Guisborough Town boss left optimistic after Heaton Stannington draw

Guisborough Town manager Nathan Haslam revealed his side’s historic draw at Northern Premier League East rivals has ‘filled him with optimism’ for his side’s first season in Step 4.

The Priorymen suffered a deeply disappointing FA Cup defeat at the hands of Teesside neighbours Thornaby on Saturday as the Northern League club claimed a narrow 1-0 win at the King George V Stadium.

However, Haslam’s men bounced back in impressive fashion by battling their way to a point in a historic fixture as they competed in the Northern Premier League for the first time in their history.

It was Guisborough that struck first when Ben Errington wrote his name into the history books as their first ever NPL goal just after the quarter-hour mark as the defender’s looping header evaded Stan goalkeeper Dan Lister and a defender on the line.

The hosts, who are widely tipped to challenge for a play-off place this season, hit back on the midway point of the first-half when Cameron Gascoigne met a Cyril Giraud cross at the far post and angled a first-time effort across Priorymen stopper Ryan Catterick and inside his far post.

Both sides had half-chances throughout a keenly contested second-half – but it was The Stan that came closest to a winner when Priorymen substitute Jack Bailey cleared a goal-bound effort from the line in the fourth minute of injury-time.

“It was chalk and cheese from Saturday” – Guisborough Town manager Nathan Haslam

Haslam praised his players for rising to the challenge at The Willow Park – and admitted the draw had raised his hopes ahead of Saturday’s first home game of the league season when his side entertain Bradford Park Avenue.

He told The NLP: “It was chalk and cheese from Saturday. You could see the lads were up for it because they knew it was going to be a challenge tonight against a team that are well-established at this level. I really do think they will do well, especially here.

“It was a disciplined performance – especially on the counter-attack. We caused them enough problem and it fills me with optimism moving forwards.”

‘We move on and build into Saturday’ – Dean Nicholson

The draw means The Stan have collected four points from their opening two games of the season after they opened up their campaign with an impressive 2-0 home win against Stocksbridge Park Steels on Saturday afternoon.

Manager Dean Nicholson admitted he would have accepted a return of four points from both games and firmly set his focus on Saturday’s visit to Lincoln United.

He said: “I think if someone had set to me at 12 o’clock on Saturday that we’d take four points from six, I would have taken it. I say it all the time, they are zero easy games in this league so every game, home and away, is very, very tough.

“There are 22 very good football teams in this league so any point you can get is a good – and Guisborough will learn that along the way. Home or away, any point you can get, you take it so we take a point, we move on and we build into Saturday.”