Match Report

Guisborough’s first half goal blitz is enough to secure another vital three home points against plucky Penrith

Guisborough Town moved to within five points of league leaders Shildon with a solid win by virtue of a devastating first half performance over plucky Penrith at the Kevin Edward KGV Stadium on Wednesday night.

The Priorymen spurted into an impressive two-goal lead within 12 minutes of the start and virtually made sure of victory with a third goal on the stroke of half-time.

But Guisborough didn’t have it all their own way after the break as a spirited Penrith pulled a goal back in the 58th minute – but in truth the Priorymen rarely looked in danger of not avenging a 2-1 defeat at the Cumbrian side way back in September last year.

After the game Guisborough Manager Nathan Haslam said he was delighted with the win.  “At this stage of the season it’s all about winning games.  It proved to be a game of two halves with us dominating the first half but fair play to Penrith for acquitting themselves really well in the second half.

KEY MOMENTS

“But I think our first half performance at key moments enabled us to go in 3-0 at half-time – and deservedly so.  This underlined the quality we had shown up to that point and ultimately that’s what has won us the game – so I’m very happy indeed,” said Nathan.

He picked out his two-man strike-force of Osiyemi Toluwani and Kurtis Howes for special praise for the important contributions each made towards the win.

Both men combined beautifully for two of the Guisborough goals in the 12th and 45th minutes – but more of that later in the report. Firstly, though, it was Guisborough defender James Frazer who opened the scoring in the fifth minute.

‘Fraze’ once again showed his versatility up front, lurking at the far post and getting on the end of a lovely two-man link-up from a corner between Alfie Doherty and Elliott Beddow to tap home from close range and the Priorymen were on their way at 1-0.

Guisborough doubled their lead in the 12th minute when tall winger ‘Tolu’ put on the ‘after-burners’ to burst down the right flank and cut inside before he was brought down in the penalty area by a Penrith defender for an obvious spot kick.

‘DEADLY DUO!’

Up stepped Kurtis to score decisively with his usual aplomb from the penalty spot, cleverly sending the Penrith ‘keeper the wrong way.

And it was the same deadly duo of Kurtis and Tolu who combined again in brilliant fashion virtually on the stroke of half-time to make it 3-0. Tolu won possession and dribbled purposefully forward into the Penrith penalty area before squaring unselfishly to the unmarked Kurtis to his left and he swept the ball confidently home into a half-empty net.

After the break, Penrith played significantly better and deservedly pulled a goal back on 58 minutes when the Priorymen failed to clear a corner and visiting winger Matthew Williamson hit the ball home for 3-1.

Following that Penrith threatened on a few occasions but were awfully wayward with both crosses and shots on goal and Guisborough were able to coast to a crucial win in front of another excellent midweek KGV crowd of 346.

MANAGER’S RICH PRAISE FOR TOLU AND KURTIS

Back now to Guisborough Manager Nathan Haslam, who heaped richly-deserved praise on both Tolu and Kurtis.  Commented Nathan:  “The big man Tolu occupies defenders and when he gets into wide areas he’s very direct, quick and aggressive on the ball and as with many of our opponents Penrith struggled to handle Tolu tonight.  So overall it was a great contribution by him tonight and long may that continue.”

Turning to Kurtis, whose two goals against Penrith lifted him into top place in the Northern League’s Division One leading scorers’ list with an impressive haul of 18 goals so far this season, Nathan added:  “Kurtis’s brace of goals tonight were really well deserved by him.  He works very, very hard for the team, and while  sometimes he doesn’t seem to be that involved, off the ball he’s always working really hard for the team.

“His goals are just rewards for all the hard work he does and it’s great that Tolu has become a kind of strike partner for Kurtis and tonight he’s virtually put both his goals on a plate for him.  But while Kurtis being a striker who loves scoring goals, he’d be the first to concede that as long as the team is winning it doesn’t really matter who’s putting the goals away.”

NATHAN ALSO PRAISES ‘SMART ONE-TWO’

Nathan also commented on the smart one-two from a corner between Doherty and Beddow which led to Frazer’s opening goal.  “Set pieces are something we work on in training so it’s really rewarding when you see them coming off like that as it did for that early first goal, added Nathan.

He also commented once again on the fan-tastic support the Guisborough crowds continue giving to the team.  He added:  “We need our fans more than ever with just three home games left and seven away games so I can’t thank them enough and I hope they keep coming to support us home and away, it helps make the title race we’re involved in so exciting for everybody.”

Looking ahead to this coming Saturday’s match at Horden CW, Nathan commented:  “We’re going to a tough place at Horden, we know what they are about having beaten them at our place earlier in the season.  But we’re not naïve to think the three points will fall into our laps – we know we’ve got to work as hard as ever and must be good at the key moments again like we’ve been tonight.

“It will be one of those games where ‘anybody can beat anybody’ so we’ll need to be right on our mettle as we expect another tough game ahead of us,” added Nathan.

Report by Bill Perfitt.