The first-half was an affair dominated by the visitors in large parts, with their intentions shown early on when a third minute flicked on effort from John Johnston tested Callum Hawkins in the Leamington goal.
A wave of momentum then followed for The Lions with Dom Tear testing Hawkins on 11 minutes, followed by a powerful effort from James Gale eight minutes later that could have gone in had it not been blocked.
Guiseley’s closest chance of the half came courtesy of Regan Hutchinson, whose head connected with the ball in front of an open net, but the defensively contested midfielder could only manage to head the ball just over.
A tame long-range effort from Jason Sraha for Guiseley proved to be the last major action of the half, with the second-half having all to play for and Leamington hoping for an improvement.
The second-half was a mostly quiet affair, with few significant chances for either side and not much for the crowd to get excited about.
However, the biggest chance of the half saw The Brakes be clinical when it mattered the most, taking the lead on 62 minutes thanks to Devon Kelly-Evans, who after taking the ball in the box, powered it past a hopeless Owen Mason in the Guiseley goal to give Leamington an important lead.
Kelly-Evans nearly doubled his tally in the last seconds of the game, but his failure to do so meant nothing as The Brakes earned a good three points and their first win against The Lions in 10 attempts.
After the game, milestone man Paul Holleran offered an honest assessment of his side’s performance when he said: “We haven’t played well, I don’t think we got to the levels we need to get to.”
Despite these comments, Holleran was simply happy with the win in such a landmark day for himself, saying: “In the end it’s a really good 1-0 win, thankfully there haven’t been many like that in the 600!”
Final Thoughts:
Leamington will be buoyed by finally beating Guiseley and further distancing themselves from the relegation zone, whilst The Lions will be left to lick their wounds as this defeat, alongside all the other teams around them picking up points, sees them move to just one point above the drop in and in a situation that seems to be growing more dire as the games pass.