Guiseley ground out a 1-0 victory at Nethermoor against league leaders South Shields thanks to Lewis Whitham’s late penalty writes Edward Robertson.
Manager Paul Phillips was encouraged by what he saw. “We are building great performance and great character. For me, I think we deserved everything we got out of the game.”
It was certainly a performance full of character from a Guiseley side that were under pressure from the very start of the match. With the game just seven minutes old South Shields forward Darius Osei dragged his shot wide of Cam Mason’s goal after a well worked move.
However, the home side were keen to show their metal. Ross Daly’s tenth minute effort flew over the crossbar, following Lewis Whitham’s squirming run and cross.
Guiseley continued to take the game to the visitors when Jake Cassidy placed the ball across the face of goal. It rolled invitingly for Whitham but unfortunately the in form winger could only poke it wide.
Five minutes later the Mariners tested Mason for the second time. Jordy Mongoy’s troubling cross found Mackenzie Heaney whose shot was powered into the path of Mason, to the relief of the home crowd.
As conditions worsened in the swirling rain the game slowed down. Both sides got into dangerous areas without troubling the goal before the break.
In contrast Guiseley started the second half positively. On the fiftieth minute Kallan Murphy headed across the face of goal towards an unmarked Cassidy only for the opportunity to be snuffed out by former Bradford City defender Gary Liddle. The Lions continued to work the away side’s defence. George Smith’s looping cross into the box was only half cleared by the visitors back line. The clearance fell to Callum Chippendale who curled the ball goalward only to be denied by a defender heading it off the line.
Guiseley grew further into the game. On sixty-five minutes Whitham’s long range effort was spilt by South Shields goalkeeper Myles Boney and trickled wide. The tricky winger continued to test the opposition and in the seventy-fifth minute, Whitham was tripped in the area and earnt Guiseley a penalty. After a long delay, Whitham held his nerve and fired home from the spot to give the Lions a well-deserved lead.
The goal spurred the Mariners into action. Moments after falling behind substitute Dylan Mottley-Henry’s cross into the penalty area was just inches away from the head of Mongoy.
The Lions had to dig deep as South Shields pressure led to a series of free kicks and corners that the Guiseley defence had to match.
The full-time whistle sent the home crowd into raptures, in what was an encouraging and exciting match that earned Guiseley three points over arguably the strongest side in the league. Lions boss Paul Phillips was keen to keep his men grounded and focused, “I don’t want us to get carried away just because we’ve won two or three games, we have the ability to compete at the top of the table and we’ve now added some steel in there, but let’s not count our chickens just yet.”
Guiseley 1-0 South Shields | Saturday 14th January 2023 | Nethermoor
Attendance: 953 with 187 travelling South Shields supporters
Team: 1. Cam Mason, 2. Ekow Coker, 3. George Smith (C), 4. Ross Daly, 5. Jameel Ible, 6. Leigh Whelan, 7. Lewis Whitham, 8. Callum Chippendale, 9. Jake Cassidy (66′ Smeltz), 10. Kallan Murphy and 11. Courtney Meppen-Walters.
Subs: 12. Adam Haw, 14. Kwame Boateng, 15. Angus Chapman, 16. Andy Kellett and 17. Shane Smeltz.