Guiseley continued their run of victories as goals from Tom Denton and Gabriel Johnson guided them to a 3-2 victory over Atherton Collieries, writes Cayden Sands.
Following their cup triumphs over Ilkley and Gainsborough, this victory finally gives the Lions some much needed momentum in the league as they look to climb the table.
The game got underway with the hosts already playing perhaps their best football of the season thanks to some brilliant passing moves which were rewarded in the 11th minute after the ball fell to the feet of Denton in the box, allowing the forward to compose himself before opening the scoring with a powerful shot past Atherton keeper Jack Buckley.
The lead was quickly doubled just six minutes later after another impressive passage of play allowed Reece Kendall to hit a low flying cross that would find the head of Johnson, the striker then heading the ball into the net.
However, the visitors would soon halve the lead when after a foul from Lions defender Josh Ashman, the resulting free kick was at a perfect range to be converted by Jordan Adams after a perfectly hit ball gave Ollie Battersby no chance.
Collieries began to grow into the game after this and forced Guiseley into a much slower play style, something that paid off on 27 minutes when Ben Rydel levelled the scoring with a great effort from range, halting any momentum the Lions still had.
The pace of the game finally slowed down after this point as both sides looked to gain an advantage, something that the hosts managed to acheive on the stroke of half time as Denton bagged his brace with a penalty, giving Guiseley a narrow lead at the break.
The second half began in a much slower manner than the first as both sides struggled to create many clear cut chances, though Denton did think he had his hat trick on 62 minutes, but play was pulled back due to a foul in the build up.
Kallan Murphy made his first major contribution on 71 minutes getting on the end of a cross and heading the ball what looked to be goalbound, but it would ultimately just go north of the crossbar.
The Lions’ momentum wouldn’t stop there, with Ashman curling in a great cross on 80 minutes that was latched on to by Tom Pratt, but his own header would also miss the mark courtesy of an impressive Buckley save.
Despite being made to work for it, the hosts would hold out and pick up another important victory as they look to turn their season around, the main talking point being the football played in the first 20 minutes and the hope that this can be carried over into the coming games.
Guiseley 3-2 Atherton Collieries | Tuesday 10th October 2023 | Nethermoor
Attendance: 452
Team: 1. Ollie Battersby, 2. Josh Ashman, 3. Reece Kendall, 4. Leigh Whelan, 5. Aiden Walker, 6. Jameel Ible (C), 7. Joe Stacey (48′ Pratt), 8. Callum Chippendale (58′ Ekpolo), 9. Tom Denton, 10. Gabriel Johnson (72′ Brown) and 11. Kallan Murphy.
Subs: 12. Ollie Brown, 13. Brad Wade, 14. Prince Ekpolo, 15. Danny Devine and 16. Tom Pratt.
