Guiseley played out an entertaining 2-2 draw with promotion rivals Altrincham, coming from two goals down to gain a point.
Lions’ goalscorer Gavin Rothery
The Lions began well against an Altrincham side managed by former Farsley Celtic manager Lee Sinnott but the Cheshire side quickly improved and got into their stride. As they became ever more threatening, Altrincham stuck twice in the space of twenty minutes to shock the visitors, Damian Reeves on seven minutes and Michael Twiss on 25 minutes doing the damage.
Guiseley, who had struggled to create many clear-cut chances thus far, then got fortunate as the ball broke in the box from a corner for Ciaran Toner to rifle into the roof of the net. It proved to be just the tonic for Guiseley’s comeback as five minutes later Gavin Rothery notched his second goal in consecutive games, curling deftly past goalkeeper Stuart Coburn to level.
It was always going to be difficult for the second half to match the fast-paced nature of the first and so it proved. Neither team created all that much in the early minutes after the break. The main talking point was Anthony Danylyk’s sending off for the hosts for two yellow cards, one for dissent and the other for a lunging tackle on Michael Burns.
Altrincham regrouped and held out while Guiseley went in search of the winner, coming closest when Lee Ellington bundled a shot on to the post. The search was to prove fruitless as both teams came away with a point, a result which both hotly-tipped sides will probably be satisfied with.
Lions’ boss Steve Kittrick said after the match: “I thought for big, big parts of the game we were far better. They’re fancied to win this league so to come away from home and get a point from being two down, I’m happy with that.”
“We’ve set ourselves a target of two points a game and we’re ahead of that at the moment.”
Lions – Drench, Clarke, Merris, Toner, Ellis, Ainge, Rothery, Boshell, Ellington, Forrest, Burns.
Subs (not used) – Bower, P Davidson, Booker, Holland, Giles
Star man – Gavin Rothery
Attendance – 749
