LEE Elam's defection to Vauxhall Conference side Southport has left Guiseley manager Bobby Davison and Elam's mentor Brett Farriday shaking their heads in despair.

Both men had hoped that the young midfielder, who has notched nine goals for Guiseley this season, would listen to sense and not be so eager to grab the money offered.

In a period when the youngster has seen former Guiseley stars Geoff Horsfield and Lutel James in the limelight with professioinal clubs he has obviously grabbed the first chance that has come along.

Horsfield recently signed for Fulham for £350,000 from Halifax Town while James made his Bury debut as a substitute against Manchester United at Old Trafford in the Worthington Cup. James is on loan to Bury from Hyde United whom he joined from Guiseley.

The 22 year-old Elam - who had consistently refused to sign a contract with Guiseley as he wanted to continue playing Sunday football - came up through the ranks at Guiseley.

Reserve team manager Farriday brought him to the club and after some impressive displays in the reserve team last season he was quickly elevated to the first team when Davison took charge.

In all he has played 53 games for Guiseley's first team with 19 appearances this season

Both men expressed their disappointment on Saturday when news came that Elam had travelled over to Southport to sign for them.

Davison said: 'Brett and I had long discussions with Lee after we heard that Southport had been sniffing round him. We felt that Brett as a father figure and mentor to him and myself as a senior player who has seen it all - or most of it - that he was not ready for a move at this stage. We tried to advise him against it but obviously the money they offered him was a big factor.

We are just sad that he has gone to Southport because we feel he has made a mistake. We both felt that he should stay here to the end of the season, get some more consistency , score some more goals and then he would really have been able to choose where he wanted to go. We would not have stood in his way, we are keen for lads to progress but it has got to be the right move.

We don't think he is ready yet, he is not the finished article and has not reached the level of consistency needed. We did everything we could to keep him but of course we cannot offer him the sort of money Southport can.

We feel that he has jumped in when he should really have stopped to think. We did not feel that it is the right move for him.'

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