Evans View of the Southport Defeat -The Pressure Builds On Sorry Guiseley

It was evident that Guiseley AFC are now 11 games without a win in the league following the 1-0 home defeat against mid-table Southport at Nethermoor Park, as the hosts appeared  bereft of confidence in front of the 761 fans in attendance. They will count themselves somewhat fortunate that their closest relegation rivals, Ashton United, also failed to pick up any points after this Saturday’s round of games.

The hosts had more of the possession at the beginning of the game as they won an accumulation of set-pieces, but Liam Watson’s team proved able to cope as their physical defence got the better of the Lions’ front two, Rowan Liburd and Kayode Odejayi.

The return of captain Scott Garner almost led to The Lions going a goal down inside the first 20 minutes as the number 3 conceded a free-kick in a promising position for the Sandgrounders but fortunately for him Dion Charles’ shot was just wide of the far post. However Garner did prevent another attack from the visitors from escalating when he completed a successful slide tackle and nearly grabbed a goal at the other end from a corner just before the half-time whistle but very quick reflexes from goalkeeper Daniel Hanford kept the Lions at bay.

With about 10 minutes remaining of the first half Liburd tried to drive his team forward and catch Southport on the counter but a lack of support from his teammates prevented him from doing so. Shortly after Southport’s Jason Gilchrist found himself unmarked at the far post with a chance to break the deadlock but the Lions’ supporters had a sigh of relief when their number 9 mistimed his effort.

The Sandgrounders got the second half off to a flyer in the 52nd minute when Jack Sampson got on the end of an easy tap-in following Gilchrist’s square ball across the penalty box in what proved to be the only goal of the game. Marcus Bignot and Russ O’Neill’s men looked to the bench for inspiration to get themselves back into the game when they brought on assistant manager/player Paul Clayton for Odejayi as the Lions’ number 10 won several headers but struggled to find his striking partner Liburd before he was taken off.

A number of fouls from Southport meant that Will Hatfield failed to get into his stride before he was substituted for Jack Dyche with just less than 20 minutes of normal time still yet to play. Despite the home side winning multiple free-kicks, the majority of them were poorly delivered by Niall Heaton as Hanford was often able to come out and catch the ball comfortably.

As the match entered its later stages Southport came close to doubling their lead when substitute Jordan Archer got away from the last defender before he played it to captain David Morgan but the Nottingham Forest academy product was unable to capitalise.

Nevertheless, Southport managed to hold on for the win which means that Watson’s outfit have achieved 3 clean sheets in their last 4 games and leapfrogged Alfreton Town and Blyth Spartans into a respectable 12th position in the table. Meanwhile at the other end Guiseley remain 19th in the league and without a clean sheet in 17 league games.

Team:

1 Dewhurst

2 Moyo

3 Heaton

4 Purver

5 Garner

6 Halls

7 Hatfield (Dyche 72)

8 Thornton

9 Liburd

10 Odejayi (Clayton 66)

11 Felix (Francis 83)

Subs:

12 Cantrill

17 Morrison

14 Dyche

15 Clayton

16 Francis

 

Next Up:

3:00 pm
Pitching In Northern Premier League Premier Division

Guiseley vs Ilkeston Town