Heaton Stannington 3-1 Guisborough Town

Match Report

A depleted Guisborough side still struggling with a combination of player injuries and unavailability fought their best at Heaton Stannington on Wednesday but ultimately the Tyneside team proved just too strong for the Priorymen.

The extent of Guisborough Manager Steve Bell’s selection problems was underlined by the fact that he was only able to name three substitutes and one of them – defender Tommy Marron – is still not fully fit after being out with a long-term injury.

And as if all this wasn’t bad enough for Guisborough, they suffered a setback after only two minutes of the match when Stannington went ahead when Jordan Lashley headed home following a free kick.

However, despite the shock of conceding so earlyon, Guisborough managed to compose themselves and regroup and they deservedly drew level in the 12th minute when Stannington failed to clear a corner and it was Matty Tymon, that man with a keen eye for the goal, who scored once again from close in.

Guisborough continued to hold their own after their goal but Stannington regained the lead on 28 minutes when Lashley scored his second goal with a great finish for 2-1 to them home side.

Then worse was to follow just four minutes later when the ball ricocheted around in the Guisborough penalty area before Craig Scott scored to make it 3-1 to Stannington and that was how it stayed until half-time.

After the interval there was a huge chance for Guisborough to get right back into the game on 57 minutes when big striker Jason Blackburn broke – but typical of the Priorymen’s luck of late he saw his shot strike the inside of the post and roll agonisingly across the goal-line before Stannington cleared.

After the game Guisborough manager Steve Bell commented:

[I’ve got] no grumbles on the result tonight. [We were] beaten by the better team on the night. It was the first half performance that did it for us.

We huffed and puffed [in the] second half but really didn’t do enough in the game. [We’ll] dust ourselves down and go again on Saturday.

There was a feeling among Guisborough’s fans and officials alike that had that effort gone in then it might well have rejuvenated the Priorymen and given them that extra momentum and energy to go on and get something out of the game.

BROKE ON THE COUNTER

That said, Stannington almost made it 4-1 when they broke on the counter and forced Guisborough ‘keeper Robert Dean to save low down to his left.The crowd on the night was an excellent 335.

Although the Priorymen dropped one place in the table to fifth, fortunately results on Wednesday among the teams immediately above and below them were mostly favourable towards Guisborough – so they didn’t lose as much ground as could have been the case.

Guisborough are back on Tyneside again for their next match this coming Saturday at Newcastle Benfield, who have slipped down the league table alarmingly lately with some highly inconsistent results, so hopefully the Priorymen may be able to capitalise on that.

Report: Bill Perfitt