Guisborough Town 1-2 Whitby Town

Match Report

Two late goals within the space of three minutes earned Whitby Town a dramatic 2-1 victory over a vastly-improved Guisborough Town side in the annual Mickey Skinner Memorial Trophy match at the Kevin Edward KGV Stadium on Tuesday night.

Guisborough had taken the lead in the 74th minute when Mustapha (‘Muzzy’) Abdullahi capitalized on a mix up in the Whitby defence to virtually walk the ball home for 1-0 to the Priorymen.

It looked like Guisborough were going to claim a famous victory against a Whitby team two leagues above them but, alas, two class finishes by Alfie Doherty (83rd minute) and Nathan Thomas (85th minute) secured a narrow win for the Seasiders.

It was a much-improved performance by the Priorymen compared to their lacklustre showing against Marske United in the annual John Butterfield Memorial Trophy on Saturday, which pleased Guisborough Manager Steve Bell immensely.

After the game against Whitby he commented: “I thought the lads were outstanding tonight.

“We were a different level altogether from Saturday’s match against Marske, but of course they were two very different games.

“Whitby are a very good team but I thought we contained their threats for most of the night. So a 2-1 scoreline against us was a little harsh, I honestly thought.

“But we’ve come to the end of our pre-season programme now though and it’s all about our first game of the season proper this coming Saturday in the league at Northallerton Town,” added Steve.

The match proved extremely competitive and for the most part was played at a fast, end-to-end pace, keeping an excellent crowd of 347 well entertained.

Report: Bill Perfitt