Guisborough Town 1 Tadcaster Albion 2

IT was a Preliminary Round exit in the FA Cup for Guisborough Town as they lost 2-1 to Northern Premier League outfit Tadcaster Albion. The game got off to an electric start, and Aaron Steavens made a fantastic double save inside the first minute of the game to deny The Brewers an early lead.

Just a minute later, Cal Martin's shot fizzed across the face of the goal and just past the right post of the Tadcaster goal.

Shortly before the 20th minute, Tadcaster found space on the right, and a cross found its way towards Bailey Thompson, who headed home for The Brewers to make the score 1-0. Guisborough fought valiantly, and five minutes later responded with an indirect free kick in the box (the second in two games), after Michael Insham in the Tadcaster goal picked up a back pass. The combination of Harry Thompson and Joe Ferguson worked out once again, with Thompson laying off for Ferguson, who placed the ball beautifully into the top corner of the Tadcaster net to level the scores.

On the half hour mark, Steavens was called into action once more, when he made an excellent stop with his feet to deny Tadcaster the lead, and this was swiftly followed by a Sonni Coleman header which just evaded the bar at the other end of the pitch.

The scores were almost level at half time, but for Ify Ofoegbu, whose overhead kick took a deflection off a Guisborough player and landed in the back of the net, sending the Brewers into the break with a one-goal advantage.

The second half got off to a slower start, and Steavens was called into action once more and produced a brilliant low save to deny Tadcaster a third.

In the 67th minute, captain Josh Rowbotham went into the book for a strong tackle, and the resulting free kick from Kevin Dos Santos rattled the Guisborough bar. Six minutes later, it was Sonni Coleman who was released on goal, and his header was narrowly just wide of the goal.

With four minutes left to play, Joe Ferguson struck a free kick narrowly over the bar, but Guisborough could not find another goal, and after three minutes of added time, the referee blew the whistle, and ended Guisborough’s FA Cup run for another season.

Manager Gary Forster said: “It was a hard-fought game which we can take a lot of heart from: we weren’t outplayed, outfought or outworked. It was one of those games where the result could have easily been reversed. We threw the kitchen sink at them for the first 30 minutes, and they stood up to it so credit to them for that. Joe Ferguson and Josh Rowbotham were both outstanding on the pitch."

Last Wednesday, Guisborough Town demolished West Auckland Town 5-1 with goals by Stephen Roberts, Sonni Coleman, Nathan Guru, Mason McNeil and Mark Robinson (penalty). West Auckland’s sole goal came from Jordan Blinco.