Penrith 2, Guisborough Town 4

(Ebac Northern League – Division One)

For the first hour of this match at picturesque Penrith on Saturday, Guisborough Town put in a performance as near-perfect as it could be.

A fantastic first half hat-trick from on-song Sonni Coleman and a fourth goal from defender Josh Rowbotham five minutes after the break put the Priorymen in complete control as they outclassed their Cumbrian rivals.

The scoreline could easily have been 8-0 by the time Rowbotham scored as bustling Guisborough made Penrith second best all over the park with a wonderful display of football.

The Priorymen were super-competitive, winning virtually every second ball, spraying passes all over the park and mounting some breath-taking assaults on the beleaguered Penrith goal.

But in the last third of the game Guisborough took their foot off the gas with their work done and dusted for the day and Penrith, with nothing to lose, threw men forward and got what essentially were two late consolation goals in the last ten minutes.

But it only slightly took the gloss off a superbly polished Guisborough performance which had manager Gary Forster purring with satisfaction afterwards.

He said: “If only we could play like we did for that first hour or so every week we’d walk this league. We were seriously excellent particularly in the first half with just about everything that we tried working superbly well.

“We eased off in the last 20 minutes or so with next Wednesday’s trip to Bishop Auckland in mind but that can’t take away anything from what was an excellent all-round performance by the lads."

The victory and three well-earned and deserved points propelled Guisborough up six places in the league table from 13th to seventh.