North Shields 2 – 0 Guisborough Town (FA Cup Preliminary Round)

Match Report

Two major pivotal moments either side of half-time ultimately determined the outcome and Guisborough Town’s exit from this year’s Emirates FA Cup in a highly competitive Preliminary Round tie at North Shields on Saturday.

Firstly, with the Priorymen trailing 1-0 to a 31st minute ‘Robins’ goal from Callum Smith, Guisborough won a free kick way out on the left flank with four minutes remaining to the half-time break.

The kick was taken by Guisborough striker Steve Roberts, who curled in a superb 20- yarder which looked destined for the far right hand corner of the goal but North Shields ‘keeper Greg Purvis pulled off a stunning save, arching in mid-air and turning the ball onto the bar for a corner.

Then secondly, on 59 minutes, North Shields were awarded a dubious and hotly- disputed free kick 25 yards out which was despatched spectacularly into the roof of the Guisborough net by Cam Cunningham for 2-0 to the Robins, a lead which they retained to the final whistle.

After the game, a disappointed but certainly not downhearted Guisborough Manager Steve Bell commented:

At times I thought we were the better team out there today. We competed well against them throughout the whole 90 minutes and can take a lot of positives from the match.

But as so often happens in a game, there were one or two important incidents which just didn’t quite fall for us like the Roberts free kick which hit the bar and then their disputed free kick outside the box which tipped the balance of the game in North Shields’ favour.

They got the luck and we didn’t – but overall I’m pleased with the efforts from the lads who kept fighting right to the final whistle.

On a positive note, I’m hoping to make one or two new signings by midweek in time for the West Allotment Celtic league match at the KGV on Wednesday.

MEMORABLE RESULT!

Two years ago Guisborough pulled off a memorable result in the FA Cup against North Shields when they scored two goals in the dying minutes to earn a 2-2 draw followed by beating Shields in the replay at the KGV.

But sadly there were no such heroics this time but Priorymen merged with much credit yesterday from a keenly competitive match which kept the crowd of 275 entertained from start to finish.

Guisborough are still nursing players like strikers Louis Johnson and Steve Roberts back to full fitness but the pair showed yesterday flashes of their undoubted skills but unfortunately to no avail in the end.

The Priorymen also suffered a blow before a ball was kick because they were without star midfielder JJ Bartliff who was still nursing an injury sustained in the victory over Seaham Red Star.

Guisborough made the brighter start to the game and in the 11th minute carved out two great chances but North Shields ‘keeper Purvis first parried away a Steve Roberts shot and then Guisborough’s Ben Jackson saw a strong shot saved by Purvis.

At the other end Guisborough goalkeeper Robbie Dean had to be alert to leap high to tip an in-swinging North Shields corner over the bar.

On 30 minutes a Ben Jackson shot was well saved again by Purvis but just a minute later North Shields took a 1-0 lead when a cross evaded the Guisborough defence and Callum Smith scored with a low shot.

North Shields doubled their lead on 59 minutes when Cameron Cunningham scored direct from an extremely dubious free kick 25 yards outside the Guisborough box.

Guisborough to their credit kept plugging away and efforts from defender James Dillon and substitute Sam Webster produced good saves from Purvis, who had been kept on his toes throughout the match

‘SUPERMAC’ MAKES GUEST APPEARANCE!

Ultimately, the Priorymen got little reward for a lot of spirited effort and North Shields gained sweet revenge for their FA Cup knockout at the hands of Guisborough two seasons ago. And for gallant Guisborough, to go toe to toe with North Shields – one of the Northern League’s favourites for the title this season – and make such a game of it is worthy of much praise.

Incidentally, a very famous spectator at yesterday’s match at North Shields was none other than former Newcastle United legend Malcolm ‘Supermac’ MacDonald, who these days is also North Shields’ club President. Amazingly, yesterday, 21 August, was exactly 50 years to the day since Malcolm scored a hat-trick for Newcastle on his debut against Liverpool.

Guisborough’s next match is this coming Wednesday, 25 August at home to West Allotment Celtic at the KGV Stadium (KO 7.45pm).

Report: Bill Perfitt