Guiseley 1, Bradford Park Avenue 3

Mark Bett finished off his former club with a penalty deep into stoppage time as Avenue banked a hard earned three points from an entertaining UniBond League Premier Division Boxing Day clash.

Avenue’s short journey home would have been made in very high spirits, while the Lions will have been left wondering how they failed to get anything from the game.

The victory came at a cost though as Rory Patterson, who had scored the opening goal, was later carried off on a stretcher.

It was a definite game of two halves. The match ball must have had a magnet in it because it was strongly attracted to the railway lines at the far end of the ground.

When Avenue were playing towards them in the first half, it was wave after wave of attack from the visitors. After half-time, the same applied to Guiseley.

Bradford had a very positive start and it was not against the run of play when they broke the deadlock after just seven minutes.

Chris Hall controlled a through ball and though his first attempt to pass to Patterson was blocked, he took the rebound wide and rolled it into the path of his strike partner, who smashed the ball home.

It was just before half-time when Patterson had to depart. He had challenged for the ball with home keeper Piotr Skiba and come off worst.

Patterson tried to continue but went down with no one near him.

Guiseley boss Steve Kittrick must have read the riot act at half-time because his side threw everything at Avenue from the first whistle of the second half.

In the 78th minute, a Guiseley free-kick appeared to have been cleared off James Hanson’s head on the edge of the area by a defender's hand. The chief suspect was skipper Mark Haran but nothing was given.

The Lions’ fans were incensed, especially two minutes later when Avenue broke away to score.

Matty James jinked his way into the area and netted a clinical finish, his low, angled drive finding the bottom corner.

Guiseley grabbed a deserved goal and a lifeline in the game through Simeon Bambrook with just two minutes remaining. His hard, low drive into the goalmouth was a classic strike.

The home side, spurred on by the announcement of four minutes of time to be added, pushed for an equaliser. However, there was to be a final twist to this enjoyable afternoon on a bitter winter’s day.

Avenue launched one last foray and Bett was brought down by Guiseley captain James Cotterill.

Bett drilled the spot-kick high into the top corner, giving Skiba no chance.