At the eighth time of asking Guiseley finally got their season under way with a point and a clean sheet courtesy of a goalless draw at home to fellow early season strugglers Braintree at a sodden Nethermoor.
Interim manager Adam Lockwood made two changes from the team that had narrowly lost at leaders Tranmere Rovers on Monday with loan signing Jonny Maxted, the nephew of former Lions goalkeeping legend Paul Maxted, taking over from Daniel Atkinson while Jordan Preston replaced Luke Porritt up front.
The game kicked off in atrocious conditions with persistent heavy rain making for a difficult surface where clear cut opportunities were at a premium.
Guiseley’s first opening came midway through the first period as Adam Boyes stepped over Oli Johnson’s pass to leave Preston in the clear in the right hand channel but the striker pulled his shot beyond Sam Beasant’s right hand post.
Javan Vidal produced a last ditch tackle just before the break to deny Craig Braham-Barrett and when the ball went down the other end Preston hit the post with Beasant beaten.
The second half was more of the same as Braintree hit the home side on the break but failed to trouble Maxted.
The introduction of Luke Porritt for Johnson produced a couple of openings the latter of which saw the young striker latch on to a through ball and just loose out to Beasant in what proved to be the last action of the afternoon.
Team:
26 Maxted
25 Atkinson
4 Vidal
8 Hatfield
22 Purver
15 Palmer
6 Lawlor
9 Boyes (Rankine 76)
10 Johnson (Porritt 53)
18 Clee
19 Preston
Subs:
7 Smith
11 Rankine
16 Porritt
17 Atkinson
20 Williams
Adam Lockwood’s post match interview