Guisborough Town 1 – 2 Penrith

Match Report

Guisborough Town slid to a disappointing 2-1 defeat at home to Penrith at the KGV on Saturday as all the optimism generated by the previous weekend’s excellent 2-0 win at Redcar Athletic evaporated somewhat.

All the goal action was compressed into a frantic six minute period midway through the second half as the Cumbrians went ahead in the 68th minute, the Priorymen equalised three minutes later only for Penrith to notch the winner on 75 minutes.

Guisborough pushed forward in a vain search for an equaliser for the next 15 minutes but it didn’t materials and the visitors went back home happy to Cumbria along the A66 after the game.

It was a bitter disappointment for Guisborough in front of their biggest home crowd of the season – 434 swelled by additional spectators by virtue of the club’s Sponsors’ Day and another Juniors’ Day.

After an impeccably-observed minute’s silence for Remembrance Day, the first 20 minutes of the game was highly entertaining and competitive with both sides carving out good chances and going close to breaking the deadlock.

First, Guisborough right back Callum Martin shot wide in the first minute then a long-range Penrith shot was comfortably saved by Guisborough ‘keeper Robert Dean in the fourth minute.

On 12 minutes Dean saved Guisborough again with a superb save from Penrith winger Connor Shields and just a minute later Guisborough winger Ben Jackson hit a great shot but Taylor in the Penrith goal saved.

In the 19th minute Shields was through on goal again but he shot weakly wide.  Shortly before half-time Guisborough defender James Dillon got in a good shot which whistled just over the bar.

In the second half Penrith were the first to feature when they had the ball in the Guisborough net on 51 minutes but it was ruled out for offside.

Four minutes later Dillon popped up in the Penrith penalty area again but his header following a corner went wide.

BREAKTHROUGH

In the 65th minute Guisborough were indebted to goalkeeper Deano yet again when he made a fantastic one-on-one save to keep the scores level.

But three minutes later Penrith made the breakthrough when Shields finally got his reward for his persistence in front of goal, blasting the ball into the back of the Guisborough net with the Priorymen appealing in vain for offside.

Only three minutes later, however, Guisborough stormed back level when skipper Charlie Marshall came up for a corner and sent a bullet-like header into the back of the Penrith net for 1-1.

But Guisborough’s celebrations were premature as only four minutes later Jamie Armstrong lashed the ball home to give Penrith a 2-1 lead which they held on to until the end of play for a hard-earned victory.

After the game a clearly disappointed Guisborough Manager Steve Bell commented:  honestly:  “I’ve no complaints about the result to be honest.

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“We have some very good players who for one reason or another were not available to us today.

“But don’t get me wrong we had enough talent out there on the pitch to have won this game without a doubt.

“To be fair, I was impressed with Penrith and just how hard they worked for each other.

“We need a big improvement for our next game away to Sunderland RCA this coming Saturday,” added Steve.

Report: Bill Perfitt