Guisborough Town 1-2 Seaham Red Star

Match Report

Guisborough Town slumped to a shock 2-1 home defeat against bottom-of-the-table Seaham Red Star at the KGV Stadium on Friday – despite the boost of going a goal up after just three minutes.

It was a completely unexpected result for the Priorymen, who before the match started were fully 15 places above rock bottom Seaham and unbeaten thus far in the league. And yet it all started so positively for Guisborough with livewire winger Ben Jackson scoring a well-taken goal after just three minutes. But if the Priorymen expected the floodgates to open against a Seaham side who had shipped 18 goals in just seven league games then they were sadly mistaken.

First Seaham missed a great opportunity to equalise when Thomas Bott missed a penalty after 10 minutes. However, just five minutes later they did draw level when Thomas Lawson scored a fine individual goal. And things got worse for Guisborough in the 26th minute when Max Nelson scored to make it 2-1 to the visitors.

The rest of the half was a big disappointment for Guisborough’s fans who turned out in good numbers for this experimental Friday night fixture – only to see their beloved team struggle for the rest of the first half to make any real impact against Seaham. In the first 20 minutes of the second half Guisborough continued to make little headway with nothing really gelling for the Priorymen as they struggled to get into any kind of sustained rhythm.

SHOUTS FOR A PENALTY!

In the last 20 minutes of the second half Guisborough did at last start to look better and created some half-decent chances – including strong shouts for a penalty in the 83rd minute when Dicicco appeared to be fouled in the Seaham box – but the referee was impervious to Guisborough’s appeals for a spot kick. A minute after the penalty ‘incident’, the Priorymen almost equalised when skipper JJ Bartliff smartly worked a long ball on to Guisborough striker Cole Kiernan – but his effort flashed just wide and that was virtually the last real chance for the home side to avert a first league defeat of the season.

One of the few slight consolations on the night was the Friday night attendance of 322, which was Guisborough’s second biggest home crowd of the season – bettered only by the FA Cup tie against Bishop Auckland at the KGV which attracted 364.

Guisborough’s next match is next Wednesday, 7 September at the KGV Stadium against Division One new boys Heaton Stannington (KO 7.45pm).

Report: Bill Perfitt