The Lions’ recent good run of form came to an end after falling to a 3-1 defeat against Warrington Town at Nethermoor writes Simon Bullock.
The opening stages of the contest were evenly contested, with Guiseley having the better of the opportunities.
After a quarter of an hour, Keegan Hartley nearly grabbed himself a debut goal when he caught Town goalkeeper Tony Thompson sleeping in possession and came close to rolling the ball into an empty net.
Mohammed Qasim was a constant threat all first half and had a claim for a penalty to be awarded when he shot from the edge of the area and looked to strike the arm of an opposition player, but the referee was unmoved.
With the Lions’ continuing to look the most likely to open the scoring, George Smith left Thompson scrambling backwards as his curling cross looked to be nestling in the top corner, but his effort was tipped over the crossbar.
Jake Cassidy was the next to come close, with his header flashing narrowly wide of the post on 30 minutes, but it was Town who opened the scoring just seconds later courtesy of a breakaway that was finished off by Stefan Mols, who drilled his shot past Hiddleston and into the bottom corner from inside the 18-yard box against the run of play.
Six minutes later and The Wire doubled their lead when a free kick into the Guiseley penalty area wasn’t sufficiently dealt with, and the loose ball was lashed home by James Harris.
Both sides struggled to create many chances of real note for the majority of the second half with Smith and Matthew McDonald going closest for both sides.
On the hour mark, Lewis Whitham made his first appearance for the club after signing from Alfreton Town earlier in the day and looked lively down the left-hand side, as his shot from distance was saved comfortably by Thompson.
That effort was a sign of things to come from the winger, as he pulled a consolation goal back with a minute of regular time left to play, carrying the ball down the left flank before shifting inside and burying a powerful strike into the net to halve the deficit.
However, the Yellows restored their two-goal advantage within minutes as some sloppy Guiseley defending allowed McDonald to run through on goal and slot the ball beyond Hiddleston with more or less the final action of the contest.
Guiseley 1-3 Warrington Town | Saturday 5 November 2022 | Nethermoor Park
Attendance: 543
Team: 1. Callum Hiddleston, 2. Ethen Vaughan (Whitham 60’), 3. George Smith, 4. Kwame Boateng, 5. Danny Ellis ©, 6. Jameel Ible, 7. Mohammed Qasim, 8. Keegan Hartley, 9. Jake Cassidy, 10. Joe Ackroyd (Kellett 78’), 11. Nicky Walker (Haw 71’).
Subs: 12. Adam Haw, 13. Hagie Damba (GK), 14. Andy Kellett, 15. Lewis Whitman, 16. Jorge Sikora.
