Northallerton Town 1-3 Guisborough Town

Northallerton Town 1-3 Guisborough Town

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Details

Date Time Competition Season Attendance
27/07/2024 15:00 Ebac Northern League Division 1 2024/25 208

Northallerton Town FC logo KO Guisborough Town F.C. Logo KO 3 6 45 45 60 61 65 75 77 82 FT

Match Report

Guisborough Town got their new league campaign off to a terrific start with an impressive and well-deserved 3-1 victory at North Yorkshire rivals Northallerton on Saturday.

The turning point in the game came after half-time when Guisborough Town Manager Steve Bell brought on big, bustling striker Jason Blackburn who tilted the game decisively in Guisborough’s favour, scoring a great solo goal and making another for strike partner Kurtis Howes.

After the game Steve commented:

This was a very good result for us in the end. The first games of the season are always a bit unpredictable at all levels and they usually throw up a few strange results.

I thought we were poor in the first half despite taking an early lead and watching the game I felt it was going to be one of those days – and at the interval I let the lads know I wasn’t happy.

To the players’ credit, they responded positively and turned it around in the second half and with better finishing maybe we should have won by a bigger margin.  But this was a good three points and we now move on to a trip to the league’s new boys Kendal on Tuesday of next week.

The Priorymen got off to a stunning start against Northallerton, scoring easily the fastest goal of the opening day of the new 2024/25 League season with a beautifully crafted opening goal after just three minutes.

EXCELLENT MOVE

Guisborough launched an excellent move down the right flank which ended with Joey Smith crossing beautifully across towards the far post where the lurking Joe Pickett swept the ball home brilliantly for 1-0 to the Priorymen.

However, the lead was short-lived as Northallerton hit back in the sixth minute when winger Leo Myers crossed well for giant centre forward Harry Croft to smash the ball past Guisborough goalkeeper Robert Dean for 1-1.

The rest of the first half was played out at a fast pace and furious full-blooded commitment to the huge credit of both sides.

The main highlights included a strong shout for a penalty by Northallerton in the 11th minute as one of their strikers went down following a tight challenge from Dean, but the referee waved the home appeals for a spot kick away.

Then Guisborough central defender James Frazer, who had a terrific game, made a timely block on 19 minutes and three minutes later the lively Pickett came close to his second goal but Northallerton’s debutant goalkeeper Ollie Simpson parried away Pickett’s curling shot brilliantly.

Simpson was Northallerton’s saviour once again just after the half-hour mark when Kurtis Howes, who looked threatening all afternoon, turned beautifully to get in a great shot but the home ‘keeper was equal to it with another excellent save.

A minute before half-time the Northallerton goal lived a charmed life as a brilliant curling corner from Brad Mills was somehow cleared despite several goal-bound efforts by Guisborough’s eager massed ranks and it stayed all-square as the half-time whistle sounded.

After half-time Guisborough made two important substitutions as Jason Blackburn and James Boucher came on for Muzzy Abdullahi and Dylan McAvoy.

And the changes paid off 15 minutes into the second half when Blackburn, looking fit, sharp and hungry for the ball latched on to a superb cross fromCallum Martin to squeeze the ball home just inside the left hand post with a very smart shot for 2-1 to Guisborough.

Then within a minute Guisborough went 3-1 up when Blackburn turned goal-provider showing great determination to win back possession and slip a beautiful low cross to Howes who capped an excellent performance by tapping home for a well-deserved goal.

Guisborough continued to dominate the latter stages of the game and the ever-threatening Pickett twice came close to claiming his second goal.

The match attendance was 208 with a healthy contingent from Guisborough keeping the turnstile clicking over nicely.

Report: Bill Perfitt

Guisborough’s next league match is a 200-mile round trip to league new boys Kendal Town next Tuesday, 30 July (KO 7.30pm) and then next Saturday, 3 August (KO 3pm) the Priorymen travel back to the Cumbrian side again for an FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round tie.

Photos: Dan Clark

Northallerton Town 1-3 Guisborough Town | Ebac Northern League Division One | 27/7/2024

Past Meetings

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Ground

Calvert's Stadium
Calvert Stadium, Ainderby Road, Romanby, North Yorkshire, England, DL7 8HG, United Kingdom