Guiseley produced a dominant performance against Blyth Spartans to clinch a place in the Emirates FA Cup Fourth Round Qualifying the only surprise being that they only had Jamie Spencer’s tenth minute goal to show for their efforts and it wasn’t a more decisive scoreline. To find out how they did it read our match report sponsored by BuildADrive.com.
With striker Jake Day having moved on to Scarborough earlier this week the Lions moved quickly to plug the gap and new signing Shaun Tuton started his Nethermoor career on the bench alongside Kaine Felix for today’s game that kicked off under a leaden grey sky with heavy rain making for a drab afternoon.
Not that the action on the pitch matched the weather as the visitors were given an early opportunity to test the home defence when they were awarded a free kick in a dangerous position but in the end it all came to nothing.
From this point on the home side took control of the midfield and it was no surprise when Spencer put them ahead on twelve minutes after a determined effort to keep the visitors defence under pressure paid off resulting in the second of two crosses finding the midfielder ten yards out and he made no mistake with a left foot shot past the despairing dive of Alex Curran into the bottom corner.
Several forays into the Spartans penalty area followed without any clear cut chances being created until the enegetic Spencer had another effort punched away by Curran, the goalkeeper being somewhat fortunate to see the ball spin just wide of the upright.
A slick move down the left hand channel created a superb opening for Brad Nicholson but his shot lacked power and Curran was quickly down to smother it.
Having had most of the play the home side nearly paid the penalty for some slack defending just before the break when Jordan Watson had a golden opportunity to square matters but his shot was straight at Luke Jackson.
Blyth started the second half in determined fashion but it was the Lions that nearly put the game to bed as Jordan Thewlis sped past two defenders, but shot straight at Curran when a shot either side would have found the back of the net.
Having had little to do home custodian Luke Jackson was called into action just before the hour as he pulled of a top class save to deny the visitors after a precsion free kick had been delivered into the danger area.
Kaine Felix replaced the skilful Thewlis on 74 minutes as the home side sought to seal the tie and a second change on ninety minutes saw Tuton given his Nethermoor debut when he replaced Jacob Gratton but the former Alfreton striker only had time for one effort which sailed off towards the corner flag.
With five minutes being added on completion of the ninety the Lions saw the game out comfortably to put themselves in the hat for the draw which takes place at lunchtime on Monday.
Images and video from today’s game (including Jamie Spencer’s goal) here
Attendance: 452
Team:
1. Luke Jackson
2. George Cantrill
3. Brad Nicholson
4. Prince Ekpolo
5. Hamza Bencherif (C)
6. Lebrun Mbeka
7. Jake Hull
8. Jamie Spencer
9. Jacob Gratton (Tuton 90)
10. Jordan Thewlis (Felix 74)
11. Regan Hutchinson
Subs:
12. Ollie Brown
13.Hagie Damba
14. Lewis Hey
15. Shaun Tuton
16.Adam Haw
17.Kaine Felix
18.Bailey Thompson