Guiseley 0 Chorley 2

GUISELEY suffered a rare home defeat against Vanarama Conference North promotion rivals Chorley in the FA Trophy.

The Lions were expecting a tough tie but manager Mark Bower was happy to have home advantage.

It counted for nothing as the Magpies scored either side of the half-hour mark, and any comeback was made even more difficult once Adam Boyes had been sent off in the second half.

To add to Guiseley’s woes, Ryan Toulson was badly injured and needed hospital treatment for a deep gash on the inside of his leg.

That moment came minutes after the defender had made a block on the line that almost certainly prevented a third Chorley goal.

The visitors had broken the deadlock in the 28th minute in somewhat controversial circumstances. Lions keeper Steve Drench had an attacker in an offside position in his eye-line and the assistant referee’s flag in his peripheral vision but because the player remained inactive Adam Mather’s strike stood, the referee overruling the flag-waver.

Just four minutes later, Chris Simm struck to give the Magpies a two-goal lead.

It would have been worse for the Lions had Toulson not made his timely clearance but he later left the field on a stretcher, Andy Holdsworth coming off the bench to replace him.

Guiseley came out with a determined look about them after the break but a few half chances apart didn’t really look like getting back into the game. And even then the Magpies were keeping Drench on his toes.

Boyes was shown a straight red card following an aerial duel and, if the game hadn’t already been won, it was from that moment on.

Bower said: “We never got going and were second best throughout the game. We lost our discipline, didn’t defend well and got exactly what we deserved.

“I would say the first goal was a bad decision. When the cross came in their lad who was going to challenge for the ball was in an offside position and that affected what Drenchy was doing.

“But the ref said to me that because he didn’t touch the ball he can’t be given offside and that was why he had overruled his linesman. I think that’s a bit of a joke to be fair but we can’t complain that it was a game-changing moment because you felt a goal for them was coming at that time.”

Former defender Bower must have seen something in the challenge that earned Boyes his marching orders because he had a one-sentence reply when asked about it: “I have no complaints about it.”

The boss was more concerned about his team’s poor performance and the injury to Toulson.

“Ryan went straight to hospital after coming off with a deep gash on the inside of his knee. We hope it’s only superficial but it could be worse. Whatever the damage, we are going to be without him for a while.

“We have been on a very good run and been playing really well but you always have spells where your form deserts you. As good as we were at Stockport County in our previous game, we were shockingly poor against Chorley in this one.

“But if we could have defended better and got to half-time you never know, we might have turned it around. Overall I was disappointed with the performance though.”