Liburd goal in vain as Guiseley lose at leaders Macclesfield

Guiseley remain rooted to the bottom of the National League table after going down 2-1 at Macclesfield Town, despite taking an early lead at the league leaders.
Alex Purver.Alex Purver.
Alex Purver.

Tyrone Marsh was the first to have a chance, when he got past the Guiseley defence but Luke Coddington got his body in the way to make the save.

Despite being second in the table, form-wise Macclesfield had had a few tricky weeks and with Guiseley bottom of the table the need to claim valuable points was key for the Lions and Paul Cox’s side would take an early lead.

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Rowan Liburd fired in from a tight angle and the impressive finish gave the Lions the advantage with 10 minutes gone.

Alex Purver could have doubled Guiseley’s lead when his effort narrowly went wide.

Despite being ahead it was Macclesfield who enjoyed the lion’s share of possession. Elliot Durrell was well placed but put too much on his effort and saw the ball go over the crossbar and Guiseley went in ahead at half-time.

There was a big let off for Guiseley when an offside flag denied Macclesfield an equaliser when Nathan Blissett got the final touch on a cross but it was ruled out.

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But the next corner saw Blis acrobatically find the net leaving Coddington with no chance.

Guiseley then fell behind for the first time in the match, with Marsh connecting with a diving header to put the Silkmen in front.

With time running out James Roberts saw an effort saved, the rebound fell to Mike Fondop, from a few yards out and he fired wide and Guiseley were once again defeated.

Guiseley manager Paul Cox reflected on the defeat: “I’m disappointed that we didn’t take the chances we had, they did and that was the difference.

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“We now have two games in a week and that is what our focus is on.”

FC Halifax Town restored some pride in caretaker-manager Neil Young’s first game at the helm with a creditable 1-1 draw at high-flying Wrexham.

The curse of the former player struck again as Scott Boden gave Wrexham an ominous-looking lead inside 20 minutes, but the hosts failed to build on it, and were pegged back just before half-time through Scott Garner – Town’s first away goal in six-and-a-half hours.

Mark Beck, Liam Kitching and Dom Knowles, meanwhile, netted to earn Harrogate Town a 3-1 triumph at Leamington and move the North Yorkshire side to within two points of National North leadsers Salford City.

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Beck scored the only goal of the first half when he steered in a low Jack Emmett cross.

Home sub Liam Canavan levelled early in the second period when he found an open goal after James Belshaw had parried Kieran Dunbar’s free-kick.

But Kitching responded by converting at the far post for his first senior goal following George Thomson’s corner and Knowles completed the scoring on 76 minutes with a composed finish, as Canavan later saw a penalty saved by Belshaw.

Bradford Park Avenue lost 1-0 to Darlington with former Doncaster midfielder David Syers on target for the visitors.

Luca Havern’s header clipped the bar for Park Avenue, but Darlington secured maximum points even though they were reduced to 10 men when Stephen Thompson picked up a second yellow card for diving.