Guisborough blew the Durham and North One title race wide open after putting leaders Morpeth to the sword at Belmangate.
The second-placed Priorymen secured a 26-15 bonus point victory over their Northumberland rivals to soar to within one point of the division’s summit.
Looking to preserve a proud home record that has seen them remain unbeaten in the last three years, Guisborough came flying out of the blocks and scored two tries in the opening five minutes.
After the match coach Trevor Edwards revealed he was always confident that his in-form side would claim victory after overseeing an intense training session on Friday evening.
“We ran an unusual session on Friday but the commitment from the lads at that session showed me that they all wanted to win this match,” Edwards said.
“I knew straight after that. The lads had the ambition and drive to win at all costs, and it’s credit to them for the way they performed. Everyone from one to 18 worked for each other.
“It’s ok being a flair team but you’ve got to start with the basics, making sure you win the contact area, and I felt we did that.
“The hardest thing beforehand was keeping the lads’ feet on the ground and their heads focused on what they needed to do, but it was a fantastic performance and a real statement to the rest of the division.”
Guisborough came into the match having won 10 of their last 11 league matches, and hot on the heels of a Morpeth side who have showed signs of weakness in recent weeks.
And that weakness told within the opening five minutes on a bitterly cold afternoon at Belmangate, as Guisborough opened the scoring inside two minutes.
Lock Rob Leggott powered through the timid Morpeth defence to touch down, with full-back Christian Pollock adding the extras.
That lead was further extended minutes later as Will Muir’s wonderful cross-field kick kindly bounced the way of winger Phil Shields, who reacted quickly to score.
A close-range penalty got Morpeth on the board, but Guisborough grabbed their third try of the match moments before half-time as Pollock raced onto a grubber kick and capitalised on a mistake to cross.
In the second period Pollock was at the centre of the action again, and the Priorymen scored their fourth try of the match on 50 minutes as the full-back cut through the Morpeth defence with a wonderful solo run, before offloading to Muir to clinically finish.
Leading 26-3, only a resolute Guisborough defence kept the visitors at bay, and although Morpeth did grab two late consolation scores, it was the hosts who celebrated a huge result at full-time.
“There was a lot of heart and pride out there,” Guisborough’s assistant coach John Wardell beamed after the match.
“We were playing in front of the biggest crowd of the season, we’ve been hyping up the match this week on our website and in the press, and we were absolutely superb on the day.
“It was just another day at Belmangate, that’s what we said. We wanted to go out there and perform how we have been doing every single week, just with even more tempo. We blew them away.
“It’s one happy camp at Guisborough right now. All the fringe players, the second team, everyone was watching and it was a terrific result.”
Next up for the Priorymen is a trip to Novocastrians next Saturday.
No comments:
Post a Comment