Centre back Danny Ellis may have been forced to sit out one game too many to complete his last suspension because the club did not want to invite sanctions from the FA.

The Lions understood their defender had a one-game ban but he ended up missing both of their first two games of 2011. Ellis was ruled out of the New Year’s Day home win over Harrogate Town and was not selected for the Monday victory at Hyde FC.

Guiseley spokesman Stuart Allen said: “We chose not to play Danny at Hyde because we hadn’t had confirmation from the FA that it was just a one-game ban.

“There were four players suspended for the Harrogate game and, with the other three, we had been notified that two were one-game bans and the other was a two-game suspension for Danny Bosh-ell’s sending-off for dissent when Barrow were awarded a penalty late in our FA Trophy victory.

“The weather had been so bad that the post leading up to Christmas was even more affected than usual. We tried to find out by ringing the authorities and sending e-mails but we couldn’t find anything concrete, so we didn’t risk it.”

Guiseley have surpassed expectations by topping the Blue Square Bet North Division. The last thing they want is to fall foul of an administrative error.

Allen added, “If there had been a problem and we’d played Danny, only to get a points deduction later – it was just not worth the risk.”