Match Report

Priorymen produce first-ever victory in NPL East Division

Guisborough Town 2, Hallam 0

(Northern Premier League East Division)

Guisborough Town atoned for the bitter disappointment of the midweek abandonment of their match against Ashington when they secured their first-ever league win at the Kevin Edward KGV Stadium on Saturday.

A goal in each half was enough to earn the Priorymen a thoroughly deserved and ultimately convincing 2-0 victory over Hallam to lift themselves comfortably up into mid-table.

The hard-earned win helped banish the blues of their midweek match against Ashington which had to be postponed following a floodlight failure with Guisborough agonisingly leading 2-0.

Saturday’s game got off to a controversial start when Hallam were awarded a dubious penalty in only the second minute. But Guisborough goalkeeper Ryan Catterick dived full-length to pull off a brilliant save from Hallam centre forward Rob Guilfoyle.

In the 7th minute Guisborough thought they had a strong shout for a penalty themselves when Toluwani Osiyemi sprinted into the Hallam area and was brought down – but the referee blew up for an apparent earlier foul.

However, Tolu put Guisborough ahead on 22 minutes with a beautifully crafted and finished goal. Soni Fergus put over a peach of a cross from the left and pounced brilliantly to guide the ball into the Hallam net for 1-0 to the Priorymen!

Just three minutes later Tolu burst through again but was penalised for a ‘soft’ foul on his marker – and the teams went in at half-time with Guisborough still a goal up.

Barely a minute into the second half the Priorymen doubled their lead with a cracking goal from left back Sam Collins, who raced towards the Hallam goal before unleashing a powerful shot low into the bottom corner.

For the rest of the half, Hallam huffed and puffed but lacked a real cutting edge up front and whenever they did threaten found Catterick in outstanding form in the Guisborough goal along with the impressive centre back pairing of Ben Errington and James Frazer.

In the 76th minute, Guisborough were reduced to 10 men when defender Kallum Griffiths got a second yellow card in quick succession. But the Priorymen saw the game out safely despite their numerical disadvantage.

After the game Guisborough Town Manager Nathan Haslam commented: “Delighted with the win today and to get off the mark with our first three points of the new season.

“We followed on from Wednesday night with a solid first half performance without being brilliant.

“The pitch is in unbelievable condition and Hallam did pose a threat mainly from set-pieces but we managed them well.

“There could have been a turning point in the game with Kallum Griffiths’ dubious sending off in the second half and it’s then backs to the wall to win it and we’ve kept a clean sheet so we’ve got to be happy with that.”

Nathan added: “In this league you’ve got to show battling qualities and we’ve done exactly that today.”

Looking ahead to next Tuesday’s game at league leaders Liversedge (KO 7.45pm) Nathan continued: “It’s  a nice pitch there and it’s a tough place to go to but we’re quite hopeful with our recent form that we can get something out of the game.”

Guisborough left back Sam Collins was delighted with the tremendous individual solo goal he scored a minute after half-time, commenting:

“Buzzing today to be honest. All the lads were gutted after Wednesday’s game got abandoned with us 2-0 up.

“I’m delighted with my goal, I got down towards the corner and just cracked the ball home. I’m also very pleased with my move to Guisborough, we’ve got a really good group of lads and a great team spirit,” added Sam.

Report by Bill Perfitt.