Seaham Red Star 2 Guisborough Town 3

GUISBOROUGH Town cemented their position in third spot in the league after an exciting, see-saw 3-2 victory at Seaham Red Star last Saturday.

The wet conditions and a blustery wind made accurate passing difficult, but both teams deserved great credit for serving up a thoroughly enjoyable game.

Seaham started brightly and looked dangerous at times down their left wing, but Guisborough's defence stood firm and gradually the Priorymen began to find their normal passing rhythm. They took the lead in the 18th minute when Pete Bulmer picked up a loose ball in midfield, moved forward and found Curtis Round on the left. He passed to Danny Earl, who wrong-footed his marker and crossed the ball into the box. When the ball ran loose, Bulmer was on hand to finish off the move he had started with a confident strike.

While Seaham continued to compete at every opportunity, it was the Priorymen who were adapting to the conditions more effectively with several slick passing moves so typical of their play this season.

The pace of the Guisborough attacks was proving too much for the Red Star men and their keeper pulled off three good saves to prevent the visitors from moving into a more convincing lead by half-time.

Seaham began the second half with the wind at their backs and equalised almost immediately after the restart through David Palmer, following an attack which the Guisborough defence should have dealt with.

In the 57th minute, Seaham thought they had taken the lead when a cross from the right was guided past Guisborough keeper Nick Liversedge, but the referee ruled that the Red Star striker had handled the ball.

The Priorymen managed to regain their composure and continued to attack with some sweeping moves, but were unable to get shots on target. They then brought on Connor Smith for Gary Wood, with Steve Snaith moving back to midfield.

In the 75th minute, a Seaham attack was snuffed out and the ball was moved forward quickly into the Seaham half, where Chay Liddle fooled the Seaham defenders with a perfectly judged pass to Earl just inside the penalty area. Earl advanced, took aim and fired confidently past the Seaham keeper to make it 2-1 to Guisborough.

The visitors went further ahead a minute later when the ball was played forward to Earl, who delicately flicked it to substitute Smith, who easily outpaced the home defence before striking the ball past the advancing keeper.

But Seaham pressed forward in determined fashion and were rewarded in the 82nd minute with a somewhat scrappy, but deserved, goal from Palmer.

Despite the late scare, the Priorymen managed to see out the game to the final whistle.

New manager Steve Dowling said: “The lads have trained really well over the Christmas period and were raring to go, so I was very happy that the game got the go-ahead despite the difficult conditions.

“I thought Seaham started the better for the first ten minutes, but for the next 35 minutes we were much the better side. Our pace and movement caused Seaham all sorts of problems and to be fair a 3-0 score at half-time wouldn’t have flattered us. In the second half, we conceded a sloppy goal after a minute, which was very disappointing. But the arrival on the pitch of young sub Connor Smith caused their back four problems and helped us score two quick goals to put us back on top.

“From that point we should have seen the game out, but Seaham’s second goal put us under a bit of pressure. To be fair, on a poor surface, it was a good game overall and Seaham have some decent, technically good players in forward areas who will cause teams problems."

Guisborough have a rearranged home match at the KGV Stadium against Bishop Auckland tomorrow, kick-off 3pm.