Durham City 1

Guisborough Town 1

GUISBOROUGH managed to stop the rot on Tuesday evening when only a last minute goal denied them three points at league leaders Durham City.

The first half was quite a drab affair, with both teams creating few chances. Durham had the better of these, but were unable to capitalise.

The match only came to life in the last ten minutes, when some fine play saw ex-Bishop Auckland player Michael Carter fire the Priorymen into the lead.

Durham then piled forward in numbers and a last minute 25-yard piledriver from Stuart Brightwell earned the home side a vital point.

It was Guisborough's first league point in eight matches and player-manager Mark Forster will be hoping his side have reached the turning point, now that some of their first team players are back from suspension and injury.

Whitley Bay 1

Guisborough Town 0

Guisborough, who had picked up only one point from their previous seven league outings, failed to halt their dramatic slide down the table in a game of unrelenting mediocrity at Whitley Bay on Saturday.

The Priorymen also shot themselves in the foot by having two players sent off, one in the closing minutes of each half.

In a poor first half, Guisborough had the first real chance when Steve Richie collected a loose ball and left a posse of defenders in his wake before dragging the ball back and crossing to Richie Storr, whose ten-yard shot brought the best out of goalkeeper John Caffrey.

But the visitors' brief period of assertion soon came to an end and Whitley Bay started to come into the match.

After a series of quick-fire corners, Ian Milbourne combined well with Steve Cuggy, who set up Milbourne with a defence-splitting cross. But his first touch was poor and he overran the ball.

The home side now took control of the match and David Carr had two excellent shots saved by Guisborough keeper Martin Ball.

But Whitley Bay failed to take advantage of the many chances they created in a 20-minute period.

On the stroke of half-time Gary Hinchley was sent off for his second bookable offence when he kicked the ball away.

In the second half Whitley Bay tried to make the extra man count and at times flattered to deceive, with both Milbourne and Carr looking dangerous but failing to deliver the final ball.

Even while they had the upper hand the home side always looked vulnerable to pacy breaks and Guisborough had an excellent chance to score in the 65th minute when Steve Haslam rifled a ball down the field which fell to the feet of Michael Todd, but the young striker fired straight at Caffrey.

The only goal of the match came in the 79th minute when a penalty was awarded after the ball seemed to go to Mark Sunley's hand. Cuggy confidently fired the spot kick past Ball.

Shell-shocked Guisborough managed to stop the home side scoring any further goals as they pressed forward in numbers, but their misery was completed just as the match drew to a close when strong-tackling midfielder Richie was sent off for a two-footed challenge.

Guisborough Town: Ball, Makin (Ward), Forster, Sunley, Mowbray, Gibbon, Todd, Hinchley, Haslam, Storr (Briggs), Richie.

l Due to the England match tomorrow, Guisborough's home game against Hebburn Town will now kick off at 1pm