SEAN St Ledger faces a big decision as he looks to mastermind Guiseley's bid to avoid relegation.

The Lions will be desperate to bounce back from their weekend defeat to Maidenhead United with victory at home to AFC Fylde tonight.

St Ledger, who is in caretaker charge following the sacking of Paul Cox, opted not to play himself on Saturday.

Yet as a former Republic of Ireland international, his experience could prove essential in trying to pull the club out of National League danger.

St Ledger defended the decision not to bring himself into the team after his side slipped to a 3-1 loss on Saturday which left them marooned 13 points off safety at the foot of the table.

"I wanted to do one of the jobs well and I thought that my best chance was as the manager," said St Ledger.

"I thought I needed to put all my energy into being the manager rather than being on the field."

St Ledger did express his relief at the quick turnaround between games, however, and striker Dayle Southwell – who netted at the weekend – echoed those sentiments.

Southwell said: "When you lose a game, you want to put it right as soon as possible. We've got the players to get out of this – but what we haven't got is time on our side."

Things look bleak for Guiseley after seven defeats on the bounce, as well as the sale of talented midfielder Liam Hughes to Billericay Town.

Yet they showed their potential in patches on Saturday and will fancy themselves against seventh-placed Fylde, who have won just one of their last four league games.

Meanwhile, Bradford Park Avenue face a stern test against National North leaders Salford City and will hoping for more luck than they had on Saturday against Blyth Spartans, when they fell to a 3-0 defeat.

Avenue boss Mark Bower was seething post-match, particularly lamenting two contentious offside calls when his side were only a goal behind.

He was further angered by the decision to caution striker Oli Johnson for diving, when he saw it as a clear sending off for the last Blyth defender.

Despite Bower's fury at what he called "some really poor decisions" throughout the match, he admitted that his side need to be tighter at the back.

Wayne Brooksby and Mark Ross are both injury doubts for the game at Salford and Bower will hope there are no additional selection issues against a side who are unbeaten at home since before Christmas.