In the highest goal scoring game of the season for the Lions, the 725 fans who were in attendance at Nethermoor Park saw Guiseley FC and Boston United play out a 9 goal thriller on a cold and wet Saturday afternoon.
After a fairly forgettable first 10 minutes, the game suddenly sprang into life when Boston’s number 9 Gavin Allot went for the spectacular overhead kick, only for the ball to fall into the hands of the Lions’ loanee Marcus Dewhurst. The Pilgrims continued to pile on the pressure and opened the scoring in the 13th minute when their first attempt at goal rebounded off the crossbar to Allot who was able to fire home.
It only took 5 more minutes for the Lions to respond as their number 10 Kayode Odejayi rounded off a nice move by the hosts. It started when Rowan Liburd ran down the left flank, before cutting in and passing it to Odejayi who then placed the ball into the path of the overlapping full-back Cliff Moyo who gave Guiseley’s target man enough time to get into the box so he could chip it in to the eventual goal scorer.
Marcus Bignot and Russ O’Neil’s men quickly made it 2-1 thanks to some clever link up play between Odejayi and Liburd when Odejayi played a through ball down the middle to Liburd who managed to compose himself and slot the ball into the bottom corner. However while the Guiseley’s players were still celebrating, Boston’s number 10 Jay Rollins caught the Lions’ captain off-guard as he beat the Guiseley defender for pace before making the score line 2-2.
With just under half an hour of the tie been played, Craig Elliot’s outfit restored their league as Will Thornton will be losing sleep over his intercepted clearance from a corner which allowed Boston to whip the ball back in the box for Lewis Gibbens to score the 5th goal of the game before half time.
Alex Purver must have thought he grabbed the equaliser 5 minutes before the break as he pounced onto Liburd’s parried shot, only for his goal-bound shot to be cleared off the line. Tempers started to flare shortly after when Purver was fouled which resulted in a booking for Boston’s Andi Thanoj and Guiseley’s Liburd.
When some supporters were still yet to come back to their seats from a half-time snack, Liburd got the second half off to a flyer in the 47th minute when he scored from close range to make the score 3-3. Guiseley’s centre-half Thornton almost made amends when his header from the corner spot went just wide of the net.
The rain was now in full swing which resulted in even more long balls from both teams. The Pilgrims made it 4-3 in the 70th minute from after another set-play as the Lions failed to pick up Brad Abbot on the edge of the penalty area which allowed him to place the ball in the top corner.
Boston doubled their lead for the first time in the game when their corner was played short to Ben Davies who chipped it into Gibbens for his second goal of the game. As both teams started to tire, Guiseley FC had to resort to more set-pieces in the hope of salvaging a point, but when Hall blasted his shot over the bar following a corner, it was beginning to look like that it wasn’t going to be the home supporters celebrating at the final whistle.
Guiseley’s man of the match Liburd managed to halve the deficit, while also getting his hat-trick in the process when he headed home from close range. But it was a case of too little, too late for the Lions. The result means Boston have moved one place to 11th position with 38 points, and Guiseley AFC are now dangerously looking over their shoulders in 17th position, as the Lions are just 4 points above the drop zone.
