Guiseley 0 Brackley Town 2

A THIRD-consecutive home defeat made for a sombre mood at Nethermoor as Guiseley lost ground in the promotion race while Brackley Town consolidated their place in the top five going into the busy holiday period.

The Lions remained in 10th place in the Vanarama National North despite the home reverse, in which they ended with 10 men, but they are now six points outside the play-off places and eight points behind the Saints who were held to a draw in their last trip to West Yorkshire, as they snatched a point from a 1-1 draw with a last-minute goal at Farsley Celtic on Tuesday.

After a goalless first half the visitors broke the deadlock around the hour mark but the game was still balanced when Guiseley skipper Scott Garner was shown a straight red card for a foul on Brackley forward Wes York.

Garner’s challenge in the 85th minute ended York’s involvement as he was unable to continue, Tendai Daire coming off the bench to replace him. Once the home skipper had departed the visitors doubled their lead in stoppage time.

In a game where there was plenty of attacking intent there were few clear cut openings, so it was no surprise that the deadlock was broken by a scrappy goal. Glenn Walker got the final touch in a goalmouth scramble following a corner to give the Saints the advantage and Lee Ndlovu doubled it with a fine strike in stoppage time.

It was Ndlovu who had scored late at Farsley just days earlier to keep Brackley’s unbeaten five-game run going, they have now stretched it to six games and are just three points off third-placed Chester.

Lions’ joint-manager Russ O’Neill said: “Frustration is the key word for me after that game because we played a big part in that game and ended up with nothing.

“You can see why Brackley have conceded four goals in their last six or seven games, they keep a clean sheet, and that’s the difference.

"I thought we played really well, we also kept our shape really well and we had a chance just before they scored.

“Then they get a corner and score and we’re chasing the game and have a man sent off, whether it is a straight red I don’t think it is, it’s probably a yellow, but we’re going to lose our captain for three games now.

“We feel massively frustrated but Brackley are a good team and an experienced team and the players have been together for a long time. It’s easy to see why they get the results as they manage the game well and hang in there when the opposition is doing well.

"We also lost Aaron Martin to an injury, he competed right until the last minute of the first half when he flicked a header on and we nearly got something from it, but when he landed he felt his calf so we took him at half-time.

“We did well until we lost our way for a 10-minute spell early in the second half, but then they scored in that spell which again is the sign of a really good team. I thought we took the game to them again until the red card.

“We’ve got another full time team coming to us on Tuesday (Kidderminster Harriers) so it’ll be another big test but if we can take our chances when we create them we’ll be a threat.”