Guisborough Town 2-0 Thornaby

Match Report

Guisborough Town got back to winning ways on Saturday when they completed a league double over Teesside derby rivals Thornaby with a tough and very keenly fought 2-0 victory.
Thornaby – rock bottom of the table – made a mockery of their lowly position and gave Guisborough a real run for their money and their eventual win.

After the match Guisborough Manager Steve Bell admitted:

This was a really tough game for us in the end – I was really impressed with what the new Thornaby manager has done in such a quick time. They had a right go at us early on which resulted in them having a few half chances but, once we settled, I thought we were good value for our 2-0 lead at half-time.

I was convinced that in the second half that we would press on with the wind at our backs down the slope but it just didn’t work out that way. To Thornaby’s credit, they had a real go at us in the second half and we had to be very good defensively. We still should have scored more goals on the break and in the end a 2-0 defeat probably flattered them a little.

That said it was a good first win of the New Year so bring on the Bishops who we travel to next Saturday.

The match see-sawed from end to end in the opening 10 minutes but in the 13th minute Guisborough had a golden chance when Cole Kiernan did brilliantly to beat his man down the right and crossed for skipper JJ Bartliff – playing as a centre forward – to head wide when well placed. Guisborough winger Jack Blackford was looking in the mood and he made a great 21st minute run down the left but his cross was well-held by Thornaby’s former Guisborough ‘keeper Robert Dean.

But Blackford scored a superb goal four minutes later when full back Callum Martin sent Blackford away and the winger cut inside and smashed a left-footer inside the near post for 1-0 to Guisborough. Then in the 29th minute Guisborough doubled their lead when left back Liam Miller produced a superb run down the left and pinpoint cross for leading scorer Kiernan to bring his tally for the season so far to 20 when he saw his header saved by Dean but he calmly stroked the rebound home for 2-0. Kiernan had two further chances to increase the Priorymen’s lead further before half time but the score remained 2-0 as the half-time whistle sounded.

WIDTH OF CROSSBAR!

An excellent crowd of 302 were clearly expecting more goals from Guisborough after the interval but they struggled to rediscover their first half fluency and rhythm and it was Thornaby who looked the most likely to score. And shortly before the hour mark they came the width of the crossbar to pulling a goal back when full back Joe Pickett hit a great shot from 25 yards out which dipped at the last second but bounced back off the bar.

Although Thornaby pressed Guisborough hard for the majority of the second half, in truth apart from the Pickett effort that hit the bar they never seriously tested the Guisborough goal beyond that. Guisborough striker Cole Kiernan was named the Guisborough Brewery-sponsored Man of the Match.

The Priorymen’s next match is this coming Saturday, 21 January at current league leaders Bishop Auckland (KO 3pm).

Report: Bill Perfitt
Photos: Dan Clark

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— Guisborough Town F.C. (@guistownfc) January 14, 2023