Guisborough Town 0-3 Easington Colliery

Match Report

Guisborough Town suffered a chastening home defeat at the hands of lowly Easington Colliery at the Kevin Edward KGV Stadium on Saturday, conceding two penalties to the Colliers as they romped home to a 3-0 win.

Both Easington’s penalties came in stoppage time at the end of the first half then at the end of the second half, and both were despatched by striker James Fairley despite valiant efforts by Guisborough’s goalkeeper Robert Dean to keep both spot kicks out.

In between the Easington penalties Thomas Bott scored their second goal in the 66th minute despite a brilliant block by a Guisborough defender to keep the initial effort out but Bott was on hand to sweep home the rebound.

On the half hour mark Guisborough missed a golden opportunity to go in front when Easington goalkeeper Keaton Marrs saved brilliantly from a spot kick by Callum Martin.

The first half looked to be drifting towards being goalless at the interval when Easington were awarded a penalty when one of their players went down in the box.

Interestingly, the spot kick was taken by Fairley who had just come back on to the pitch after finishing a 10-minute sin bin punishment, meted out to him after showing blatant and prolonged dissent towards the referee.

But Fairley despatched the penalty despite a brave effort to keep it out by Guisborough ‘keeper Dean, who dived the right way but the ball squirmed under his body.

After the break Guisborough faded badly as Easington made most of the running and added two more goals to their tally including that late second penalty which had a bit of a bizarre twist to it.

Initially the referee appeared to award the Colliers a free kick from just five yards away from the Guisborough goal but after consulting his linesman he changed his mind and awarded the penalty which, again, Fairley scored from.

The result was tough on Guisborough goalkeeper Dean, who pulled off five or six miraculous saves throughout the game, displaying amazingly acrobatic agility to keep out several Easington goal-bound efforts.

After the game, Guisborough Manager Steve Connolly commented:

We can’t miss a penalty then give two away and expect to get anything from the game. Our game management just wasn’t good enough, and our possession of the ball wasn’t good enough either. Easington deserved their win. Collectively, we will work on these deficiencies and make improvements.

Guisborough continue to suffer from injuries and suspensions to key players, with both defenders James Frazer and Dylan McAvoy still unavailable following their recent red cards and midfielder Joe Pickett still out with a serious ankle injury sustained at Redcar Athletic in mid-January.

The trio have been amongst Guisborough’s most consistent players this season and clearly their absence has had a big influence on the Priorymen’s dip in form since the New Year.

The attendance was another healthy 276 and this latest defeat delivers an almost terminal blow to Guisborough’s play-off aspirations as they slipped to eighth in the table.

Guisborough’s next game is a tough trip to West Auckland Town next Saturday, 15 February and defeat there would almost certainly spell the end of their hopes of finishing in the play-off places.

Report: Bill Perfitt