Guisborough Town 2-0 Runcorn Town (Buildbase FA Vase)

Report

“Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze!” was the instruction repeatedly barked from the dugout by Guisborough’s caretaker manager Steve ‘Dowlo’ Dowling to his players in their FA Vase First Round tie at the KGV against Runcorn on Saturday.

And the pre-agreed deliberate tactic of closing down their Merseyside opponents and denying them any breathing space worked a treat and did just the trick perfectly for the Priorymen on the eve of Halloween!

At the final whistle a delighted Steve commented: “We spoke before the game about squeezing them from the outset and giving them no space at all to work with and I think that worked well for us.

“The entire team worked very hard today and stuck to our plan, with everyone giving 100% and they deserved their success on the day.”

Guisborough Chairman Don Cowan said after the game: “I am delighted for Dowlo and the team today. He is a very good friend of Guisborough Town and it was typical of him that he immediately offered to help us in our hour of need. We have some great friends here at this club and in turn we always look after our friends.”

Don also paid tribute to the commitment and support of Guisborough Town favourite Gary Wood following the recent managerial developments.

Guisborough came out of the blocks from the off and winger Mason McNeill in particular was in great form, firing in two fierce volleys in the first 10 minutes which came close to opening the scoring for the Priorymen.

Then Joe Ferguson got in a good 11th minute shot which Runcorn ‘keeper Adam Reid managed to claw away for a Guisborough corner.

McNeill was causing constant problems for Runcorn down the left flank with his marauding runs and he came close yet again to opening the scoring for his side in the 18th and 21st minutes but both his shots just cleared the Runcorn bar.

Runcorn’s first real threat came in the 28th minute but their free kick was well held by Guisborough keeper Jaan Yaqub.

Guisborough’s enterprising play was finally rewarded in the 35th minute when they won a free kick just outside the Runcorn penalty area and up stepped Joe Ferguson to curl a 20-yard beauty round the visitors’ wall and into the far left corner of the net for 1-0 to the Priorymen.

Joe Fergusons’s Goal

pic.twitter.com/h1j0s6ePbe

— Colin Podge (@colinpodge) October 31, 2020

It was no less than Guisborough deserved for their non-stop running and pressing which seemed to knock Runcorn out of their stride.

But Runcorn did threaten the Guisborough goal briefly in the 37th minute but Guisborough ‘keeper ‘Yak’ pulled off a terrific doubled save in the space of a minute when he brilliantly pushed away a Runcorn cross-shot and from the resultant corner he made another splendid block to keep the ball out.

Guisborough are fortunate indeed to have such a talented reserve ‘keeper as the Yak and he has grown tremendously in stature since the start of the season.

In the second minute of time added on in the first half Guisborough deservedly doubled their lead to 2-0 when they surged forward on the Runcorn goal and first Shawn Spozio’s shot cannoned back off a post but in rushed Matty Garbutt to hammer home the rebound.

The second half saw Runcorn come a little more into the game but Guisborough held steady and restricted their opponents to very few real chances.#

Throughout the Guisborough team there were some impressive performances but stand-out displays came particularly from Mason McNeill, Joe Ferguson, Charlie Marshall, Nathan Guru, Matty Garbutt and Jaan Yaqub.

The attendance was a very healthy 191. Guisborough’s next scheduled game is in the league at home to Sunderland Ryhope CW at the KGV on Saturday, 7 November.

Author: Bill Perfitt

Photos: Dan Clark