King's Lynn Town 0 Guiseley 1

Kaine Felix pounced on a defensive error ten minutes before the break as the Lions snaffled all three points from a tight game away at King's Lynn Town who were looking for the win that would have taken them to the summit.

The Norfolk side were two points off the top but had three games in hand on leaders York City. The Minstermen’s game was one of five from 11 in the Vanarama National North to not go ahead.

The National League’s decision not to suspend games across all its three divisions caused controversy amid fears of the spread of the coronavirus. Some of the clubs couldn’t play their fixtures as they had players or staff members in self isolation after showing symptoms of COVID-19.

With York one of ten clubs out of action Ian Culverhouse’s King's Lynn could focus on their own home game against a Guiseley side looking to mount a late run to break into the play off places.

But the Norfolk side, with former Guiseley striker Dayle Southwell in their starting line-up, failed to capitalise and are still two points off top spot but now with only two games in hand.

It was Adam Marriott who most of the home side’s chances fell to as Southwell had a relatively quiet game. Marriott had a good early chance but the Lions’ keeper Brad Wade made a fine save.

The visitors made the breakthrough when Felix was alert after a weak header back to the keeper left Linnets’ stopper Alex Street exposed and Felix seized possession before neatly tucking the ball away.

There was a contentious decision just before the break as the Linnets’ Chris Henderson looked to have been caught by Reiss McNally but the referee awarded the free kick to Guiseley and reached for a yellow card to brandish at the home side’s player.

The home supporters voiced their displeasure as the official brought the first half to a close soon after. The second half was subdued at the start but as it continued the home side had the Lions penned in.

Guiseley were under a lot of pressure late on and Marriott really should have scored on more than one occasion but he was either off target or found Lions’ keeper Brad Wade as the Lions held out for a fine victory.

The three points lifted them one place to ninth and cut the deficit to the play off places to just four points. Following the game Guiseley’s joint manager Marcus Bignot said: “We’re very proud of the players, it was an excellent performance matched by an excellent result.

“When you consider that a win for King's Lynn would have taken them top of the table, it wasn’t to be for them but we’ve got our own agenda so it was just as important a game for us and anyone who was here would have seen just what the win meant to the players.

“Kaine was excellent and he thoroughly deserved his goal. His recent performances, his mentality, his physicality has been of a Football League standard. They couldn’t cope with him today.

“We played on Monday night (West Riding County Cup semi-final win at Harrogate Town), which was another good performance and result and because of that we gave the boys the Thursday off so we’ve been away from each other since Monday.

“The news broke during that time (football leagues suspended due to coronavirus) and I’m surprised we had to play this fixture to be honest. There has been talk both within football and outside of football regarding that but we were firmly focussed on football.

“We can’t get away from what’s going on but we are we are employed, we are governed by a body that has made a decision and that’s why we were here to fulfil the fixture, and we spoiled the party for the home side I think.”