Redcar Athletic 0 – 2 Guisborough Town

Match Report

Footballing history was made on Saturday when Guisborough Town and Redcar Athletic met for the first time ever in a Northern League Division One clash.

And despite strong winds which made football very difficult to play, both sides deserve huge credit for putting on a highly competitive and greatly entertaining spectacle virtually from start to finish.

The pace from both teams was breath-taking at times and neither side gave up battling right to the final whistle with Guisborough deservedly emerging with bragging rights from a truly cracking Teesside derby.

Among the many excellent individual performances one player in particular deserves special praise – the mercurial Guisborough winger Ben ‘Jacko’ Jackson.

He capped off a brilliant display in which he could easily have had a hat-trick by scoring a memorable solo goal six minutes from time to seal a fully deserved 2-0 victory for the Priorymen.

Jacko’s dribbling skills have never been in question but perhaps one criticism has been that he sometimes hangs on to the ball a fraction too long to undo much of his good work.

But at Redcar yesterday everything in his undoubted set of footballing skills came good and he even had a hard taskmaster like his manager, Steve Bell, almost waxing lyrical on his performance.

After the game Steve commented: “This was a good and much-needed win in a game I thought was really tough for both teams with a troublesome wind to contend with throughout.

Overall I thought a 2-0 win was no more than we deserved and I honestly think we’ve played better and lost in recent weeks, but I’ll definitely settle for this result and more importantly the three points.

SPECIAL MENTION

“I thought the team dug in really well, especially in the second half and a special mention goes to two players – Ben Jackson and Callum Martin. I thought they were both unplayable throughout the game and Jacko capped things off with a brilliant goal.

“We turn out attentions to Penrith at home next Saturday and we need to follow up the display against Redcar with another good performance,” added Steve.

The Priorymen started the game off brightly and Jackson was soon prominent in the proceedings with a 23rd minute shot that was well saved by Redcar’s former Guisborough ‘keeper James Dawson. Then four minutes later Jackson’s shot on the run went just over the Redcar bar.

But Guisborough made their early superiority count by taking the lead on 31 minutes with a spectacular goal from right back Callum Martin. He unleashed a cross-cum-shot from fully 30 yards out on the right and it flew wind-assisted into the far left corner of the net.

Callum was honest enough after the game to admit it was meant to be a cross but his all-round excellent display fully merited a goal to his name.

Although the impressive Priorymen had dominated most of the first half, they could have conceded an equaliser virtually on the stroke of half-time when winger Matthew Bell forced a brilliant save from Guisborough ‘keeper Robert Dean.

In the second half Guisborough continued to control the game and Jackson went agonisingly close in the 54th minute but saw his fierce shot rebound off the post.

One the hour mark Guisborough substitute Adam Preston – on for the injured Louis Johnson – burst through on the Redcar goal but was denied by a good save from Dawson.

A minute later the irrepressible Jackson fired in a rasping shot from 20 yards but it was pushed round the post by Dawson. From the resultant corner Guisborough defender James Dillon got in a great header but Redcar were saved by the post yet again.

But in the 86th minute Jackson finally got his reward for some scintillating play with a brilliant individual strike.

‘MAZY RUN!’

He cut in from the left and in a mazy run beat three Redcar defenders before calmly planting the ball into the left hand corner of the net. Rarely can a goal have been so deserved by one player – it was an effort Lionel Messy would have been proud of (if you don’t believe how good it was see the Guisborough Twitter feed for a video of the goal!).

Incidentally the description of Jacko’s run as ‘mazy’ was kindly supplied not by me but by the eminent and eloquent former Northern League Chairman and notable ‘Grass Routes’ blogger Mike Amos, who is one of the spectators among the healthy crowd of 384.

To their credit, Athletic kept plugging away to the final whistle and almost forced a consolation goal.

With two of Guisborough’s former ‘derby’ rivals Marske United and Stockton Town now playing at a higher level, it’s great that Redcar Athletic have now assumed the mantle of new derby opponents for the Priorymen. The club has made great strides in recent years and they have a wonderful set-up at Green Lane half way along the Stray to Marske.

Their welcome and hospitality on the day was superb and a lovely touch was inviting Guisborough’s Under-7 boys’ team to the game to walk out with the teams and take part in a ‘keepy up’ challenge at half-time against their young Redcar counterparts.

Report: Bill Perfitt