North Shields 2, Guisborough Town 0 (Emirates FA Cup – Preliminary Round)

TWO decisive moments either side of half-time ultimately determined Guisborough Town’s exit from this year’s Emirates FA Cup in a highly competitive Preliminary Round tie at North Shields on Saturday. Firstly, with the Priorymen trailing 1-0 to a 31st minute ‘Robins’ goal from Callum Smith, Guisborough won a free kick way out on the left flank with four minutes remaining to the half-time break. The kick was taken by Guisborough striker Steve Roberts, who curled in a superb 20-yarder which looked destined for the far right-hand corner of the goal but North Shields ‘keeper Greg Purvis pulled off a stunning save, arching in mid-air and turning the ball onto the bar for a corner. Secondly, on 59 minutes, North Shields were awarded a hotly-disputed free kick 25 yards out which was despatched spectacularly into the roof of the Guisborough net by Cam Cunningham for 2-0 to the Robins, a lead which they retained to the final whistle.

Guisborough made the brighter start to the game and in the 11th minute carved out two great chances, but North Shields ‘keeper Purvis first parried away a Steve Roberts shot and then Guisborough’s Ben Jackson saw a strong shot saved by Purvis. At the other end, Guisborough goalkeeper Robbie Dean had to be alert to leap high to tip an in-swinging North Shields corner over the bar. On 30 minutes, a Ben Jackson shot was well saved again by Purvis but just a minute later North Shields took a 1-0 lead when a cross evaded the Guisborough defence and Callum Smith scored with a low shot.

Guisborough to their credit kept plugging away and efforts from defender James Dillon and substitute Sam Webster produced good saves from Purvis, who had been kept on his toes throughout the match. Then on 59 minutes, North Shields were awarded a free kick 25 yards out which was despatched into the roof of the Guisborough net by Cam Cunningham for 2-0 to the Robins.

Two years ago Guisborough pulled off a memorable result in the FA Cup against North Shields when they scored two goals in the dying minutes to earn a 2-2 draw followed by beating Shields in the replay at the KGV. But sadly, there were no such heroics this time, but the Priorymen emerged with much credit from a keenly competitive match which kept the crowd of 275 entertained from start to finish.

After the game, a disappointed but certainly not downhearted Guisborough manager Steve Bell said: “At times I thought we were the better team out there today. We competed well against them throughout the whole 90 minutes and can take a lot of positives from the match. But as so often happens in a game, there were one or two important incidents which just didn’t quite fall for us, like the Roberts free kick which hit the bar, and then their disputed free kick outside the box which tipped the balance of the game in North Shields’ favour.

“They got the luck and we didn’t – but overall, I’m pleased with the efforts from the lads who kept fighting right to the final whistle. On a positive note, I’m hoping to make one or two new signings by midweek."

A famous spectator at the match at North Shields was none other than former Newcastle United legend Malcolm ‘Supermac’ MacDonald, who these days is also North Shields’ club president. Saturday was exactly 50 years to the day since Malcolm scored a hat-trick for Newcastle on his debut against Liverpool.