GUISBOROUGH Town’s punishing recent fixture schedule of four games in only six days finally took its toll on the Priorymen when they fell to a surprise 1-0 defeat against Durham City on Tuesday.

That they succumbed to a side they had beaten 6-0 only three days earlier spoke volumes for the impact the gruelling end-of-season programme is having on tired limbs.

Guisborough had also won 2-0 at arch-rivals Marske United on Monday and the effort clearly had a significant impact on the Priorymen’s energy levels against relegation-threatened Durham.

Durham won the game with a slightly fortunate 75th-minute goal from skipper Ross Wilkinson, who turned the ball into the net at the near post from a corner.

Guisborough fought bravely to pull themselves back into the game, but it was one of those nights when little seemed to go right in terms of misplaced passes and a lack of real attacking penetration.

Despite the defeat, Guisborough stayed third in the table, but their hopes of overhauling Marske for the runners-up spot now look slim.

Their victory at Marske ended the Seasiders' hopes of retaining the title and ensured Shildon would be crowned Ebac Northern League champions.

A goal in each half underlined Guisborough’s emphatic superiority over their neighbours and ensured the Priorymen can enjoy derby bragging rights – at least until the keen rivals clash again at the KGV next Friday.

The result also brought an abrupt end to a Marske run of seven successive wins.

In front of a crowd of 275, with a fair proportion of vociferous Guisborough fans making their presence felt, the visitors started much the brighter side, with the potent strikeforce of Connor Smith and Danny Earl both going close and both having compelling penalty appeals turned down.

In between these incidents, Guisborough took the lead on 25 minutes when Curtis Round, looking very sharp after making a welcome return from injury, surged forward with typical pace and purpose and let fly with a 25-yard shot which flew into the top left-hand corner of the Marske net, aided by a slight deflection.

After the interval, Marske came out with a much better attitude and started to cause the Guisborough defence problems, but with the back four of Paul Roddam, Leon Carling, Andrew May and Danny McWilliams looking very assured, the home side were restricted mainly to half-chances.

In the last 20 minutes, Guisborough regained the upper hand with Steve Snaith, Gary Wood and Jonny Helm controlling the midfield.

It was no surprise when, with just two minutes to go, Guisborough surged forward and Snaith finished off a lovely move by sliding the ball under Marske keeper Robert Dean to seal the points and a deserved 2-0 win for the Priorymen.

On Saturday, a ruthless first-half display by Guisborough set up a comfortable victory over struggling Durham City in front of a healthy crowd of 260, swelled by families and friends of Guisborough’s junior team footballers, who were enjoying their special youth day occasion.

Jonny Helm opened the scoring after just five minutes with a 25-yard piledriver and, four minutes later, Connor Smith latched on to a great through ball to slide the ball home beautifully.

Not to be outdone, Smith’s strike partner and the club’s leading scorer, Danny Earl, smashed home a superb volley on 13 minutes to make it 3-0.

In the 22nd minute, Smith got his second and Guisborough’s fourth and he completed a superb hat-trick in the 35th minute for 5-0.

A minute later, Earl got his second to make it 6-0 and that’s how it finished, despite a second half in which Guisborough struck the Durham woodwork several times and the hard-working Earl couldn’t quite complete the hat-trick he clearly wanted.

However, Earl’s latest goals lifted him to ninth in the all-time Guisborough scoring list with 66 goals.

Guisborough were also in action at Sunderland RCA last night, but have a rare break tomorrow, which will give manager Steve Dowling and his team some much-needed breathing space to prepare for the North Riding Senior Cup final against Middlesbrough Reserves at the KGV Stadium on Monday, kick-off 7.45pm.