Thornaby 1-2 Guisborough Town

Match Report

Guisborough Town produced a well-deserved and morale-boosting 2-1 victory over Teesside rivals Thornaby on Wednesday in the annual Peter Morris Memorial Trophy.

And for Guisborough’s young skipper JJ Bartliff there was double reason to celebrate – for not only did he lift the trophy on behalf of his team after being presented with it by Peter Morris’s wife Gill, he was also chosen by Gill as the Man of the Match.
Overall, this was an excellent performance by the Priorymen who controlled the game for a good three-quarters of the play and could easily have won by three or four clear goals.

There were very good displays throughout the entire Guisborough side, with players like Ben Jackson, Callum Martin, Jordan Fielding and young reserve goalkeeper Will Cowey catching the eye in particular.

After a goalless first half, Guisborough stormed into a 2-0 lead with two super strikes within just four minutes. The first in the 69th minute was an absolutely stunner from second half substitute James Rowe who fired home an unstoppable shot from 25 yards which flew into the back of the Thornaby net.

Then four minutes later in the 73rd minute Guisborough won a free kick on the edge of the Thornaby penalty area and the ball was played short to Shabs Mohammed, another second half substitute, and he drilled a hard, low shot home for 2-0 to the Priorymen.

Thornaby scored what turned out to be a consolation goal within two minutes of Mohammed’s goal when former KGV favourite Steve Roberts scored to make it 2-1 but Guisborough played out the final 15 minutes confidently and could easily have scored more goals.

After the game Guisborough Manager Steve Bell had generous praise for his team. He commented:

I though the lads were really excellent again tonight. It was really pleasing to have won a game that we fully deserved to win. Apart from around 20 minutes of the second half, I thought we dominated throughout and maybe should have won by more goals. I’d like to make a special shout-out for young Will Cowey in goal who at just 17 years old was outstanding I thought. I know we’re only half-way through our pre-season programme but I am feeling really positive about things already.