Northallerton Town 1 Guisborough Town 2

FOLLOWING on from their great 1-0 away victory against Thornaby in mid-week thanks to a 17th-minute goal from club skipper Martin Butterworth, Northallerton Town played their first home game since November when they entertained second in the table Guisborough Town last Saturday and went down by the odd goal in three.

Manager Mark Fanning gave a home debut to recent signing Matthew Coad while on the bench was another new signing Shaun Lambert.

Coad is an experienced midfielder who has signed from West Auckland Town and has also played for Crook Town, Darlington andYork City, while local lad Lambert has signed from Norton and Stockton Ancients and has also played in the Northern Premier League for Whitby Town.

However Fanning was denied the services of former Aston Villa star Neil Tarrant who was unavailable, while leading scorer Darren Mowbray was relegated to the bench as Fanning preferred Gary Mitchell to lead the attack.

Northallerton made a great start to the game and they should have taken the lead within 30 seconds of the kickoff when Martin Butterworth found himself clear in the area in front of goal with just keeper Jack Norton to beat, but the former Town keeper made a good save as he blocked the shot with his legs.

Town continued to press and they took the lead in the 22nd minute with a superb goal from Peter Bulmer who picked the ball up in the middle of the park before advancing and from 25-yards out he played an inch perfect lob over Norton and into the back of the net.

Two minutes later and Town almost doubled their lead when a right wing cross from Bulmer was headed just over the bar by Ian Smurthwaite.

But despite having the better of the play, Town were rocked in the 41st minute when Guisborough equalised.

David Onions was brought down in the area by Craig Winter, and the former Northallerton hit-man got up to take the resulting penalty himself, and he made no mistake as he powered his spot kick past Alex Kell.

Guisborough looked a better team in the second period and they had a great chance to take the lead in the 50th minute through substitute Austin Johnson who met a left wing cross but, from a good position, he fired over the bar.

However Johnson made amends for this miss in the 55th minute when he got the winner when he was on hand to tap home from the edge of the six-yard box after Town defender Danny Shoulder failed to cut out a low left wing cross from another ex-Town player Lee Bythway.

Town applied late pressure and they had strong appeals for a penalty turned down in the 68th minute for a handball in the area, but after consulting his assistant, the referee awarded play on and gave Town a corner kick.

Town almost salvaged a point late in the game through Winter who hit a stunning 22- yard drive which keeper Norton did well to tip over the bar.

Although they have games in hand this defeat leaves Town in third bottom place with 17 points from 17 games.