Guiseley suffer setback on road (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Guiseley suffer setback on road

9:10am Monday 8th January 2007 in Sport By Sports Desk

Prescot Cables 2

Guiseley 0

Having scraped a win at home last week, it was back to disappointment on the road for Guiseley at the weekend as they slumped at Prescot Cables to dent their hopes of promotion from the UniBond Premier Division.

Over recent weeks the club have settled down under latest manager Terry Dolan. The last away game was at play-off rivals Marine and that ended in a 1-0 defeat to halt Guiseley's three-match unbeaten run.

It was also a disappointing loss after the home side scored an 88th-minute winner in what had been a tight struggle - but no such spin can be applied to Saturday's loss at Prescot, themselves a capable side.

Guiseley were at best under-par and at worst second best, especially in the first half.

After the break they gave a better account of themselves but failed to find the cutting edge at the business end.

Dolan's players were slow starting and they never really recovered from that.

Their first threat was not until the midway point of the first half and, even then, Rob Pell could not find the target with his header.

Just before the half-hour mark, Cables - who were beaten 3-1 at Nethermoor on December 16 in Dolan's embryonic regime - took the lead.

Having forced a corner, the flag-kick was whipped in and Carl Connelly converted it with a header.

Guiseley may then have been unfortunate when Scott Jackson headed in minutes before half-time. That strike was ruled out for offside but Jackson appeared level when he moved.

It was one of those tight decisions that haunt clubs. Had they turned around level with the home side, it could have made a difference.

The shot in the arm at the right time may have worked for Guiseley and against their hosts. It was not to be but Dolan's men were better after the restart, regardless of their late disappointment.

Midway into the second half it was curtains for Guiseley when the home side netted their second goal from the penalty spot.

Keeper Steve Dickinson had raced off his line to challenge for a through-ball and a forward went down.

It was the assistant referee who flagged for it rather than the referee, who was behind the play like many of the players after the punt forward.

Mark Duffey stepped forward to send the resulting penalty past Dickinson but it was eight minutes later when the penny finally dropped that it was not Guiseley's day.

Skipper Richard Dunning fired in a testing cross that saw two shots blocked in a melee in the home area.

The rebound found substitute James Hanson, who saw his shot blocked on the line, and then Liam Green shot the loose ball over the bar.

After that a Hanson shot found the side-netting and then Jackson fired over in the final minute.