Guiseley AFC 1 v 3 Maidenhead United (Vanarama National League)
It’s been a difficult week for everyone contacted with Guiseley AFC following the defeat at home to Gateshead on Tuesday the club took the decision to sack manager Paul Cox and his backroom staff, with Sean St Ledger taking charge of first team affairs.
Then this morning the club received the news that former goalkeeper and life-long supporter Keith Clapham had sadly passed away on the morning of the game. As a mark of respect the club held a minute’s applause before the game against Maidenhead United.
Sean St Ledgers started his management career with a tough task against one of the most experienced managers in the National League, former West Ham and England midfielder Alan Devonshire. St Ledger took the decision to focus on the management side of things for this match and dropped himself from the match day squad for the match.
Guiseley started well pressing the visitors all over the pitch and defending from the front which forced the visitors into a number of mistakes. However it was the visitors who had the ball in the net on five minutes, when Hyde slide the ball passed Coddington only to see it disallowed for offside.
On twenty-five minutes, the home side took the lead when an excellent pass from midfield was collected by Dayle Southwell just outside the visitors area. Southwell then outpaced right-back Remy Clerima, before taking the ball along the by-line and sliding it past the visiting goalkeeper Carl Pentney into the net to make the score 1-0.
Guiseley continued to have the better of play with Callum MacFazdean making some excellent runs with the ball, creating a number of good shooting opportunities for the Guiseley forwards. However the Maidenhead back-four defended well and blocked a number of efforts from the home side.
On the half hour mark the visitors drew level when an excellent cross from the left-wing found Jake Hyde in the six yard box who beat Crookes to the ball and hit the ball passed Luke Coddington into the far corner of the goal to make it 1-1.
Maidenhead extended their lead in the final minute of the half when Harry Pritchard slotted the ball past Coddington from six yards to make the half-time score 2-1.
The second half started as the first-half ended when Harry Pritchard ran onto a long ball over the Guiseley defence, before slotting the ball past Luke Coddington just two minutes into the half to make the score 3-1 to the visitors.
Maidenhead United had the better of the second half and continued to attack through Jake Hyde and Adrian Clifton who both tested Coddington in the home goal. The home side did have some efforts on the Maidenhead goal but they never really tested Pentney in the visitors goal.
Sean St Ledger will now focus on first team training as he looks to improve the squad ahead of the next game on Tuesday evening against FC Fylde at Nethermoor Park, the club now finds itself in a difficult situation thirteen points a draft as they look to avoid relegation to the Vanarama League North.
Speaking about the week and the game caretaker manager Sean St Ledger said, ” This week has been a new experience its something I have enjoyed, we started the game well with a good goal from Southwell but then we let two goals in either side of the interval.
We spoke to the players about their roles and responsibilities in the dressing room, speaking as a player we are letting in to many goals and that needs to stop. However we have scored from open play today, but we have still shipped them in at the other end so that has to stop, there are a lot of things we need to work on this week.
I took the decision to stay on the bench and manage the side today, it’s my first game as a manager so I wanted to ensure that I did one role well instead of trying to manage and play at the same time. The chairman has asked me to takeover first team affairs until a new manager can be found and as the football club pay me as a player, I am happy to assist the club by stepping in on a game to game basis.”
Match Details
Guiseley AFC – Coddington, Crookes, Palmer, Flowers, Nirennold, Lenighan, Southwell, Sheppard, Hatfield, MacFazdean, Odejayi (Subs) Green, Rooney, Purver, Haworth Liburd
Maidenhead United – Pentney, Clerima, Steer, Odametrey, Comley, Hyde, Barratt, Clifton, Pritchard, Upward, Goodman (Subs) Emmanuel, Marks, Kilman, Peters, Smith
Goals – (Guiseley) Southwell (21) (Maidenhead) Hyde (30), Pritchard (43.48)
Attendance – 777
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