Whitley Bay 3 Guisborough Town 1

DESPITE a spirited performance at in-form Whitley Bay on Wednesday evening, Guisborough Town’s wretched run of results continued with their fourth defeat in a row as they slipped to second from bottom of the Ebac Northern League division one table.

Three of those defeats have ended in a 3-1 deficit for the Priorymen, who continue to be badly plagued by injuries.

Guisborough sprang a surprise when they drafted in former KGV legend David Onions into the attack and they also signed two more Hartlepool youngsters on loan in attacking midfielder Josh Hawkes and winger Kenton Richardson.

A bright opening for the Priorymen was again undone by a defensive slip that allowed Adam Shanks to open the scoring for Bay after 20 minutes.

Thibault Charmey equalised for Guisborough just after the half-hour, but another defensive error allowed Andy Robertson to put the home side back in front five minutes later and Kyle Fryatt wrapped up the victory for The Seahorses on 66 minutes.

Town manager Steve Dowling said: “I thought we did OK against Whitley Bay and, on another day, we maybe could have got a result.

“I thought Kenton Richardson did very well, as did Leon Carling and Liam McPhillips, who enjoyed decent games.

“But when you’re struggling you seem to get no luck, such as when Dave Onions should have had a penalty after just five minutes.

“I wasn't too downhearted about the result as I thought we performed well. The points will come in good time”.

For tomorrow's home game against Padiham in the first round of the FA Vase, the Priorymen will be without Richardson and Hawkes, who are not allowed to play in this competition.

They will still also be without the injured Chris Youldon, Paul Weldon, Matty Pennal and Paul Roddam, while Onions is cup-tied.

Guisborough Town 1 West Auckland Town 3

INJURY-RAVAGED Guisborough Town suffered their third successive defeat last Saturday when a revitalised West Auckland Town extended their winning run to five on the bounce.

Guisborough manager Steve Dowling faced a nightmare scenario even before a ball was kicked, with effectively an entire team unavailable, mainly due to a lengthening injury list. He was forced to field a makeshift team, with striker Matty Pennal and defenders Steve Roberts and Paul Weldon nursing injuries which would normally have kept them out of the game.

Roberts was unable to carry on after just 25 minutes and Weldon had to be substituted at half-time, while Pennal lasted just under an hour before he had to leave the field. As if that wasn’t enough, Thibault Charmey suffered a badly-gashed head which later required staples in hospital and he is likely to be out for up to two weeks. The brave Frenchman did exceptionally well to stay on the pitch for the full 90 minutes.

Despite all their problems, Guisborough battled bravely in the first half and went into the interval level at 1-1 after a superb 30-yard shot from Paul Blake virtually on the stroke of half-time cancelled out West’s opener from Matty Moffatt, a smart volley in the 38th minute.

Guisborough were under the cosh for long spells after the break and West took the points with excellent strikes from Darren Richardson on 53 minutes and Craig Ruddy in the 83rd minute.

Afterwards, Dowling said: “Where do I start to try and sum up today's game when even before the start we were many players short? With that kind of injury and unavailability list, it was always going to be tricky just to pull together 11 players.

"I spent most of my time since Thursday morning trying to beg, borrow and steal players and managed to get four in, but then discovered three were registered too late. So it was always going to be a very tough ask today.

"The team I managed to field in the end did their best under the circumstances, with Steve Roberts and Matty Pennal starting the game with injuries which caused both to have to come off after 25 minutes and 55 minutes respectively.

"The positives for me were the performances of new keeper James Dawson, plus Adam Cocks and Bligh.”