Guiseley 1 AFC Telford 1 - Report

The Bucks looked set for a classic smash and grab away performance; having seen the home side unable to make anything of their superior possession, Andre Brown scored a 76th minute penalty to put them ahead.

However, when home substitute Curtis Morrison picked up Shane Sutton’s miscued clearance and ran at the Bucks it was Clayton who appeared to get the decisive touch to his cross- shot.

The Bucks had started with Sheridan Martinez in goal; on-loan Leicester City keeper Max Bramley had required 17 stitches in a head wound after a clash with Kidderminster’s Kane Richards, and his parent club denied him permission to play as a precautionary measure.

Martinez saw little action in the first half, looking confident when he was called upon behind a Bucks defence that had kept two clean sheets in their first two games.

Neither side really created any clear-cut chances in that period, with the home side’s Reece Thompson coming closest, heading wide from around the penalty spot after Kaine Felix’s probing right-wing run and cross.

Guiseley did have two half-hearted penalty appeals in quick succession, but in general the Lions didn’t roar, the Bucks dealing well with what was thrown at them.

The home side started the brighter of the two sides in the second half, and began to exert some pressure, again without really hurting the Bucks, for whom Theo Streete and Shane Sutton were excellent at the heart of a solid back four.

The game started to change and open up as both sides made substitutions after the hour mark.

Darryl Knights looked as though he had spurned the Bucks’ best chance on 70 minutes. Finding space on the right, he got behind his marker, advanced on Jon Worsnop in the Guiseley goal but couldn’t beat him, the keeper holding the ball low down.

However, the Bucks were to be presented with an even better opportunity, and this time Worsnop was the provider, rather than the man denying them.

It came with fifteen minutes left, and arrived of the blue. Home striker Rowan Liburd, who had a frustrating afternoon, looked set to capitalise on a ball down the middle, only to see Streete perform heroically to deny him on the edge of the box.

The Bucks cleared their lines and from a ball thumped into the Guiseley half it was substitute Andre Brown, on for Amari Morgan-Smith, who got behind his marker and looked set to run at Worsnop,.

The keeper rushed out to meet him and the contact came just inside the box; Worsnop held his arms aloft, denying he’d touched the forward, but the pace of Brown meant even the slightest touch was enough to bring him down.

Brown dusted himself down, sent Worsnop the wrong way from the penalty spot and the Bucks had a quarter of an hour in which to hold on.

They looked set to do so, as the Bucks’ sucker-punch metaphorically winded Guiseley.

However, a rash of late changes saw Clayton introduced, and it was an unfortunate error from the otherwise impeccable Sutton that set up the goal on 89 minutes.

Slicing a clearance, it allowed another substitute, Curtis Morrison, to pick up possession on the left and run at full-back Ross White.

The substitute’s cross-shot from the left edge of the box managed to snake through and Clayton forced the ball home from no more than six yards, Martinez powerless to prevent it.

This time the Bucks were the team unable to recover, and much to Cowan’s chagrin they had to settle for a point.

Teams

Bucks: Martinez, White, Sears, Deeney, Sutton, Streete, Cowans (Royle 60), McQuilkin, Morgan- Smith (Brown 72), Udoh, Knights.

Substitutes: Lilly, Dawson, Barnes-Homer.

Bookings: Deeney.

Scorer: Brown (penalty 76)

Guiseley: Worsnop, Moyo, Heaton, James (Dyche 42), Garner, Halls, Purver (Clayton 81), Hatfield, Liburd, Thompson (Morrison 74), Felix.

Substitutes: Thornton, Odejayi.

Bookings: Thompson, Garner.

Scorer: Clayton (89)

Referee: Paul Brown.

Attendance: 504.