GUISBOROUGH Town took a massive step towards preserving their Ebac Northern League Division One status with an emphatically impressive 3-0 win at Seaham Red Star on Saturday (April 14).

The vital victory and the even more crucial three points gained helped the Priorymen leapfrog Seaham into 16th place and they maintained their eight point cushion over Jarrow Roofing who currently occupy the third relegation spot. However, both have now played the same number of games whereas the Roofers had games in hand until recently.

The game was finely poised at 1-1 at half-time after winger Louis Goldsack had given the Priorymen the best possible start with an 18-yard volley into the net after only four minutes. Seaham hit back to draw level after 27 minutes but after the interval Guisborough regained control when defender Lee Bythway restored his side’s lead with a looping header just five minutes after the restart.

Then seven minutes from time Mason McNeill was set up beautifully by substitute Dave Onions to score easily and clinch victory and the three points for the Priorymen before Seaham were reduced to 10 men when Brad Staunch was sent off.

Guisborough Manager Gary Forster was understandably delighted with the result and commented, “Yes it was a great win, one which I think could be the most important victory for the club since I took charge. It has been a difficult week or two for the club with the passing of one of our former great supporters John Butterfield and I know that lads did have a ‘do it for John’ mentality before the game. We were not at our best in the first half but that was probably because we lacked match practice with all the recent postponements. But I thought we controlled the second half much better and fully deserved our win in the end.”

“I think a couple of more wins and we’ll be able to sleep much easier on a night,” quipped Gary. “We still have to be mindful that some of our relegation rivals like Jarrow Roofing and Bishop Auckland could still put decent runs together and suck us back into the relegation dogfight, so we need to keep the same focus as we showed today,” added Gary.

Meanwhile, off the field Guisborough are pleased to announce that almost all of the tickets have been sold for the John Butterfield Memorial Concert at the KGV Priory Suite featuring top UK Rock Band Dr Feelgood, who were close personal friends of John, whose funeral was held at St Nicholas Parish Church, Guisborough and drew a very large congregation, including many past and present Guisborough Town favourites.