Seaham Red Star 0-0 Guisborough Town

Match Report

Guisborough Town extended their mini-unbeaten run under joint caretaker player-managers Cal Martin and Tommy Marron to four games – after a bruising match at relegation-threatened Seaham Red Star on Saturday.

Although the match ended 0-0, it was incident-packed from start to finish and by no means a ‘bore draw’ as the scoreline might suggest.

Seaham, second from the bottom of the table and fighting for their First Division survival, went down to 10 men in the 79th minute – but they almost nicked it in time added on when they had the ball in the Guisborough net – but if was flagged offside.

Guisborough’s joint acting player/manager Cal Martin, who watched the game from the dugout due to injury, commented afterwards: “I thought we dominated the game in the first half and should have come in ahead at half-time.

“Unfortunately, we lost Jack Bailey to injury just before the break and this affected our play in the second half. As expected, Seaham came out fighting in the second half and the game turned a bit scrappy, which I think benefitted them mostly.

“And once they went down to 10 men, I didn’t think we managed the game well at all. Our quality on the ball and our decision-making – especially in the final third, wasn’t worthy of a win for us,” added Cal.

Cal’s player/manager partner Tommy commented: “It’s hard to put into words how I feel about the game today but I’m really frustrated with our approach – to the second half especially.

“In the first 45 minutes, we managed the game pretty well and for the majority of the half controlled the rhythm of the match but we lacked the quality to unlock a Seaham side who looked to sit in and then break quickly. Any attempts they made on our goal were of our own doing – through losing the ball in key areas.

“In the second half, the game became very scrappy and we lacked the quality and character to play through that type of pressure and grab hold of the game. As time went on we became frustrated and started chasing game and going long too quickly and losing possession far too often.

FIERCELY COMPETITIVE

“Seaham are scrapping for every point to avoid relegation and made it more of a fight than a game of football – but we must take responsibility for not grabbing hold of the game at their place and heading back down the A19 with three points in the bag.

We have two home games remaining against two strong sides. Shildon next Saturday will be a difficult test followed by North Shields the following Saturday. Shields gave us a really tough game at their place – so we need to return the favour!” added Tommy.

Overall, the game was typically fiercely competitive and – as in most clashes between the Priorymen and Seaham – quite bruising at times.

Just before half-time Guisborough lost midfield anchor-man Jack Bailey with a ‘dead leg’ injury and that clearly disrupted the Priorymen’s play in the second half – which probably accounted for the drop-off in their play after the interval.

Credit to Seaham for going in search of a winner but their cause was dealt a devastating blow in the 79th minute when Thomas Lawson brought down Guisborough livewire Dale Milburn as he raced clear on the Seaham goal and Lawson was red carded.

It looked like Milburn was just inside the box when he was fouled but the referee awarded the free kick just outside the 18-yard area which came to nothing.

So Guisborough had to settle for a goalless draw to add to the two previous 1-1 draws against Whitley Bay and Marske plus a superb 3-1 win at Blyth Town to increase their unbeaten run under Cal and Tommy to four games.

GREAT STRENGTH

The pick of the Guisborough team were Marron and James Frazer, who were rocks in defence, the classy Joey Smith who glided around seemingly almost effortlessly in midfield and his midfield partner Dale Milburn, who had a particularly good first half.

A special shout-out also to Connor Gant, who displayed great strength, determination and physical toughness at right back.

The Priorymen will be hoping to extend the unbeaten run further when they entertain high-flying Shildon at the Kevin Edward KGV Stadium next Saturday, 29 March (KO 3pm) followed a week later with their final home game of the season against North Shields (also KO 3pm).

Report: Bill Perfitt