swearing, maintained a hugely disappointed Callum).  It was an opinion shared by many in the ground, even some Blue Star supporters among them.

GUISBOROUGH BOSS NATHAN HASLAM’S POST-MATCH COMMENTS:

After the game, Guisborough Manager Nathan Haslam summed up the mood of the Guisborough camp.

He commented:  “I’m very disappointed the way the game has turned out.  We were cruising 2-0 up at half-time and then we thought we’d gone 3-0 up within five minutes after the break with a very good Matty Willshaw goal which was flagged offside by the linesman.

“But I can categorically say that although we’ve all got different angles and the linesman should have the best view of all that the goal was definitely not offside and we can’t believe that goal has not been given.

“That decision was a key turning point of the game and against the run of play Blue Star then go and score a quick goal and with their tails up they go and score another quick fire goal to level the game at two all.

“But in spite of this, we stuck to our game and our principles and made some substitutions and Elliott Beddow came on and looked like he was going to cause some damage to Blue Star and luckily enough he got a chance and scored a great goal late on the lead at 3-2 and we think right we’re going to hang on and win the game.

“Then in the last minute there’s a bit of ping pong in our box and fair play to one of their lads who’s gone for the ball and taken a little dive and the ref’s gone for it and awarded them a penalty which they scored from.

“But then for whatever reason the referee blew the whistle to retake the penalty and then he decided that he didn’t want the penalty retaken and out of that came a little bit of frustration from our lads and understandably so and it’s resulted in a sin bin and a sending off for two of our players.

“I can honestly say that at no point during this incident has any of our players swore at the referee.  They’ve questioned the referee – and rightly so – and this is just about taking ownership and I can honestly say that the referee hasn’t taken ownership on his decisions.  Sometimes you’ve just got to stand up and say ‘I’ve made a mistake’ but on this occasion he didn’t and he went even further and sent one of our lads off.

“It’s really hard to take when you lose players because of a referee’s incompetence – and this is not having a go at the referee it’s just saying it as it is.

“From our point of view some key decisions in the game were bad ones by the officials and although sometimes you’ve got to suck that up and take it today it was particularly hard for us to take as the game was there for us and pretty much home and dry and I just feel that we were basically robbed by decisions of the officials.

‘RESPECTING EACH OTHER’

“The biggest thing I speak about to the lads every week is about emotional intelligence and this is about respecting referees and linesmen and respecting each other and the opposition and that when things go against you the importance of handling it in the right way and I feel that we do just that.

“We’ve got a group of lads who do that very, very well.  But when you’ve got officials making decisions like today then you should be allowed to question them. It’s all about taking ownership,” added Nathan.

In the game itself, Guisborough played some delightful football at times, particularly with some clever interplay down both flanks.

And the Priorymen took a deserved lead on 15 minutes when persistent play down the left flank by Kurtis Howes resulted in a corner and from the resultant flag kick the ball fell to Matty Willshaw at the far corner and he shot home for 1-0.

Then Guisborough doubled their lead in the 40^th minute with a wonderfully worked goal involving a great link-up play between Callum Martin, Joe Ferguson and Joe Pickett paved the way for Kurtis Howes to bear down on goal and shoot brilliantly into the right corner of the net for a convincing 2-0 half-time lead.

Then in the opening minutes of the second half it all unraveled for the Priorymen with the disallowed Willshaw effort followed by two rapid Blue Star goals in the 48^th and 53^rd minutes to level the game at 2-2.

Substitute Elliott Beddow restored Guisborough’s lead in the 84^th minute latching on to the ball on the left, cutting in and unleashing a cracking shot with arrowed into the far corner of the Blue Star net.  Then five minutes later came that disputed penalty and the rest, as they say, is history…

At least the point earned was valuable and extended their lead at the top of the table with other rivals being involved in FA Vase ties.

Guisborough are on the road again next week when they travel to Crook Town on Saturday, 25 October (KO 3pm).

Report by Bill Perfitt