Match Report

Disappointment for Priorymen as abandoned game reduces big lead at the top of the table to six points

Guisborough Town 1 West Allotment Celtic 0

(Northern League – Division One)

Match abandoned after 76 minutes – waterlogged pitch

Incessant heavy rain causing a waterlogged KGV pitch conspired to thwart Guisborough Town’s hopes of maintaining their 9-point lead at the top of the Northern League Division One table on Saturday.

With nearest rivals Shildon beating Northallerton 3-1, the Priorymen’s lead was cut to six points and the Railwaymen have a game in hand – so it was doubly disappointing when match referee Colin Royal decided to abandon the game after 76 minutes.

However, despite the frustration of the game being stopped with the Priorymen leading 1-0 with only about 15 minutes to go, Guisborough Town accepts that ultimately the right decision was made by the match officials in the interests of player safety.

Guisborough Town also accepts and appreciates that the referee allowed the game to go on for as long as possible towards a conclusion but eventually it was inevitable that the match should be called off with the heavy rain continuing to saturate large areas of the KGV pitch.

Up until the game was abandoned, Guisborough had largely dominated the game and deservedly took the lead after just 16 minutes when leading scorer Kurtis Howes scored a typically slide-rule shot into the corner of the West Allotment net.

But really sadly for Kurt, what would have been his 15th goal of the season will now have to be chalked off due to the abandonment of the game.

Exciting Primary Schools engagement initiative launched!

Despite the frustrating outcome to the game against West Allotment, one very bright spot among the gloomy weather on the day was the launch of a pioneering pilot scheme to improve links between Guisborough Town and Primary Schools in the Town.

So spectators amongst another excellent KGV crowd of just short of 300 will no doubt have seen a group of young children from Galley Hill School wearing their school football strips.

The architect of this schools initiative is Guisborough Town Chairman Andy Bell, who was delighted to get the scheme off the ground in spite of the awful weather which blighted the actual game against West Allotment.

Andy commented:  “The initiative involves inviting a selection of pupils from each Primary School in Guisborough to one of our home matches between now and the end of the season.

“Galley Hill was the first school I engaged with partly because my daughter Nancy goes there and so I have contacts with some of the teaching staff there.

“There was a good willingness of Galley Hill to become involved in the project with an uptake of 12 children confirmed as coming along to the West Allotment match.

“Before the game, they were led into the home changing room to meet our players and ask questions about what it is like to be a local non-league footballer and what their roles involve.  It produced a lively session with the children asking pre-prepared questions – it was certainly a good pre-match warm up for our players!

“The children were accompanied by parents and teaching staff to ensure proper safeguarding while they were at the ground, and judging by the excitement they showed I think the pilot scheme got off to a great start.

“The main idea is for our club to establish better community links and get more people through our gates on match days to see what we are about.

“As a club want to provide young people a safe place to engage with people of their own age and ultimately have fun creating more friendships.

“It will also give us the opportunity to further showcase our thriving Junior Section to both the school staff and the children.

“After this first pilot sessions, we will review how the day went and look to extend this exciting initiative to our other local Primary Schools,” added Andy.

Report by Bill Perfitt