Penrith 0-2 Guisborough Town

Match Report

Guisborough Town Manager Steve Bell was full of praise for his side as they completed a league double at Penrith on Saturday with a convincing 2-0 victory.

What a difference a week can make in football as only seven days ago the Priorymen came in for some harsh criticism from their boss after a hugely disappointing 3-1 FA Vase defeat at Kendal. But after their second long trip in succession to Cumbria, Steve commented:

The players definitely deserve a lot of credit for their performance at Penrith. We’ve had a very strange couple of weeks but to a man the lads gave everything at Penrith. The biggest compliment I can give the players is that they made the 2-0 win look extremely comfortable.

That said, we weren’t at our best over the game as a whole but there were a lot of good, positive signs that we are getting there.

Guisborough got off to the best possible start when they surged into the lead after only two minutes when big defender Nick Hood got on the end of a JJ Bartliff corner to score. First blood to the Priorymen! Three minutes later Guisborough ‘keeper Robert Dean, making a welcome comeback after several weeks on the sidelines with injury, made a typically unbelievable save to preserve his side’s 1-0 lead.

In the 18th minute the Priorymen came oh so close to doubling their lead when defender Liam O’Sullivan joined the attack and he struck the Penrith post with a great strike after some good play down the left by Guisborough. It took Guisborough until the 38th minute to make their obvious superiority count when he rose to head home a free kick on the right by Bartliff for 2-0.

EXCELLENT EFFORTS!

The second half was almost all Guisborough as they pressed forward in vain search of a third goal but Kiernan, Blackford, Blackburn and substitute Lister all went close with excellent efforts but the score remained 2-0 to Town right to the final whistle. This much-needed victory and the three points hoisted Guisborough back up to fourth place in the table, making up for recent lost ground, and the Priorymen are right back among the leading pack at the top and with two games in hand on most teams around them.

Guisborough have a great chance to consolidate their position in the top four when they host old rivals and current league leaders Bishop Auckland in the league at the KGV next Wednesday, 5 October (KO 7.45pm).

Report: Bill Perfitt