GUISBOROUGH Town Manager Gary Forster was full of praise for his team after they decisively defeated fourth-placed North Shields on Saturday. Shields, nicknamed The Robins, arrived at the KGV Stadium, boasting the best current form team with five wins on the trot behind them. The recent form of the Priorymen on the other hand had been inconsistent, exemplified by a convincing 5-0 win over Penrith two weeks ago but then a bitterly disappointing 3-5 home defeat to fellow relegation rivals Ashington.

The opening 10 minutes of the game proved end to end with both sides going close but in the 14th minute Guisborough were awarded a penalty and up stepped chief spot kick taker Mark Robinson who scored with his trusty left foot. After the boost of that early goal Guisborough enjoyed prolonged spells of possession and carved out numerous chances but sadly, as on many occasions this season, the Priorymen didn’t capitalise enough on their opportunities.

But the second half was only nine minutes old when Mason McNeill curled in a superb shot from distance over the head of North Shields ‘keeper Greg Purvis. The flow of the game was interrupted by a succession of yellow cards for players on both sides but Guisborough kept their heads to go on to record a convincing 2-0 victory and bring to an abrupt halt the Robins’ run of five wins in succession.

After the Ashington game, Manager Gary Forster was highly critical of his team and called on them to stand up and be counted. And Gary was certainly highly satisfied with their response against North Shields. After the game he commented: “This was a great result and one that we had to work very hard for. North Shields were on a great run and we have been very inconsistent at home so we had to be extremely disciplined. That said, we could have been a few goals up by half-time instead of the slender 1-0 lead thanks to an early Mark Robinson penalty. We still need to be more clinical.”