Guiseley suffer blow in first home defeat since January

GUISELEY fell to their first home defeat since January as they were defeated 2-1 by an Ilkeston Town side that rode their luck at Nethermoor on Saturday.

Manager Andy Welsh was left to rue the fine margins that cost his side. “It’s disappointing, of course. We miss the penalty, then they go up the other end and score, and we lose our momentum. Arguably, we could have had three or four but we didn’t take our chances.”

The game started briskly as the Lions missed a huge chance to take an early lead.

Great work from Michael Afuye created space for Gabriel Johnson. His effort was parried by Ilkeston goalkeeper Matthew Yates.

The rebound fell tantalisingly into the path of Kallan Murphy, who was then in turn denied brilliantly by Llarell King who blocked the ball on the goal line.

After twenty five minutes, Guiseley thought they’d struck gold. Murphy was bundled to the floor in the penalty area and a spot kick was signalled by the referee. However, much to the home fans dismay, Johnson’s effort smacked against the crossbar and away from danger.

Things would go from bad to worse for the Lions. The resultant clearance found Thomas Cursons in the Lions half. The striker wormed away from Aidan Walker and Jameel Ible and poked the ball past Ollie Battersby to give the visitors a lead against the run of play.

Guiseley weren’t behind for long and equalised only eight minutes later. Leigh Whelan’s free kick from the centre circle released Afuye down the right hand side. The loanee’s sweeping cross found the feet of Ible, who knocked home to level the closely contested affair.

The second half started in the same positive manner for the Lions when Liam Tongue’s precision drive shot was palmed away by Yates.

As the second half progressed it was Guiseley who continued to push for a winner.

Murphy’s determined run down the line and resulting cross was deflected by a defender and over the outstretched arms of Yates. The ball hit the crossbar and rebounded off the line and into the grateful clutches of the goalkeeper, leaving home fans grumbling that the incident had denied the laws of physics.

With just twenty minutes remaining, Ilkeston snatched the game from the host’s grasp. An accurate cross from Lindon Meikle found Cursons who again slotted past Battersby to give the Robins a lead against the run of play.

Despite changes made from the bench the Lions struggled to re-establish their foothold on the game. The visitors claimed the three points to pour cold water on Guiseley’s play-off charge.

Welsh was keen for his charges to learn from their mistakes. “We’ve missed some chances, had crosses that flashed across the goal. But if we want to go up this year, we have to be ruthless, we have to take our chances and we have to defend better.”

Team: 1. Ollie Battersby, 2. Ollie Brown, 3. Jordi Nsaka (87′ Moore), 4. Prince Ekpolo, 5. Aiden Walker, 6. Jameel Ible, 7. Michael Afuye (78′ Mariette), 8. Liam Tongue (C) (70′ Pratt), 9. Kallan Murphy, 10. Gabriel Johnson and 11. Leigh Whelan.

Subs: 12. Josh Ashman, 14. Tom Pratt, 15. Luke Mariette, 16. Kofi Moore and 17. Adam Dawson.

The Lions travel to Knaresborough Town in the semi-finals of the West Riding County Cup on Wednesday in a 7:45pm kick-off at Town’s Manse Lane ground.