Match Report

Guisborough gaffer Nathan Haslam reflects proudly on the amazing progress of his table-topping squad

Whitley Bay 0, Guisborough Town 2

(Northern League – Division One)

Guisborough Town roared back from a three-week lay-off due to postponements to pick up where they left off from their victory over Northallerton on Boxing Day with a dominant display at Whitley Bay and a thoroughly deserved 2-0 win.

The excellent team performance was a big birthday boost for Manager Nathan Haslam – on top of the return to the club of former KGV favourite Jordan Fielding from Crook Town.

And Jordan got an earlier than expected return to the action when he came on as substitute for team captain Ben Errington in the 37^th minute who was hurt after making a brilliant last-ditch tackle to prevent a Bay attacker from getting through on goal.

After the game Nathan commented:  “What a player Jordan is to bring on in these circumstances and he showed instantly that he’s going to fit well with us again.  He’s a great communicator and has had a very good game on his comeback with us.  He hadn’t met his new team-mates although he knows a few of them and he’s fitted in really, really well.

“He did very well indeed in his first spell at the club a couple of seasons ago when he mopped up several of the annual Player of the Year awards and we knew he’d like to rejoin us again in a heartbeat as he loves this club. I could see Jordan’s leadership qualities straight away – he was talking and organising and he’s had a very good 55 or 60 minutes’ game time out there.  I’m very excited to work with him.

“I think the strength in depth we now have in the squad was very evident today – you get to a point in the game when players are fatigued on these heavy pitches and we’ve got players of the calibre of Tolu to bring on and he’s another who has done very well today.

“The players are well aware of what we are trying to do in terms of it being a squad game and overall I’m delighted with the performance and result today against a very good team who are currently sitting in a play-off place,” added Nathan.

He also spoke about the recent player contracts activity, with defender James Frazer getting an extension to his deal and striker Matty Willshaw and goalkeeper Ryan Catterick also being awarded contracts.

Nathan continued:  “This is something I wanted and I presented it to the club and they were on to it straight away, which shows the forward-thinking of where the club wants to go.  It’s imperative with our best players now that they need to be contracted because when you’re doing well the bigger clubs with money come calling and we need to protect ourselves against this and for me as a manager I need to plan ahead and know that I’ve got these players on a contract.

“All have been brilliant for us this season – Matty with his goals, James who is ‘Mr Reliable’ – he loves the football club – and Ryan in goal who’s been outstanding since he came through the door.”

Nathan himself has been awarded an extension to his contract for the whole of next season, and commenting on that he said:  “For me it was a no-brainer.  When the Chairman Andy Bell approached me about it the discussion couldn’t have gone any better.

“The support mechanism I have received has been brilliant – the club have done what they said they would do and this has given me the confidence to look further ahead and continue to build a squad that I believe is good enough to step up to the next level and more importantly compete at that higher level.

“This is something I want to continue to be involved in – it was a project when I came here, the club made that very clear.  So far it’s going really well and we’re where we want to be and for myself I’m really pleased to have signed a contract extension,” added Nathan.

As far as the game against the Bay is concerned, he said:  “Obviously I’m delighted with the win – it was a dominant performance.

“It’s always difficult with the heavy pitches at this time of year and we mentally prepared the lads for this.  We’ve gone toe to toe with the Bay and we’ve looked very fit considering we’ve had pretty much three weeks out of action due to postponements because of bad weather.

“But as the game wore on we looked fitter and fitter and managed to get the win.  We also kept a clean sheet and completed the double over them which we have achieved against a number of teams in and around us.  So it’s a great start to the New Year for us.”

Nathan praised the performance of Ryan Catterick for some superb saves, particularly in the first half, and his all-round play.

“Ryan’s like our 11^th outfield player at times with his excellent distribution and another fantastic display from him.

The Priorymen scored two very different goals in each half – the first in the 19^th minute from Matty Willshaw which typified his sheer determination and the second one a fantastic effort from Alfie Doherty on 74 minutes.

Nathan added:  “The first goal from Matty came as a result of brilliant work by Dylan McAvoy.  He’s had the courage to get high upfield and the bravery to battle and harass and come out with the ball.  Matty’s then got the ball and he excels in those tight pockets of space before blasting the ball into the net.

“In our second goal we’ve broke quite quickly in transition on the left hand side and great work from Tom Birtles to set up Alfie Doherty and what a finish from Alfie.  These are the key moments in games that you need to take and for us these goals have given us the cushion we needed and we were good value for the 2-0 scoreline.”

Next up for Guisborough is the rearranged match at Birtley Town this coming Tuesday, 20 January (please note the earlier 7.30pm kick off).

Fantastic achievement by Guisborough Girls U-13s

Meanwhile, a special mention to Guisborough Town Girls Under-13s who have not only won their league title but have done so winning every single game.

Under the guidance and coaching of husband and wife team Scott and Sammy Allison and more recently Mitchell Thompson, the team has developed from a fairly average group to actually winning their league, which is just brilliant.

Everyone connected with Guisborough Juniors are proud of what the girls and their coaches have achieved!

Report by Bill Perfitt.