Match Report -
Walshaw strikes again
By Iain Benson

Celtic had come with a game plan, and for nearly ninety minutes it was working, but a goal from Celtic's perennial thorn in the side, James Walshaw, four minutes from time scuppered the plan.

It was obvious from the way that Celtic set up that defence was the order of the day, with Celtic successfully stifling any threat Guiseley had. After Saturday's defeat to Chester, and with Guiseley's reputation as free scorers, this was a sensible line to take. Guiseley were restricted to half chances that they wasted, the closes they came a tame effort from Josh Wilson in the opening ten minutes. Celtic were patient, and did counter against their hosts, with Greg Wilkinson having the best opportunity of the half just before the interval, striking low and hard that had Steve Drench scrambling down to his right, and cracking his head on the post in his bid to keep the ball out.

After the interval it was more of the same, with Celtic hardly seeming to break sweat at keeping Guiseley away from any kind of scoring opportunity. Just after the hour mark, Wilson did get past the Celtic rear-guard, and saw Alex Cairnes racing off his line. Wilson tried the chip, his shot hitting the woodwork, and was smothered by the Celtic keeper. Guiseley brought on Gavin Rothery and James Waleshaw with about twenty minutes to go. Rothery did have an effort early on, but it was comfortable for Cairnes, as was Nicky Boshell's free kick.

Celtic had their own chances to win it, with a fifty yard free kick from Kristian Platt evading everybody in the box, and scraping the post on the way out, and Wilkinson again testing Drench. A better ball from Wilkinson would have put Austin one-on-one with Drench, but it lacked the pace into the box, and there was a harsh offside against Dennis Sheriff when he looked to go through on the keeper.

Gavin Rothery's ball over the top of the defence found James Walshaw who still had a lot of work to do, but somehow wrapped his foot around the volley and fired back across Cairnes, into the back of the net for the game's only goal. Guiseley were content to play the ball into the corners for the remaining few minutes, and though Celtic tried, they couldn't do anything in the scant time remaining, leaving Guiseley three points clear of Chester in second place. Fortunately, other results went Celtic's way, and we remain in eighth.

1Drench, Steve  
2Holdsworth, Andy  
3McWilliams, Andy  
4Meynell, RhysYellow Card > 69
5Ellis , DannyYellow Card 
6Bower, Mark  
7Rea, Jack  
8Boshell, Danny  
9Wilson, Josh  > 69
10Boshell, Nicky  
11Brooksby, Wayne  
12Rothery, Gavin  < 69
14Walshaw, James  < 69
15Dale, Zack  
16Parkinson, Macauley  
17Giles, Jacob