A depleted Guiseley side ground out an hard-earned point at play off rivals Ilkeston Town on an unseasonably warm October day at the New Manor Ground, writes Edward Robertson.

Mark Bower was pleased with his side’s resilience in face of difficult challenges. “I think we were resilient. To come away from home to a place like this, one of the fancied teams in the division, we are down to the bare bones after a lot of games. There’s parts I’m disappointed with, but you have to give the lads credit for keeping on going and coming out of here with a point.”

This was the third game on the road in seven days and a fatigued Lions side perhaps expected to have less possession of the ball. However, Guiseley had a huge chance that passed them by when Adriano Moke’s corner found Lebrun Mbeka. The defender’s mistimed close range swipe unfortunately led to the ball trickle out of play for a goal kick.

With just under twenty minutes gone, Guiseley came close again. A flicked header by Will Longbottom was collected by the energetic John Lufudu who found himself through on goal. Goalkeeper Matthew Yates’ anticipatory gather swiftly ended the attack.

Soon after, the deadlock was broken. The Lions lost possession in the middle of the park and Thomas Cursons was sent clear through on goal. The prolific striker calmly slid the ball past Joe Cracknell to give Ilkeston the advantage.

Ten minutes later, Cursons threatened to double the lead. A looping ball found the forward on the edge of the penalty box. However his misplaced chip soared over the crossbar.

With just five minutes of the first half left, Guiseley equalised. Joe Ackroyd’s quick free kick was latched onto by Lufudu. His acceleration took him past the defence and he then deftly rolled the ball past Yates and into the net.

Both sides emerged from the half time break more cautiously as the pace of the game slowed in the early stages of the second half. The drama was limited to the sidelines, when assistant manager Danny Boshell was shown a straight red card without obvious reason to the bewildered travelling contingent.

The Robins came close to regaining the lead moments afterwards. Kirby Moore’s penetrating run set him up to shoot at goal, only for him to be denied by Cracknell’s outstretched foot.

With an hour on the clock, it was then the Lions turn to threaten the hosts goal. Longbottom stumbled to ground after a trip on the edge of the box, and the referee pointed for a free kick. The set piece expert’s curling effort could only shave the crossbar.

Arguably the biggest chance of the half came five minutes later. L’varn Brandy embarked on a silky run that led him meandering into Guiseley’s box. He squared the ball to Cursons, whose effort slammed against the crossbar and away.

Ilkeston pressed again after a defensive scramble put the ball in the path of Harvey Kirby-Moore. His effort was impressively palmed away by Cracknell.

As the game entered stoppage time it was the visitors who began to assert themselves. Ollie Brown’s dash down the right hand side found Lufudu on the edge of the box, but his left-footed drive was skewed wide.

It was a satisfactory point on the road for Guiseley. With several key players missing and the management team exiled to the imposing clock tower stand, the Lions could return to West Yorkshire proudly with one eye on the Emirates FA Cup tie at Stevenage in a fortnight’s time.

“I think the lads have earned a little breather now. Hopefully, we’ll come back firing in a couple of weeks time.”