Guisborough Town 0-3 Crook Town

Match Report

Guisborough Town Manager Steve Bell was fiercely critical of his players after they were humbled 0-3 at home on Wednesday night by lowly Crook Town, who leapfrogged the Priorymen in the league table after their convincing victory.

After the game Steve commented:

As Manager of Guisborough Town I feel embarrassed after that abysmal performance. In the seven or eight seasons that me and Paul (Crager) have managed together, this was in the top three or four worst performances we have ever witnessed from any of our teams. This was the second game in a row that I’ve had to have a go at the lads at half-time. At least at Newcastle Blue Star on Saturday I got a very positive reaction from the boys after the interval.

But against Crook Town tonight my harsh words at half-time just seemed to fall on deaf ears. I just didn’t seem to get any kind of reaction compared to Saturday’s game at Blue Star. I think that even if I myself had played in the Crook team they would still have won the game!

With no first team game on Saturday we were going to have a team day out in York, but that’s off now – we’re not going and I’ll be calling the lads in for training instead.

The game got off to the worst possible start for Guisborough when Crook went ahead after just three minutes when Josh MacDonald found himself completely unmarked eight yards out and he lashed the ball home into a gaping net.

Three minutes later the Priorymen produced two of their best chances throughout the whole game when first Kurt Howes had a good shot saved by the Crook ‘keeper’s legs.

Then almost immediately after an inviting cross was floated over into the Crook box and Guisborough striker Jason Blackburn rose well to get in a glancing header which flashed across the goal and behind for a goal kick. Apart from that, Guisborough just couldn’t string any worthwhile moves together and reverted to aimless long, high balls up front which the Crook defence dealt with easily.

The only other chance of note for the Priorymen came in the 25th minute when Blackburn got in a great header but the Crook ‘keeper was equal to it, arching acrobatically to tip the ball over his bar. It was no surprise when a much sharper Crook side doubled their lead just after the half hour mark and it was MacDonald once again was glaringly unmarked and blasted the ball easily into the back of the Guisborough net.

Despite a few home truths being spoken at half-time by the Guisborough Manager, the Priorymen were caught cold just two minutes into the second half when a bad defensive mistake allowed Crook’s Charlie Bunton to rifle the ball home superbly into the far corner for 3-0.

That third goal knocked the stuffing out of the Priorymen completely and they never really looked like pulling even one goal back after that. As Guisborough Town’s ‘X’ summariser appropriately wrote it was a “BAD NIGHT AT THE OFFICE.”

The attendance was a half-decent 229 to say the August holiday season is in full swing. The defeat, however, saw Guisborough slip to 13th in the table while Crook climbed just above the Priorymen in 12th place.

Report: Bill Perfitt