With the carrot of an away tie against Manchester United in the next round dangling in front of them Guiseley Academy Under-18s just failed to make it to the Third Round of the FA Youth Cup when they took on Scunthorpe United at Glanford Park on Tuesday night writes Rachel O’Connor.
The Young Lions however gave everything in a frenetic game in which Scunthorpe’s experience told in the end as they managed the game out well after scoring the only goal of the match in the 70th minute through Harrison Poulter.
The first-half had seen lots of chances for both sides but miraculously the game was goalless at the break. The last move of the opening half was ended with Guiseley’s Jakub Hebda in possession and bearing down on goal when the whistle went.
The second-half again saw both sides giving their all as they battled for the opening goal. Harrison Leigh did well to stop a good attack by the ever dangerous Sellars-Fleming while Hebda was showing some great touches at the other end.
To a man the Guiseley side were giving their all but the breaks just did not go their way and they were very disappointed when Scunthorpe scored after getting a lucky break with the ball rebounding off the tackling defender to Poulter’s feet and he didn’t need another invite.
Prior to this Harry Glover had flicked the ball on to Hebda but the flag went up for off-side against Jayden John.
Glover saw a Scunthorpe defender acrobatically block his effort while Dexter Ball skewed an effort wide and Guiseley looked for a moment to maybe have a penalty when Josh Stones fell to the ground.
Guiseley had one last throw of the dice but we’re out of luck when Hebda’s effort almost beat the ‘keeper and the rebound fell to Stones whose whose effort was cleared off the line, hitting the post as it was cleared.
Guiseley players in all areas of the pitch rose to the challenge and could leave the field with their heads held high.
They now move on to rekindle their challenge for the National League U-19 North title with five wins from five games behind them.
Attendance: 348
GUISELEY: Oli Brackenbury; Oli Reape, Jayden John, Ricardo Grey (Oliwier Grzelak 80), Harrison Leigh, Ellis Farrar, Dexter Ball, Alex Mather (Fole Nkem 75), Jakub Hebda, Josh Stones, Harry Glover (Nathaniel Williams 87).
