Guisborough Town 0 Chester-le-Street 3

GUISBOROUGH Town sank to the bottom of the Ebac Northern League division one when they were well-beaten by fellow strugglers Chester-le-Street at the KGV last Saturday.

The under-pressure Priorymen tried their best throughout the match, but lacked any real cutting edge and penetration in attack. In the end, Chester-le-Street, who started the game bottom of the table, won fairly comfortably to leapfrog Guisborough and leave the Priorymen stuck at the bottom of the league for the first time in many seasons.

The majority of the first half was a pretty even affair, with both sides creating chances without really looking like scoring. But Chester-le-Street broke the deadlock just two minutes before the interval when Dominic Laws scored to put his side 1-0 up as half-time approached.

Guisborough started the second half brightly and created several chances, but were unable to get that all-important goal.

The Priorymen were made to pay for their inability to score on 67 minutes when Honour doubled Chester-le-Street’s lead.

Despite going two down, Guisborough continued to put in plenty of effort, but without really troubling the visitors’ goal. Chester-le-Street made sure of victory and a vital three points on 79 minutes when David Surrey scored to make it 3-0.

Without the three-point penalty they incurred recently for fielding an ineligible player, Guisborough would have remained just outside the drop zone in 19th place, but a dismal run of results has seen the injury-ravaged Priorymen go into freefall down the league table.

They have now suffered six straight defeats since they last won 3-1 against Washington at the KGV in early October, and they have conceded 21 goals during that unenviable run.

After the game, Town manager Steve Dowling said: “I seem to keep saying that it's fine margins between winning, losing or drawing as far as our recent run of matches is concerned, but that’s exactly how it is. If one of our shots had gone in instead of hitting the post and if one of their players had got a red card for pulling back Dave Onions, it could have been a completely different game and outcome.

"We are low on confidence and when fine lines like that keep going against us, it inevitably affects our general play and yet, on the other hand, we seem to get punished for every mistake we make.”

Guisborough’s next game is at home to fellow strugglers West Allotment Celtic at the KGV Stadium tomorrow, kick-off 3pm. West Allotment are currently one place and one point above Guisborough in the table.