Guiseley 1-2 Ashton United

Guiseley 1-2 Ashton United

Northern Premier League (Premier Division)

Tuesday 8th November 2022

A midweek trip to Guiseley and a game which ended in disappointment for the Lions as they were beaten by an Ashton United side who move into the top half of the table with these three points.

In truth, it was a rather 'limp' performance by Guiseley.

They went close with a double chance in the early stages where the ball came back off the crossbar, but other than that they never properly got going and the damage was ultimately done in the space of 10 mad minutes later in the first half.

First, Jameel Ible’s rash challenge saw Ashton awarded a penalty and after Darius Osei converted it, the Greater Manchester picked up more second balls, dominated the next 10 minutes, were territorially in the ascendancy and doubled their lead thanks to another set-piece just before half-time when Cole Lonsdale curled home a free-kick.

The Lions were better in the second half; choosing to get the ball down and play a bit rather than going direct and they threatened a comeback when Adam Haw reduced arrears with a well-placed finish on 51 minutes.

But other than a shot by Lewis Whitham, one decent run by Joe Ackroyd and another from Mo Qasim which started with a good half-turn and acceleration from the centre circle and ended with him being cynically hauled down by Lonsdale (for which he was booked), plus a few half-chances, Guiseley couldn’t force an equaliser. The latter stages were a bit tepid, a bit too predictable and Ashton held out comfortably enough to get the win.

Despite the scoreline, the purpose of going to this game was to check up on the loanees at Nethermoor Park.

Although this wasn’t a game he’ll remember, Joe Ackroyd has done superbly since he arrived at Guiseley six or so weeks ago; scoring a few times (including a header in the FA Trophy against Macclesfield which got their manager sacked the next day) and he’s firmly established himself as a regular in the team.

He was unlucky to be substituted because he drove forward with the ball and showed glimpses of the quality which has already made him so popular amongst fans already and he was one of Guiseley’s better players on an off-night for pretty much the entire team. Ackers’ energy, commitment, effort and enthusiasm is unquestionable and I’ve got no doubts that he’ll be able to step up a division at some point and tackle (because he loves one of them) the National League North.

Keegan Hartley is also on loan from Barnsley and he came on for the last quarter-of-an-hour. It wasn’t enough to make an impact and if/when he gets a run of decent game-time, he’ll be looking to bag his first goal and show what he can do.

Barnsley aren’t the only club to have loaned players to Guiseley because they’ve also got goalkeeper Callum Hiddleston (not ‘Hiddlestone’ as it was wrongly spelt on the team-sheet) on loan from Sheffield United and for him this was just his second ever appearance in senior football; the first being in a defeat to Warrington Town on Saturday.

He always makes me feel cold because he’ll always wear short sleeves (and usually without a base-layer underneath), but I figured out a while ago that he’s a proper down to earth lad who has a good attitude. That’s the most important thing - and this loan is exactly what he needs because it’s regular game-time, it’s a chance to impress, there’s the pressure that goes with playing in first team football, and you can guarantee at some point he’ll experience opposition fans stood just a few feet away trying to be comedians and giving him grief for 90 minutes. It’s all character-building and he’ll only get better as a result!

It was a strange night with how the game panned out because he wasn’t bombarded with shots or crosses or anything. Ashton's keeper certainly had more to do in that respect, but Callum probably had a lot more touches with his feet.

He got something on the ball from Ashton’s penalty (put straight down the middle) with his trailing leg and might have kept it out in another game, whereas the second goal was a curling strike from a free-kick where most of the credit has to go to the taker for executing it really well. The other aspects of his game were all alright. He didn’t ‘shank’ anything and his kicking was consistently clean/crisp, he was vocal throughout and always speaking to his defence; not always the easiest thing to be when you’re a young lad at a new club, plus he was good with his feet when he was put under pressure or being closed down.

There’s still plenty for him to develop and he’s in the company of some good ‘keepers from first team level downwards at Sheff United, however, he’s earned the right to be in their company on a daily basis. He impressed me last year with how he performed when I saw him on a few occasions (a special mention for that FA Youth Cup game against Millwall, plus the title-winning matches at the end of the season not long after diving about in a promotional video with Joe Root) and whether he plays infront of 30,000 at Bramall Lane, or 300 in non-league, he’s won my respect already.

There’s loads of little landmarks for him to potentially achieve over the next few weeks and if/when he notches up his first clean-sheet, he’ll get a big thumbs up from me - especially if it's in a tough game on that horrible sloping pitch at Radcliffe on Saturday.