MARK Bower has hailed Guiseley’s achievement in reaching the Conference North play-offs for five successive years as the club bid to finally go all the way.

In what is an increasingly competitive division, the Lions took a 1-0 lead into today's semi-final second leg at AFC Fylde on the Lancashire coast.

Guiseley manager Bower said: “It has been a real achievement to finish in the top five again because the league has been really tight this year.

“It has been well documented that there have been some big spenders in the league – the likes of Barrow and Harrogate – which has increased the quality of players and made it very even.

“A lot of teams will have expected to finish in the top five and have missed out.

“Therefore the fact we have got in there again with a couple of games to spare, after the injuries we’ve had, we’ve got to be pleased.

“Other teams, ourselves included, have had good budgets as well and signed players who might have played at a higher level, which has made it very competitive.

“The target is to get promotion to the Vanarama National League and if we can do that then it would be a fantastic achievement in my first full season in charge.”

Bower, meanwhile has reacted to suggestions that he played weakened teams in the final two games of the regular season, knowing that his side had already booked their place in the play-offs.

Former Bantams defender Bower said: “We didn’t really rest anyone. Gavin Rothery was missing because his wife had just had a baby and the others were niggling injuries.

“I thought we did well to get back to 2-2 at Oxford in our final game and I don’t like conceding four goals but in large parts of that game we had done okay so that’s why I wasn’t too concerned going into the play-offs.

“We can always get a result but we finished fifth because the consistency wasn’t there over long periods. That was because we didn’t have a real partnership at centre half.

“There are four quality central defenders in our squad but they have all suffered from injuries, going back to our final friendly before the season started when Danny Lowe and Danny Hall both picked up bad injuries in innocuous challenges at Farsley.

“When we are playing forwards like Liam Dickinson at centre back, it tells you what problems we’ve been faced with. Although Liam has done well it’s not his position.”