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Guiseley AFC: Harrogate Town derby can spark promotion push - Kittick
BACK IN ACTION: Guiseley striker James Walshaw.
Guiseley boss Steve Kittrick believes winning promotion as Blue Square North champions is a realistic goal but is warning against complacency ahead of tonight’s derby with Harrogate Town at Nethermoor.
The Lions bounced back from their recent league defeat to Bishop’s Stortford in style on Saturday, beating title rivals Stalybridge Celtic 2-0 in the FA Trophy second round.
A date at Conference big guns Cambridge United now awaits in the last 16 next month but the league remains the Nethermoor outfit’s bread and butter and while Hyde are currently 12 points clear of the chasing pack, Kittrick insists the Tigers can still be caught.
The fact is fourth-placed Guiseley would win the league if they were to win their remaining 20 fixtures and while Kittrick knows a run like that is fanciful that won’t stop him striving for a perfect run-in, starting with tonight’s clash with local rivals Town.
Interesting
“It’s in our hands now and it’s up to us,” said the Guiseley boss. “You look at the games we’ve got left and we’ve got five games in hand on Hyde and that takes us to a point behind them. We have also got to play them.
“We’ll just take it game by game now but there is no room for complacency and we’ve got to be up for it every single game.
“Winning the league is do-able, but there will be plenty of twists and turns and Halifax have now hit a bit of form.
“They seem to be winning in the last few minutes of late and we have got to play them yet, plus we have got to play Worcester and Gainsborough. It’s going to be an interesting run-in.”
Guiseley will also be at full strength for the first time this season tonight with James Walshaw and Mark Bower both returning and that’s bad news for Simon Weaver’s Town who lost the home league fixture 4-0 on Boxing Day.
Kittrick, though, is expecting a backlash.
“They were only 1-0 down at half-time before we scored three goals in a 20-minute spell in the second half and that killed it,” he said. “But Simon will take the positives from that and they will want to put it right.
“We’ve got to treat Harrogate with as much respect as we treated Stalybridge on Saturday and hopefully if we do that we can come away with the three points that we need.”
Town will approach the game full of confidence following their 4-3 success at Bishop’s Stortford on Saturday, but their manager admits Guiseley will be overwhelming favourites.
The Wetherby Road boss only hopes his side can be more competitive than on Boxing Day.
“We know Guiseley are an outstanding team at this level and if we’re going to get anything at all out of the game we’re going to have to really turn it on,” said Weaver, whose men now sit 16th.
“We’ve added four new players and it’s strengthened us, but you look at the lads at Guiseley and they have been together for about four years some of them.
“You can’t be as settled as they are but that’s testament to the signings Steve has made and I think they’re good enough to go up.
“We were obviously disappointed when we played them last time that it wasn’t a close contest and we want it to be closer this time.
“We are not going to be able to compete with Guiseley yet in this league but that is the level that we eventually want to get to.”
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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