RUSS O’Neill says it is time for his Guiseley side to move on and now focus on the league following their impressive FA Cup run.
Plucky Guiseley fell to a 1-0 loss at AFC Wimbledon at Plough Lane in the first round proper of the prestigious cup competition.
A group of 350 Lions fans made their way to the capital for Saturday’s cup clash and their side received plaudits for their display.
Now Guiseley have to follow the old football cliche of concentrating on the league.
This starts this Saturday when Guiseley host Hereford at Nethermoor Park in the Vanarama National League North (kick-off 3pm).
Guiseley are forth-from-bottom in the table, having played only 10 league games so far this season. They are on nine points including two wins so far this term. They are one place below Hereford, who have 10 points from their first 11 league games including a 1-0 win over third-placed Chorley last Saturday.
Joint-manager O’Neill says as nice as it was to receive plaudits from AFC Wimbledon and others for their battling display in their cup exit, his side now have to put that behind them.
He said: “We have got to pick ourselves up off the floor now.
“We got a million and one plaudits after the game. Wimbledon were very complementary towards us.
“We had them on the backfoot for much of the second half.
“It was hard watching the second round draw and not being in it.
“We’ve got to pick ourselves up and get some results in the league now.
“At Wimbledon, we acquitted ourselves very well. The fact that it was away made it doubly hard for us.
“We thoroughly deserved a replay, but we move on now.
“When I was at Alfreton, we had a really good cup run too. Here at Guiseley we did well and beat Cambridge in the first round and lost to Fleetwood in the second round when we first got here.
“The whole club gets engrossed with the FA Cup. The group of players is in a really good place.
“We have only played 10 league games so far this season and have usually played a lot more by now.”
Meanwhile, O’Neill says his side face a tough test this Saturday.
He added: “We will expect a really tough game against a full-time team. They have really good resources at that club.
“They might be thinking that te effort they have put in, they would have secured more points. They have dominated most of the games they have played.
“Last Saturday, they played a really top team in Chorley and got a clean sheet, so they will come to us full of confidence.”
Meanwhile, fellow Guiseley joint-manager Marcus Bignot paid tribute to his side’s supporter who saw their FA Cup defeat in London.
He said: “The away supporters were superb for us, even they were competing with the home supporters in how vocal they could be.”
Guiseley’s Vanarama National League North trip to AFC Telford United has been rearranged.
The game, initially due to be played last month, will now take place on Tuesday, November 30 at New Bucks Head Stadium (7.45pm).
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