After the disappointment of losing to Preston North End in the National League Youth Cup the Young Lions faced the trip north to face Darlington.

The two youth sides had never faced each other before so it was something of the unknown for the Guiseley youngsters.

Without usual starters Albert Ibrahimi, Jack Lazenby, Fletcher Paley and Jordan Buckham it gave some younger players the chance to impress in the National League Youth section.

After a sluggish start Guiseley opened the scoring with a fine goal following a crisp passing move and clinical left-foot finish from Kayle Price.

After the early goal Darlington put pressure on the Guiseley defence for a prolonged period and only excellent goalkeeping from league debutant Declan Lambton kept Guiseley ahead.

Before half-time Guiseley punished Darlington’s failure to take their chances when Tabish Hussain cut in from the left to rifle a shot into the corner of the net.

Just before half-time Kayle Price popped up to score his second with a tap in at the near post.

In the second half Darlington still caused problems and they finally got off the mark after a mix-up in the Lions’ defence.

This spurred on Darlington but a goal from Kelvin Owusu made it 4-1 and killed off the game as a contest.

This was another three points for Guiseley to put them clear at the top of table after others at the top dropped points.

Academy Manager Dave Currie said: “There is a lot of football to be played and lots of points to be played for but coach Danny Ellis and I are happy with the progression the players have made individually and collectively.

“The next couple of months are huge and we will need to work even harder than before to achieve the targets we have set as a squad.”

Next up for the Young Lions is another tough trip to the North-East to face Gateshead FC on Wednesday.

Current positions at the top of Division J of the National League Youth section are: