Guisborough Town 3-3 Carlisle City

Guisborough Town 3-3 Carlisle City

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Details

Date Time Competition Season Attendance Captain
25/02/2023 15:00 Ebac Northern League Division 1 2022/23 262 'JJ' Bartliff

Guisborough Town F.C. Logo KO KO 7 33 44 44 50 52 60 64 68 68 71 82 89 FT

Match Report

A well below-par Guisborough Town surrendered a three goal lead as Carlisle City pulled off what had looked like a very unlikely draw at the KGV Stadium on Saturday.

And Guisborough Manager Steve Bell conceded after the game that his side were “poor” and “didn’t deserve to win the game.”
Steve continued: “I thought we were poor today, it was by far our worst performance since the first half of our Boxing Day draw at Northallerton.

“Since that game, we have played two or three games where we have lost but yet have actually played very well. But today against Carlisle we were lack-lustre, despite going 3-0 up just after half-time and although we finished up with a draw after that second half Carlisle comeback it was still a poor performance overall.”

Steve added: “We have a week and a half without a game now so we need to regroup, get all our players fully fit and then go again when we host South Park Rangers in the North Riding Senior Cup Semi-final at the KGV on 8th March.”

The game against Carlisle started off brightly enough for the Priorymen as they stormed into the lead after only seven minutes when midfielder Shabs Mohammed surged towards the Carlisle goal and from just outside the edge of the penalty area he unleashed a trademark drive which ended up in the near just inside the near post.

But the Priorymen proceeded to fail miserably to capitalise on that superb start with an anonymous performance until literally one minute before half-time when in one of their more penetrative attacks the ball bobbled skywards and Guisborough central defender James Frazer scored from close in with a well-directed header.

After the interval it took the Priorymen only five minutes more to increase their lead to 3-0 when Guisborough swarmed forward and a dangerous cross into the Carlisle penalty area was turned into his own goal by Kieron Olsen.

Despite the comfortable lead on paper, Guisborough were anything but convincing and just two minutes after their third goal Carlisle pulled a goal back to 3-1 when the Priorymen’s defence seemed to go AWOL and Kingsley Grandison took full advantage to score with a low shot into the far corner.

Worse was to follow for Guisborough as Carlisle pulled another goal back to make it 3-2 on 63 minutes through Alexander Cairns – and the jittery feelings became palpable among the Guisborough team and most of the supporters in a KGV crowd of 262. And then in a nervy finish for the Priorymen they conceded a third and equalising goal when Jordan Palmer scored with a spectacular lob from 20 yards out, the ball looping agonisingly over home ‘keeper Will Cowey and into the far corner of the net.

Guisborough now have a gap of a week and a half until their next game – an intriguing North Riding Senior Cup Semi-final against local Teesside team South Park Rangers at the KGV Stadium on Wednesday, 8 March (KO 7.30pm).

Match Report: Bill Perfitt


We also have the pleasure of publishing a second match report from upcoming sports journalist, 13 year old,  James Cowan. Son of keen Guisborough Town supporter Mark Cowan and grandson of Guisborough Town Vice Chairman, Don Cowan.

Guisborough Town were left to rue missed chances as they surrendered a three goal lead late on at the KGV on Saturday.

After just five minutes, the hosts stated their intentions when Blackford’s cross-cum- shot glanced the crossbar as fans felt encouragement for an early lead against the Sky Blues of Carlisle. Then early Guisborough pressure paid off. Known for his tendency to hit the ball from long range, as shown in Town’s recent encounter against Whitley Bay last week, Town’s midfield maestro Shabs Mohammed put the home side ahead with a crisp strike from distance.

Guisborough continued to put pressure on the away side, who offered no threat up front in the early stages. However, the Priorymen themselves couldn’t muster any shots to trouble Carlisle City’s keeper Townsley despite some neat build up play which couldn’t break through the visitors’ stubborn defence.

One-nil is never a scoreline to be taken for granted, but virtually on the stroke of the half-time break, Town reaped their rewards with a second goal, headed home by defender James Frazer. A free kick was whipped into the box by Callum Martin, prompting Bartliff to challenge and leave Frazer to do the rest. Continuing on as they left off before the break, Town pushed for a third, with two efforts blocked on the line, most notably from a Blackford corner that found Kiernan in the penalty area.

Once again, Guisborough’s hard work came to fruition. Mohammed’s corner was met by Nick Hood, whose header was saved. But the ball fell back to Mohammed to cross back in and a Carlisle player turned the ball into his own net to make it 3-0 to Guisborough. Up to this point, Town looked untroubled but in the 52nd minute Kingsley Grandison reduced the deficit to give the away side hope of a comeback. Before this point, the Priorymen had looked like they had put the game to bed by making it 3-0.

Then 11 minutes later, the away side pulled back another, with a first senior goal for Alex Cairns. It was an important goal as well, for the away side now had the momentum. With Guisborough looking to put the game to bed with a decisive fourth goal, the away side broke away, leading to a precisely finished lob from Jordan Palmer, lifted above Town’s young keeper Will Cowey. Having looked to have been out of the game, this was a clinical comeback by the away side.

The minutes ticked away into 4 minutes of stoppage time. As much as Town tried they just couldn’t find a winner late on and had to settle for a point.

Report: James Cowan

Photos: Dan Clark

Guisborough Town 3-3 Carlisle City | Ebac Northern League Division One | 25/2/2023

Past Meetings

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Ground

Kevin Edward KGV Stadium
King George V Stadium Howlbeck Road, Guisborough TS14 6LE