It may have looked and felt like Halloween with the murk and mists surrounding Sandy Lane this evening but there were to be no horrors from a resolute Guiseley AFC as despite the sending off of Jameel Ible they nearly came away with all three points late on had Gabriel Johnson’s effort not gone the wrong side of the upright and then Joe Stacey’s finish ruled out for a contentious offside decision writes John Clements.
Jordi Nsaka, a new addition from Andy Welsh’s previous club Bury, made his Lions debut alongside the returning Tom Pratt while the Tigers line up included former Lions Hamza Bencherif, Aleks Starcenko and Luke Hall with Regan Hutchinson and James Hanson warming the bench.
The game kicked off with limited visibility from behind either goal where it was just about possible to make out the outline of the frame of the goal at the other end and it was into this murky scene that Reece Kendall put an early effort just wide from thirty yards out.
The home side replied through Jay Rollins but his shot didn’t trouble Ollie Battersby as Town looked to recover from Saturday’s 0-5 FA Trophy battering at the hands of Mickleover Town.
But it took another ten minutes for the visitors’ goal to be threatened again when Terry Hawkridge should have done better than pull his shot a whisker wide.
Despite this period of dominance, the Tigers looked toothless and Guiseley keeper Battersby was having a relatively quiet night but the game also became a bit more fractious at this point and Ollie Brown, Kendal and Ible went into the book and the latter caution would prove pivotal halfway through the second period.
Not to be outdone, Bencherif and Vaughan Redford for the home side, were also added to the referees burgeoning Xmas card list but the Lions nearly had the last laugh on the cusp of half-time when Pratt latched on to Prince Ekpolo’s through ball and beat home custodian Paul Cooper only to see Bencherif deny his former team with a clearance off the line.
Then Ible’s header grazed the woodwork just before Leigh Whelan collected another yellow to the Lions stash.
By the time the second half kicked off the mist had nearly cleared and so apparently had the home sides resolve as Kallam Murphy just failed to convert Kendall’s cross.
Town eventually got themselves into the game but despite their momentum they couldn’t breach the Lions defences. That was until the 64th minute when they were awarded a penalty and Redford sent Battersby the wrong way from the spot.
However, the reply was immediate as a Murphy latched on to a pass to finish with aplomb on 67 minutes to restore parity and then as the teams lined up for the restart Ible was shown a second yellow, presumably for something he said to one of the officials, and the mandatory red leaving Guiseley to see out the remaining twenty two minutes a man down.
Debutant Nsaka was next in the ref’s book before defender Josh Wilde spurned a great chance to restore the Tigers lead but instead shot wide.
The visitors had to soak up some serious pressure at this point as Worksop looked to settle the game but in all seriousness the ten men took it all in their stride and defended like demons.
And then with five minutes remaining it nearly all came crashing down for Town as first Murphy laid on a defence splitting pass for Johnson who pulled his shot just the wrong side of the post with Cooper beaten.
When the ball went out for a throw-in the linesperson mistakenly signalled for a corner and Stacey nearly caught Cooper out with a direct in-swinger before the Guiseley man had the ball in the back of the net moments later only for the goal to be chalked off as Johnson, although seemingly not interfering with play, was adjudged to have been offside by the same official when Stacey had first received the ball.
So Andy Welsh’s first league game ends in a draw that could so easily have been a win thanks to a superb defensive display that was in marked contrast to some of the performances of late.
Worksop Town 1-1 Guiseley AFC | Tuesday 31st October 2023 | The Windsor Foodservice Stadium
Attendance: 488
Team: 1. Ollie Battersby, 2. Ollie Brown, 3. Reece Kendall, 4. Prince Ekpolo (88’ Devine), 5. Aiden Walker, 6. Jameel Ible (C), 7. Tom Pratt (88’ Stacey), 8. Leigh Whelan (78’ Tongue), 9. Kallan Murphy, 10. Gabriel Johnson and 11. Jordi Nsaka.
Subs: 12. Danny Devine, 13. Brad Wade (GK), 14. Joe Stacey, 15. Courtney Meppen-Walters and 16. Liam Tongue.
