Bishops steal it at the death

For the second successive season, Bishop’s Stortford left Nethermoor with all three points and condemned the Lions to their second successive defeat. Bishop’s went down to ten men just before the hour when Phil Anderson received his marching orders, James

Walshaw squaring matters from the resulting free kick. However, Matt Johnson turned out to be the Bishops’ hero with his last-minute winner despite the home side’s having the greater share of possession in the second half.

As the visitors made their physical presence felt, Reneil Sappleton looked dangerous early on, testing Steve Drench before blazing over from a good position. At the other end, an attempted clearance found Danny Boshell, who lofted the ball back in where Walshaw’s glancing header just cleared the bar.

Johnson whistled a free kick past the upright for the visitors before they took the lead on 36 minutes, Lewwis Spence converting at the back post. Simmering tensions boiled over on 56 minutes as Bishop’s Stortford looked for the game to be stopped with Steve Cawley down injured, but as play was waved on Anderson tugged back Gavin Rothery. Anderson was shown the obligatory red card following much discussion between the officials and remonstrations from the visitors.

Walshaw floated a perfect free kick inside the post with Luke Chambers rooted to the spot but it was Johnson who had the last laugh, shooting home through a ruck of players in the last minute to clinch the victory.

Guiseley manager Steve Kittrick said after the game: “I don’t know what’s up with us but we’ve got a long way to go. We need to bounce back on Tuesday and get a result.

“We’re having a bit of a bad patch and because we won our first six the expectation is fantastic, then teams sit back and stop us playing and that’s what’s happening.

“We’ve got to look at it and we may need to change our system to combat what’s happening.

“We’ve got to do better all over the park and start putting a foot in and being a bit nasty because at times we’re too open.”

Entertainment value: **

Star man: Francis (Bishop’s Stortford)

Teams: Guiseley – Drench; Clarke, McWilliams; Holdsworth, Ellis, Ainge (Captain) (c 65) ; Brooksby (Dale, 87), D Boshell, Wilson (Mason, 87), Walshaw, Rothery. Subs not used:  Bower, Rea, Giles.

Bishop’s Stortford – Chambers; Sinclair-Furlong, Herd; Prestedge (Captain), Anderson, Francis; Johnson, Waller-Lassen, Sappleton, Cawley, Spence (Redgrave, 73). Subs not used: Lette Jallow, Brayley, Duncan, Webb.

H/T 0-1

Scorers: Guiseley – Walshaw, 56; Bishop’s Stortford – Spence 36, Johnson 90.

Att: 496

Referee: Mr Sharp

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