Vanarama North: Boston United 5 Guiseley 1

MARK Bower lamented his side’s defending as Guiseley slumped to a big defeat at Boston United in Vanarama Conference North.

The Lions remain in fourth but their promotion hopes were weakened as they lost ground on rivals Barrow and Tamworth.

The Pilgrims have now hit five goals in each of their last three league fixtures and this latest victory saw them leap to sixth.

Bower said: “It’s embarrassing to lose any game 5-1 and the way we defended it could possibly have been even more.

“I don’t think it was a 5-1 game but we gift-wrapped their goals for them.

“The first was unlucky because Ben (Parker) was injured a minute earlier but he carried on and then the ball was dropped in to where Ben should have been and they scored.

“The second was bad football on a pitch like that because we tried to play in an area that we shouldn’t have. There was a short back-pass and we were 2-0 down.

“In between those goals, we had two glorious chances and, if we take them, it puts a different complexion on it because they sat back after scoring.

“I said to the players before the game ‘be ruthless in both boxes’, and we weren’t. In fairness, I thought we played quite well in the first half and said at half-time that we should never have been 2-0 down but we were disappointing in the second half.

“Jake Lawlor had a header that hit the post, so nothing really went for us, but if you defend like we did you’ve got no chance of winning games.”

The Pilgrims took a seventh-minute lead when Lions keeper Steve Drench parried Nicky Walker’s shot but Kaine Felix was left with a tap in.

Guiseley skipper Parker was substituted soon after before the home side extend their lead close to the break.

Gavin Rothery’s back-pass was intercepted by Mark Jones, who then tucked a shot under Drench.

Just six minutes into the second half, Boston seized possession following a Drench goal-kick and Dayle Southwell added the third before netting again midway through the second period.

Rothery hit back with a consolation strike but Boston substitute Alex Simmonds completed Guiseley’s misery with a 25-yard chip.