GUISELEY head to the Heed tonight as they play their first away game of the Vanarama National League campaign against Neil Aspin’s Gateshead.

Both sides will be looking for their first win but Adam Lockwood’s Lions do at least have a point on the board, with Guiseley drawing a tough encounter with Ebbsfleet United on the opening day of the season.

That 2-2 draw was illuminated by a superb strike from John Rooney as he opened the scoring with a 20-yard volley.

Rooney was unmarked just outside the area when he was picked out by a well-delivered corner kick.

Lockwood confirmed that it was a move they had worked on.

The Lions boss said: “It is something that we’ve tried in training but you need special individuals to execute that kind of thing.

“You can have players with all the ability in the world but you need to have guts and character to take that on and, to be fair, I thought all of our players showed some character in our first game.

“Some made mistakes - maybe I made mistakes with the selection. 

"It won’t be the first or the last time this season that I’ll get something wrong, but we made good substitutions and the players that came on did well and saw the game out to earn us a draw.

“It’s a tough start to the season for us and there is another tough test tonight at Gateshead, but I’m confident now that we’ve got the quality and depth in the squad to cope with the difficult games coming one after the other.”

Gateshead are yet to bank a point after they were beaten 2-1 at Woking on the opening day.

Danny Johnson levelled for the Heed but they conceded another which left Aspin unhappy.

The former Leeds United player and Halifax Town boss said: “I thought the two goals we conceded were very preventable.

"The first goal in particular was very bad defending from us, but the games come quick and fast and we know where we need to improve and we’ve watched Saturday’s game back in preparation for the Guiseley game.”

There should have been two league fixtures in Toolstation Northern Counties East League tonight but an Emirates FA Cup extra-preliminary round replay has put paid to those.

Liversedge and Armthorpe Welfare meet again to see who travels to Ramsbottom United a week on Saturday (August 19) after a 1-1 draw at the weekend.

Roy Fogarty had given Jonathan Rimmington’s men a first-half lead but Will Ramsey hit back.

Sedge were due to host Worksop Town in the NCEL Premier Division, while Eccleshill United have missed out on an opening midweek fixture as they should have travelled to Armthorpe for a Division One clash.