Always keen to promote new talent the GAFC are pleased to publish an alternative view of Saturday’s 2-1 win over Nuneaton from Evan Seaman.
Nuneaton had no answer to Guiseley’s dominance from set pieces as they came from behind to win 2-1 thanks to the man of the match Kaine Felix, who grabbed a late winner to get the Lions off the mark for their first win of the season.
The Lions started brightly as Rowan Liburd ended up one on one with Cam Belford after five minutes as he managed to beat the last defender for pace, only for his shot to land straight in the hands of the keeper.
Liburd found himself with an almost identical goal-scoring opportunity in the 18th minute but the Nuneaton shot stopper spared their blushes once again as he held onto Liburd’s shot which looked to be heading for the bottom corner.
As a result Nuneaton took advantage of Guiseley’s missed chances as they capitalised on a Guiseley free kick that was easily cleared, and the unmarked Enoch Andoh was able to open the scoring. After it became evident that Nuneaton’s game plan was to hit the Lions on the counter as the game went on.
For the rest of the first half Reece Thompson made a number of good runs through the middle, but the execution of the pass was poor as Guiseley captain Scott Garner showed his frustration at the Lions inability to retain possession and was given a booking for a foul just before the half time whistle.
At half time the joint managers, Marcus Bignot and Russ O’Neill, made the bold decision to bring on Alex Purver and Kayode Odejayi for Thompson and Terry Kennedy in an attempt to turn possession into goals.
After seven minutes of the second half The Lions were already looking more lively from dead ball situations and open play as a penalty appeal for Guiseley was turned down by the referee and Liburd produced a good cross but the header was just wide.
With half an hour left on the clock, Guiseley were getting closer to scoring when a Purver free kick was scooped away by Nuneaton’s keeper and a minute later Liburd headed straight at Belford.
It appeared to be a sign of things to come as Purver scored a 66th minute equaliser following a partial clearance from a corner which was picked up by Kingsley James who slotted into the path of Purver to score from close range. And The Lions didn’t stop there as they continued to be a threat with Kaine Felix down the right flank who was consistently cutting inside and stretching the Nuneaton defence. Purver was also putting much better balls in the box from corners.
But despite Guiseley being more on the front foot in the second half, time was running out for them as the official had added four minutes of injury time. Fortunately, the Lions won a throw-in with seconds to go and Niall Heaton threw it long into the path of Kaine who slotted it home to give The Lions their first Saturday win since the 18th October 2017.
In a final twist Nuneaton’s Ash Carter was sent off in an off the ball incident but out of the 528 fans who travelled to Nethermoor Park to watch the game, it was the home fans who went home happy.
