Carlisle City 1-1 Guisborough Town

Match Report

An immensely proud Guisborough Town Manager Steve Bell lavished richly-deserved praise on his severely-depleted team – missing no fewer than eight senior players – as they earned a precious point in a battling 1-1 draw at high-flying Carlisle City last night.

A combination of injuries, work commitments, holidays, a suspension and even a player’s wedding forced the Guisborough team management to draft four teenaged reserves into starting line-up plus two more youngsters on the subs bench.

So to salvage a thoroughly-deserved draw after going a goal behind in the first half was a tremendous team achievement, which inspired team boss Steve to heap generous praise on his heroic side.

After the game a cock-a-hoop Steve declared: “I am so proud of our entire side out there tonight, this was a really fantastic team performance.

“I was particularly proud of our young players out there, with the likes of Kenzie Harker, Robbie Cuthbert, James Boucher, Matthew Bage and Aidan Breeze, who were all outstanding tonight.

‘THOROUGHLY DESERVED’

“We had no fewer than eight senior players unavailable for various reasons tonight, and when we lost Kurtis Howes through injury after just 29 minutes and then go a goal down a minute later, we could easily have capitulated from then onwards.

“But we stuck at it and thoroughly deserved our equaliser in the 79th minute and if I’m honest we could have actually won the game in the last 10 minutes.

“But overall it was a fantastic performance under very difficult circumstances and I could be prouder of the lads tonight,” added Steve.

The manager’s buoyant mood was a far cry from last Saturday after the very poor performance against Crook Town when he didn’t hold back from strongly criticising his side.

But that’s the essence of Steve Bell – he tells it as it is and is not afraid to have a go when he feels the need – but he’s the first to acknowledge it when the team genuinely deserve fulsome praise, as in the game against Carlisle.

The five young players who featured in the Carlisle match were all either just 17 or 18, but how they matured massively to the delight of Guisborough’s travelling band of 20 or so diehards who made up about a sixth of the meagre crowd of 125.

It’s difficult to single out any one individual young player but the consensus was that Kenzie Harker, a Middlesbrough lad just turned 18 and recently released by Darlington, was a deserved ‘Man of the Match’ for the Priorymen.

After the game he commented: “I really enjoyed it being involved out there and it felt great to get the full 90 minutes under my belt after the very limited opportunities I’d had recently with Darlington.

“I was starting to wonder what next for me so I thought I’d try Guisborough Town partly because my girlfriend is related to Steve Bell.

“My dad approached the club and I’m so glad I got the chance to come to Guisborough Town to have this opportunity to show what I’m capable of and to try and get my footballing career back on track,” added Kenzie.

Just how much Guisborough were down to the bare bones at Carlisle was underlined by the fact that Assistant Manager Paul Crager had to be named on the bench (no offence Paul!) along with youngsters Aidan Breeze and Archie Medcalf.

STAR PERFORMERS

As if things weren’t desperate enough for the Priorymen one of the club’s star performers Kurtis Howes had to limp off after less than half an hour following a robust challenge, paving the way for yet another teenager Aidan Breeze to enter into the fray.

But within a minute Guisborough found themselves a goal behind following a spell of sustained Carlisle pressure when Jordan Irving scored with a header from a Keighran Kerr cross.

After looking decidedly second best in the first half, Guisborough came out fighting in the second half and were the better team overall in the second 45 minutes.

And this was despite losing the energetic and fully-committed Bradley Mills midway through the half for 10 minutes in the sin bin after protesting when a throw-in the linesman initially awarded to the Priorymen was overturned by the referee. Brad’s understandable frustration typified the wholehearted commitment of the entire Guisborough side.

As the second half progressed it was clear Guisborough were gaining the upper hand and had the Carlisle side rattled.

And it was no surprise when on 78 minutes Guisborough got the equaliser their heroic efforts and commitment richly deserved and it came from an unlikely source.

Guisborough won a free kick which Joe Pickett whipped over with his usual aplomb and the second ball found Dylan McAvoy’s head and he powered it beautifully into the back of the net for a rare career goal which capped an excellent individual display.

Three minutes later Guisborough could have clinched what would have been a memorable victory when defender James Frazer – a towering pillar in the Town defence – joined in the attack and agonisingly shot just over the bar after a mistake by Carlisle ‘keeper Stephen Townsley.

Frazer, always a big threat when he ventures up front, had almost equalised for Guisborough five minutes after the break when a fine trademark header from a lovely James Boucher corner cannoned against the Carlisle bar and bounced clear.

Report: Bill Perfitt