Thornaby 0-2 Guisborough Town

Match Report

Guisborough Town produced a disappointingly lacklustre performance at Thornaby on Saturday as they went down 2-0 in the annual Peter Morris Memorial Trophy match.

A lively Thornaby side – relegated to the Northern League’s Division Two for the coming season – were quicker to the ball and outplayed the Priorymen in most areas of the pitch. They shocked Guisborough by taking the lead within a minute of the restart and then scored a penalty midway through the half to clinch a well-deserved victory.

After the game Guisborough Manager Steve Bell commented bluntly:

We were rubbish today. We lacked fight, intensity and a will to win. The best team won on the day and I take absolutely no positives out of the game. Thank goodness it’s still only pre-season!

The closest Guisborough came to scoring was when Jack Blackford cut in characteristically from the left but the Thornaby ‘keeper dived athletically to keep his shot out. There was a flashpoint near the end of the game when Guisborough midfielder Lewis Green went down under a heavy tackle, which incensed Guisborough manager Steve Bell, fearing a potential long-term injury to his important midfield man.

However, thankfully the injury is not as bad as initially thought. “It’s not as serious as we first feared,” said Steve. His ankle is very badly bruised – I honestly thought the tackle was disgraceful and could have resulted in a broken leg. Thankfully he may only be out for around a week.”

Guisborough’s next game is their penultimate match in their challenging pre-season programme at Teesside neighbours Stockton next Saturday, 22 July (KO time be confirmed. The Town’s final pre-season match is against Whitby Town at the KGV on Tuesday, 25 July.