10 man Guiseley fell to defeat on the road away to a clinical AFC Telford United side in a game where The Lions played some much improved football, but were unable to put the ball in the net writes Joe Priestley, read more in our match report sponsored by BuildADrive.com.
The Lions started the brighter of the two teams and enjoyed some early spells of possession, a George Cantrill long throw did find Hamza Bencherif on two occasions but the Guiseley skipper couldn’t connect as well as he wanted to but expertly recovered the ball on both occasions to sustain pressure and keep Telford pinned in their own half for most of the early stages. Prince Ekpolo almost set Lewis Hey in behind the Telford defence and the academy graduate would’ve been away if it wasn’t for Zak Lilly.
Telford started to grow into the game and runs from Oswell and Lee Vaughan put the lions under pressure as both defensive lines looked increasingly nervous and both teams struggled to grab a hold of possession.
The first real chance of the game fell to the hosts, when a perfectly timed corner fell to Jason Oswell who was unmarked at the back post but the striker was unable to hit the target from close range.
Both teams continued to create, Telford through Jordan Davies who delivered consistently good balls into the box but The Lions held firm and cleared on all occasions. Lewis Hey delivered a good quality cross into the Telford box, but nobody could get the finishing touch. An ambitious effort from Hamza Bencherif, who shot from his own half, certainly made Russ Griffiths think twice, but failed to break the deadlock.
The Lions looked the better of the two sides as the break loomed, Nathan Newall and Gabriel Johnson combined with some good linkup play but the lions couldn’t create a clear cut chance before the half-time whistle.
The first real chance of the second half fell to Nathan Newall who was unable hit the target after Kaine Felix worked an excellent chance from a defensive mixup, and it proved to be costly when Zak Lilly headed in from close range to give the hosts the lead just a minute after Guiseley came so close at the other end, completely against the run of play.
The goal gave the hosts more confidence and The Lions were forced to chase the game as The Bucks enjoyed spell of possession that allowed Dom McHale to try a shot from range, but it didn’t hit the target. McHale found himself in space again but Lebrun Mbeka was able to just get a foot in to snuff out the danger.
The Lions misery was compounded when eight Telford players surrounded the referee following what looked to be a standard foul and Prince Ekpolo saw a straight red, leaving The Lions with a massive mountain to climb. This only got worse when Vaughan won Telford a stonewall penalty and Jordan Davies buried it from the spot to double the lead and put The Bucks well and truly in the driving seat.
To compel a miserable second half, Lewis Hey went off injured as The Lions’ injury list increased yet again and the only glimmer of hope was a promising cross from debutant John Lufudu who found Adam Haw, but the youngster couldn’t keep the header down, as the intensity of the game all but died out.
John Lufudu had a shot from range, but the hosts played out the rest of the game with some tidy possession-based football for the four added minutes and sent The Lions home with nothing to show for their efforts after a promising first half.
The Lions return to West Yorkshire having worked the ball well but just failed to make it count as a more clinical AFC Telford side claimed 3 points to stay in the playoff places.
Marcus Bignot’s post match thoughts
Team:
1. Brad Wade, 2. John Lufudu, 3. George Cantrill, 4. Prince Ekpolo, 5. Hamza Bencherif (C), 6. Lebrun Mbeka, 7. Kaine Felix (67′ Haw), 8. Lewis Hey (78′ Howarth), 9. Gabriel Johnson, 10. Andy Kellett (74′ Wafula) and 11. Nathan Newall.
Subs: 12. Isaac Currie, 14. Mark Howarth (78′ Hey), 15. Dan Cowan, 16. Jonathan Wafula (74′ Kellett) and 17. Adam Haw (67′ Felix).
