Boro Rangers 0-4 Guisborough Town

Match Report

Super-impressive Guisborough Town produced their most complete, flawless performance of the season with a 4-0 demolition of Boro Rangers on Saturday – gaining swift revenge for the 3-2 defeat by Rangers at the KGV on Boxing Day.

And importantly, the three points earned from this decisive victory has lifted the Priorymen right into the thick of the promotion and play-off places as they now trail current league leaders Shildon by a mere two points.

The icing on a brilliant all-round Guisborough Town display was provided by Joe Pickett and Kurtis Howes, who bagged two goals apiece to take their total for the season so far to 15 goals apiece – making them the club’s joint top scorers.

The livewire Pickett set Guisborough on their way to a thoroughly convincing win with a goal after 25 minutes, fashioned by the immaculate defender James Frazer who put a defence-splitting ball through to Pickett who latched on and finished clinically for 1-0 to the Priorymen.

Then 13 minutes later it was super-Pickett again who scored his and Guisborough’s second goal with an absolutely gem of a goal. The move started with defender Matty Crust sweeping the ball out wide to Dylan McAvoy who in turn found Pickett who from an oblique angle curled a blistering drive over the Rangers ‘keeper and the ball flew into the far roof of the net.

It was a truly memorable effort and a strong contender for ‘goal of the season.’

If a shell-shocked Rangers thought the second half would bring them better fortunes, they were badly mistaken as the Priorymen just took up where they had left off at the interval by increasing their lead to 3-0 in the 50th minute.

This time it was Howes who was on target when he combined beautifully with his strike partner Pickett, who put a fantastic through ball to Howes who rounded the Rangers ‘keeper superbly to slot the ball home into an empty net.

And then just three minutes later it was 4-0 when the impressive McAvoy claimed his second ‘assist’ of the game, crossing to the back post for Howes to rifle home with ease.

Apart from the two goal-scorers Pickett and Howes, this really was an all-round excellent team performance with every single Guisborough player – and the subs who came on – playing their part in a terrific match for the Priorymen.

GUISBOROUGH MANAGER STEVE CONNOLLY’S THOUGHTS…

After the game Guisborough Manager Steve Connolly was, unsurprisingly, full of rich praise for his team.

I’m absolutely delighted with the win and getting on the scoresheet four times today – and some very good goals they were – and I’m especially delighted given the quality of the opposition that we kept a clean sheet.

We kept a very disciplined shape today so credit to our players for the way they handled key periods of the game. We said 10 days ago when Boro Rangers came to our place that they were ruthless in their 3-2 win, well today it was our turn to be ruthless and we took our chances and made the opposition pay.

Steve paid warm tribute to his team for the way they handled playing on the artificial 4G pitch, which clearly is very different to what the Guisborough squad play on most weeks.

The players were well up for today and I’m really delighted for them and the way they played as a team.

Steve also paid tribute to the recent form of Dylan McAvoy, who has shown his great versatility playing in whatever position that has been asked of him. He also highlighted the goal-scoring form of Joe Pickett and Kurtis Howes.

They are both in good form, both took their goals really well – they weren’t easy chances but to be fair they’ve made them look easy. You can tell they’re high on confidence too at the moment which is great. I also have to give a mention to our stand-in Number 9 as well. We’ve scored a total of 15 goals in our last five games while Max Craggs has been playing at Number 9. There’s a definite link to our recent improvement in front of goal with Max’s presence and hold-up play up front being an important factor.

The crowd of 158 at the Rangers game was definitely swelled significantly by the Guisborough fans who travelled in numbers across Teesside to support their beloved Priorymen.

Guisborough’s next game is next Saturday, 11 January (KO 3pm) at home at the Kevin Edward KGV Stadium against Northallerton Town so it’s a great opportunity for the Priorymen to consolidate and strengthen their play-off/title push.

Report: Bill Perfitt
Photos: Dan Clark