Guisborough Town 3-2 Whitley Bay

Match Report

Guisborough Town’s new manager Steve Connolly must have thought he was in dreamland after seeing his side rattle up a scintillating 3-0 lead inside just 10 minutes against Whitley Bay at the Kevin Edward KGV Stadium on Saturday.

The Priorymen came out of the blocks faster than Usain Bolt as they sprinted into the lead after just one minute when striker Jason Blackburn scored the first of his two goals.

Then within the next nine minutes Guisborough trebled their lead with further excellently-worked goals from Kurt Howes and Blackburn’s second strike.

But in spite of this blistering start, the Bay slowly but surely clawed their way back into the game with two goals of their own and in the end the Priorymen were happy to cling on for a 3-2 victory.

After the game, Guisborough newly-appointed manager Steve commented:

Whitley Bay have been on such good form lately so to start like we did was a real bonus for us.

So credit to the players for delivering what we had asked of them today, even though we’ve only had one training session together since I took over. We have another week to train together before our next game – so if the players can maintain the level they’ve shown in the early part of today’s game I’ll be delighted.

IRREPRESSIBLE

As soon as the whistle blew for the start of the game Guisborough were in an irrepressible mood and simply blew the Bay apart.

In the very first minute the Priorymen almost opened the scoring when Kyle David made a great run down the right and crossed perfectly for Joe Pickett but he miscued his attempted shot.

But just a minute later Guisborough forged ahead when a free kick into the Bay box was headed back perfectly by defender James Frazer and James Blackburn headed firmly into the back of the Bay net.

Then two minutes later Kurt Howes doubled Guisborough’s lead by cleverly making room for himself in the Bay box and sweeping the ball home.

In the 10th minute Guisborough trebled their early lead with another good goal from Blackburn when Howes made yet another great break down the left and he crossed for ‘Big Jase’ to fire home his fourth goal in the last three appearances.

What was so impressive about Guisborough’s sparkling opening was not so much the goals – brilliant and well-worked though they were – was the lightning quick, energetic pace they set and the slickness of their passing movements.

However, hopes of the Priorymen adding to their commanding early lead failed to materialise and the Bay hit back in the 24th minute when a Michael Scott shot in the Guisborough penalty area took an awkward deflection and ended up in the net.

It stayed 3-1 to the interval and after the break play was pretty even for the most part with both sides threatening on the break but failing to add the killer touch.

DREAM START!

But the Bay pulled another goal back in the 74th minute when the produced a fast break down the left of their own and Michael Baxter sent over what looked like a cross but it veered unexpectedly into the far corner of the Guisborough net for 3-2.

There were mounting worries in the disappointing crowd of 204 that manager Steve Connolly’s dream start might turn into a nightmare but the fears were unfounded as Guisborough saw out the last 15 minutes without ever really looking like conceding another goal.

There were plenty of good performances throughout the Guisborough side and the pick of the bunch were Blackburn and Howes who wreaked early havoc in the Bay defence.

In midfield Joe Pickett was everywhere and Jack Bailey who was calmness personified while in defence there were commanding displays from centre backs James Frazer and Mitch Parkinson and right back Brad Mills was ‘Mr Perpetual Motion’ once again!

Guisborough have no game in midweek once again and next Saturday, 5 October the Priorymen travel for a league match to Shildon, who they beat 2-1 in the FA Vase a week ago.

Report: Bill Perfitt
Photos: Dan Clark

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— Guisborough Town F.C. (@guistownfc) September 28, 2024

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— Guisborough Town F.C. (@guistownfc) September 28, 2024