Garforth Town 0-3 Guiseley

A crowd of 234 saw competitive football return to the
Bannister Prentice stadium for the first time since late
October, as Garforth battled well but suffered defeat in
the County Cup.

Guiseley breezed into the second round of the
competition with an emphatic 10-1 victory over Ilkley
Town and progressed again following a Liam Tongue
hattrick.

The first chance of the match fell to Garforth within the
opening 5 minutes, as Matt Ancliff was threaded
through on goal by Sam Barker, but the forward’s shot
was saved at the near post by the feet of Guiseley
‘keeper Ollie Battersby.

Shortly after Charlie Marshall managed to get the
better of Aiden Walker down the left wing, and he was

unfortunate to see Nash Connolly fall just short of
tapping home his low delivery to the far post.

Garforth had the brighter start of the two sides in the
opening 20 minutes of the game, preventing Guiseley’s
front 3 from endangering Harry Flatters’ goal and
causing the opposition problems down the flanks.

Another opportunity for the Miners to take the lead
was created by Sam Barker, as the midfielder picked up
a loose ball deep inside Guiseley’s half and found
Ancliff running into the area, but once more Battersby
was equal to both the striker’s initial effort and
resulting rebound at the near post.

However not long before the break Guiseley captain
Liam Tongue made Garforth pay for failing to properly
clear a ball into the area, handing the visitors the lead
against the run of play by firing a powerful shot past
Flatters from just outside the box.

Guiseley double their advantage soon after, as Tongue
cut inside and curled an effort from outside the box
past the reach of the ‘keeper, for his second goal in as
many minutes.

A foul on Connolly in a dangerous area gave Garforth
the chance to pull one back just before the teams

headed in for the break, but the delivery wasn’t quite
accurate enough to find Harry Viggars who was rising
to meet it at the far post.

HALF TIME: Garforth Town 0 – 2 Guiseley

Liam Tongue looked to turn his brace into a hattrick
early in the second period as he found himself in space
and struck another long-range effort toward the
Garforth goal, however Flatters got a strong glove on it
and superbly tipped over the bar.
Connolly went agonizingly close to pulling the Miners
back into the game, stabbing a cut-back from Jordan
Emery into the side netting, after the fullback collected
the ball in the middle of the park and drove it to the
byline.

However, Tongue went on to complete his hattrick just
before the hour mark, drilling a freekick on the edge of
the box underneath the wall and into the bottom
corner, despite Flatters’ best efforts, to put Guiseley up
3 for the better.
Garforth continued to go toe-to-toe with their National
League North opponents for the remainder of the half
and pushed for a goal, but struggled create a clear
chance for themselves with the possession they had.

A late spell of pressure culminated in a handful of half
chances, the latter of which saw Marshall burst down
the line and pull the ball back to Jason Davis, but his
shot was blocked inside the area.

FULL TIME: Garforth Town 0 – 3 Guiseley

A valiant effort from the Miners in which they
outperformed their higher division opponents for a
good period, but ultimately quality finishing was the
difference between the two sides.