Kendal Town 3-1 Guisborough Town (Isuzu FA Vase Second Round Qualifying)

Match Report

Guisborough Town Manager Steve Bell said he was “embarrassed” by his players’ performance after his side’s timid exit from this season’s FA Vase following a 3-1 defeat at Kendal Town on Saturday.

And he apologised to the club’s fans who follow the team away from home and watch the Priorymen week in week out for the manner in which Guisborough went out of this season’s Vase competition. After the game he commented:

To be honest I feel a little embarrassed by our performance against Kendal. There was never a point in the game when I genuinely felt we were any good. We lacked everything you need to be any good at any sport let alone football.

I just didn’t see this coming and I can only apologise to everyone who followed us to the game – not far short of a 200 mile round trip – and also to those who come to the KGV in their hundreds to watch us week in week out. In both the FA Cup and the FA Vase this season we have gone out of these important competitions very tamely.

We have some very good footballers here at our club but on the back of this result at Kendal they need to take a long, hard look at themselves this week.

In the first half the Priorymen suffered some bad luck as first big striker Jason Blackburn saw an 8th minute header following a corner smack against the Kendal bar and bounce clear and a 34th minute Liam Miller effort was questionably disallowed for offside.

In between those incidents Kendal also hit the woodwork in the 23rd minute from an overhead kick effort. But it was the Cumbrian side who took a first half lead on 42 minutes when home striker Steven Yawson beat at least three Guisborough defenders before placing the ball into the bottom corner from the edge of the penalty area for 1-0.

In the second half Guisborough had a golden opportunity to equalise in the 68th minute when a cross found skipper JJ Bartliff unmarked at the back post but his header was off target.

CAUGHT ON THE BREAK!

It was to prove a costly miss as just eight minutes later Kendal doubled their lead when a free kick into the Guisborough penalty area was headed home by Hammond. And then just two minutes later on 78 minutes Kendal took an unassailable lead when once again Guisborough were caught on the break as Kendal counter-attacked following a Guisborough corner and Lynch ran clear and rounded Guisborough keeper Will Cowey to fire into an empty net for 3-0.

SCAN CONSOLATION!

Guisborough pulled back a goal a minute from time when they were awarded a penalty from which Kiernan scored to make it 3-1 – but it was scant consolation on a hugely disappointing afternoon for the Priorymen against the North West Counties League Premier Division side Kendal. Despite a healthy following from Guisborough at the Kendal game, the attendance was only 131 – which was very disappointing considering the crowd would probably have been around three times that had the tie been played at the KGV Stadium.

Meanwhile, next up for the Priorymen is another trip across the Pennines this coming Saturday, 1 October – this time against old rivals Penrith in the league. This match will be followed with a midweek league clash at the KGV Stadium against Bishop Auckland on Wednesday, 5 October (KO 7.45pm).

Report: Bill Perfitt

Photos: Dan Clark

First Half

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— Guisborough Town F.C. (@guistownfc) September 24, 2022

Second Half

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— Guisborough Town F.C. (@guistownfc) September 24, 2022