WEST RESCUE A POINT

West Auckland 1 Guisborough Town 1 – Ebac Northern League Division One

Strikers usually grab the football headlines, but in this match West’s Jordan Blinco and Guisborough’s Louis Johnson had very different games.

Johnson was involved much more than his counterpart, holding the ball up and bringing team mates into attacks.  His contest with the West defence, and captain Gary Brown in particular, was a feature of the game.

Meanwhile it looked as though Blinco, joint top of the league scorers chart, was going to draw a blank.  But, like all good No. 9s, he persevered and all he needed was one chance that rescued a point for his team.  In the 71st minute he got on the end of a long pass but still had plenty to do.  He ran on to goal, managed to turn a defender a couple of times before putting the goal across Guisborough keeper Robert Dean and in.

Up until, the home team had been second best (perhaps not by much), especially in the second half.  The visitors got off to a good start when frustration turned to celebrations in the 8th minute.  A slick, quick one-two by Town was brought to an unceremonious end with a Guisborough player being upended.  They claimed the foul had been in the area but the referee gave a free kick a foot or two outside the box.

Up stepped No. 8 Shaaban Mohammed who drilled a low, hard free kick that got past the wall and evaded West keeper Sam Guthrie.  Guisborough probably thought it was justice done.  It was a goal with their first attack.

Blinco could have got on the score sheet in the 13th minute, hitting a shot that was saved with his legs by Dean.  But it was Guisborough who were mounting the more promising attacks and in the 20th minute Mohammed hitting a well-struck half volley from more than 25 yards out that only missed the target by a foot or two.

Blinco was at the centre of an appeal for a penalty at the other end when the No. 9 went to ground after a coming together with Dean as he tried to move the ball left to work some space for a shot.  Their appeals for a spot kick fell on deaf ears.

West had the first chance in the second half:  Cieran Jackson with a shot saved again with his legs by Dean.  But then Guisborough started to take hold of the game.  In the 4th minute of the half Johnson made a strong run down the left, cut inside and then saw his shot pushed away for a corner by Guthrie.  That was quickly followed by a shot by James Risbrough, stopped by the keeper and then in the 57th minute Johnson had another effort stopped one-handed by Guthrie, with Joe Bartliff hitting his follow-up shot hitting the post.

Apart from the early shot, West didn’t really get going in the second half until Blinco’s goal, but the strike gave them they lift they needed to press on and they increased the tempo of their play.

In the last 10 minutes of the game it was West who looked the more likely to get a winner – a Jackson shot missing the target by a couple of feet, Adam Mitchell with a quickly taken free kick that Dean had to scramble to before sending it out for a corner and then Risbrough hitting a curling shot that went over the angle of post and bar.

Honours even and a draw was just about right.

Mike Snowdon