Match Report

Guisborough Town bow out of League Cup after 3-2 penalty shoot-out defeat

GUISBOROUGH TOWN 1, MARSKE UNITED 1

(Marske win 3-2 on penalties)

Guisborough Town will not shed any tears despite being narrowly knocked out of the Northern League Cup on penalties by neighbours Marske United at the Kevin Edward KGV Stadium on Wednesday night.

With virtually the last kick of the match, the Priorymen spared their own blushes with a superb last-gasp 95th minute headed equaliser from defender Josh Rowbotham.

The goal was brilliantly created by Guisborough’s impressive young 17-year-old right back Sonny McKenna with a peach of a cross from the right – to cap a really fine display overall by the young defender.

That late goal cancelled out an excellent Marske effort scored on the stroke of half-time by Dan Bean who cleverly diverted a cross from the left into the far right corner of the Guisborough net.

So with no extra-time, the outcome of the match was decided by penalties and after captain Callum Martin scored Guisborough’s first penalty the Priorymen couldn’t maintain that promising start and eventually it was Marske who ran out 3-2 spot kick winners.

For Guisborough,  however, this exit from the League Cup competition ensures that the Priorymen can now focus their attentions exclusively on trying to win promotion out of the Northern League with no other demands weighing on them.

After the match, Guisborough Manager Nathan Haslam admitted the game really wasn’t a high priority for his side and had come around at a difficult point in the season when minds were firmly focused on the title race and potential promotion.

But he added: “I’m really delighted with the performance, particularly from the young lads in our squad after we gave them a platform to showcase their talents.

“We had several young players all aged between 16 and 17 and each and every one of them has acquitted themselves really well and played brilliantly with some great patterns of play evident from all of them.

“Sonny McKenna and Billy Waller in particular have been brilliant and we’ve also had Tommy Dowson, Finn McKitterick. Joe Townsend and Dylan Meehan all playing their part in a good team display. We’ve also brought the likes of Gary Wood and Leon Carling out of ‘retirement’ and they’ve made good contributions as indeed you’d expect them to with their experience.

“Overall, it was a tight encounter and ultimately we’ve missed out on penalties but it is what it is and so we now move on and revert our attentions back to the League programme,” commented Nathan.

Looking ahead to this coming Saturday. 14 March and the visit of Newcastle Blue Star to the KGV, Nathan continued: “We’re excited to be back in League action. We’ve only got two home league matches left and Blue Star are a very, very tough team who are in good form and scoring goals again at the moment.

“So we’re going to have our work cut out, but we’ll have all of our experienced senior players back and we’ll have to be on our mettle with no room for slip-ups.”

Nathan was delighted to have Josh MacDonald back in the team against Marske after a long period out with injury. “It was a really positive and mature performance from him tonight and we look forward to getting more minutes into him in our upcoming games,” added Nathan.

Report by Bill Perfitt.