Ten-man Guiseley on the brink after home defeat

Ten man Guiseley tumbled to a home defeat against Leyton Orient that left the club on the brink of relegation from the Vanarama National League with eight games to go.

The basement boys’ maximum points haul is a possible 50 while Barrow and Solihull Moors, the clubs either side of the current safety mark, have already banked 41 and  only a miraculous series of results can save the Lions.

The turning point against the O’s at Nethermoor was the dismissal of keeper Luke Coddington at the start of the second half. The stopper, on loan from Northampton Town, raced out of his area to meet onrushing striker Macauley Bonne and he brought the attacker down.

Midfielder Kevan Hurst was sacrificed by the Lions’ stand in manager Sean St Ledger to make way for reserve keeper Joe Green as the visitors’ skipper Jobi McAnuff lined up the resulting free kick.

McAnuff’s curling strike gave Green no chance as it nestled in the top corner of the net. The O’s were on top against the ten men and they had a strike ruled out for handball soon after the hour mark.

Guiseley went two down in the 75th minute but were gifted a way back into the game a minute later. McAnuff won possession in midfield before racing clear and slotting the ball past Green to bag his brace.

The Lion’s solitary response in the 3-1 defeat was also scored by a Layton Orient man as left back Joe Widdowson saw his back pass roll into the visitors’ net as O’s keeper Dean Brill took an air shot as the ball took a slight bobble.

The two goal cushion was restored four minutes into stoppage time when Dave Mooney slotted in after good work and a neat lay off from James Brophy.

St Ledger was not a happy man, he saidl “We were poor from the first minute to the 94th and didn’t deserve anything from the game.

“Full credit to Leyton Orient for the way they performed but I didn’t think that they had to do anything special – we kind of gave them the goals which sums up the story of the season.

“We were probably fortunate to go in at nil, nil and I said to the players, ‘you’ve wanted a slice of luck and there it is’ we didn’t deserve it and we didn’t make the most of it.

“Just a minute into the second half we’ve had another man sent off and it was always going to be backs against the wall from then. I wanted to be as positive as possible because we needed wins at this stage of the season.”

The Lions face a trip to Hartlepool United on Monday, a club that has put it’s own relegation worries to bed somewhat with three wins on the spin that have lifted the north eastern outfit up to 16th in the table.