New boys make their mark in Chorley win

Their first goals in a Guiseley shirt for striker Alan Bailey and centre-back Jon Wordsworth extended Guiseley's unbeaten run to eight matches. They took the spoils in a hard-fought win at Victory Park on Saturday.

Prior to the game both sides had boasted an unbeaten seven match run which in Chorley's case included the 4-0 thrashing of Trafford and a 2-1 midweek win at Morecambe in the Lancashire FA Marsden Trophy.

Guiseley lacked Mark Stuart, who was serving the last match of his three game suspension. In his absence Guiseley have won the UniBond League's Division One Fair Play Award for January!

With Nathan Hay's international clearance still in a tangle Gary Shaw replaced Clive Freeman at left-back.

For the opening 25 minutes Guiseley dominated without creating any clear cut chances although Bailey had an eighth minute shot saved.

He and David Cooke, playing mainly down the left flank, caused the Chorley defence some headaches with their intelligent running off the ball. In the 36th minute Cooke just failed to reach a cross into the penalty area.

On the right Dave Henry exploited the space to good effect while Richard Chattoe and Peter Sumner worked hard in midfield. Their constant harrying was disrupting the home midfield.

Chorley came into the game just before the half hour and forced two corners in quick succession but neither caused any real concern for the Guiseley defence. James Nettleton then lost the ball to Wilkinson who should have done better than shoot straight at Hill.

Hill's long clearance found Bailey and only a timely sliding tackle by Billy McCartney stopped the Guiseley striker from giving his side the lead.

From the resulting corner the ball was cleared to Sumner who hit his trademark rasping drive from 20 yards but Lee Bracey had positioned himself well and collected comfortably. In the 43rd minute Nettleton negotiated two challenges on the left touchline and delivered an excellent low cross into the box which Bailey swept past Bracey to give Guiseley the lead.

Bailey made it 2-0 before the break when he robbed a defender, went round the 'keeper and rolled the ball into the empty net.

After just three minutes of the second-half Chorley reduced the arrears. Nettleton blocked what looked like a certain goal on the line only for the ball to fall to Stuart Tulloch and he fired home.

Despite sustained pressure Guiseley weathered the storm and when Cooke delivered a cross from the right Bracey collected well under pressure from Bailey. Further pressure earned Guiseley a corner and Chattoe's delivery was headed home by Wordsworth as he opened his Guiseley account.

As Chorley struggled to get back into the game Hill saved at the feet of Emmett whilst Henry hit a 20 yarder just wide.

With the referee having signalled two minutes of added on time after four minutes Chorley, with almost the last kick of the match, pulled a goal back. Lee Wilkinson played a quick one-two before rounding Hill and slotting the ball home from a tight angle.

Guiseley just had time to kick-off again before referee Williamson signalled the end of the game and a well deserved three points for a Guiseley side hoping to climb up the table.

Guiseley are starting to play with some consistency and although they still lack long term injury victims Ryan Senior, Ben Thackwray and Simon Trevitt and have to sort out the wrangle over Nathan Hay's international clearance after his change of mind over a trip to New Zealand things are looking good for Neil Parsley's men.