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Story of the game:
The early portion of the game offered little in the way of clear cut chances, though the Lions had the better of their opponents in this period, with a strong run from Donald Chimalilo providing an early moment of joy for the home support.
The first major effort came for the visitors just shy of the 10 minute mark, with former Fleetwood Town man Nathan Pond heading the ball towards Paul Dawson, but the Bamber Bridge man’s volleyed effort only managed to fly over the bar, sparing Kyle Trennery of having to take action to prevent a goal.
The following 10 minutes retained much of what the early game consisted of, with very little of note happening amongst the ball flying up and down the pitch, though the Brig’s Aaron Skinner seeing yellow for an off the ball tackle on Lewis Hey was an incident of note.
The visitors managed to attack again on 23 minutes, with the ball finding a so far impressive Finlay Sinclair-Smith in the box, though the forward’s effort was from a difficult angle and in the end was comfortably dealt with by Trennery for Guiseley.
Not long after, Bamber Bridge found themselves with a dangerous free-kick that was hit low by Dawson and saved by Trennery, with Guiseley managing to counter attack and nearly take the lead thanks to Bradford City loanee Charlie Wood, but his chipped effort would go over the bar, a first encouraging sign for the Lions.
As the game approached half-time, the visitors found themselves having the better of the possession and were making life difficult for a resilient Lions back line, though they lacked the finishing touch, with their efforts either being cleared or failing to trouble Trennery.
Half-time would arrive with very little of note to report on for either side, leaving the crowd with a hope of more excitement in a game that up to this point had left a lot to be desired.
The second-half started in a similarly slow fashion, with both defences working and preventing anything of note, with the only effort coming anywhere near the goal being from the Brig’s David Perkins, who fired an effort from outside the box well over the bar.
The 57th minute came and Bamber Bridge took a deserved lead thanks to Pond, who was able to tap in after a low cross in the box from Sinclair-Smith, a wake-up call for Guiseley who found themselves behind for the first time since their trip to Morpeth.
The Lions’ response showed promise, with a couple of set-pieces ending up in a long-ranged effort from George Smith, but the Guiseley captain’s shot ended up closer to the tunnel than the net.
Guiseley managed to take a level of control over the game heading into the last 20 minutes, proven when a good passing move led to a cross finding the head of Jake Cassidy in the penalty area, though once again the ball would end up over the bar, though this time for the Lions.
The hosts’ new found momentum continued with the arrival of substitute Nat Crofts adding some pace to their attacking line, though nothing had come of it up to this point, particularly with fellow substitute Luke Dean firing an effort from outside the box well over the bar during an exciting moment, failing to trouble Brig keeper Felix Goddard and angering the home crowd.
Despite a late flurry of set-pieces that included a low free-kick from Smith that went narrowly wide during the seven minutes of stoppage time, Guiseley’s efforts would be in vain, with the hosts slipping to a second home defeat of the season against a side who frustrated them from start to finish.
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Manager’s thoughts:
Guiseley player-manager Danny Ellis had stated his belief after his side’s draw with Stalybridge Celtic on Saturday that Bamber Bridge are a good side, a point that was proven with this result.
Regarding the Lions’ victorious opponents, Ellis said: “They were very good, I thought they managed the ball well, they through us a bit by throwing (Nathan) Pond up front early, we didn’t expect them to start like that.”
”Fair play to them, they’ve come here and they’ve played well, on a whole they probably deserved to get something out of the game” Ellis continued.
Despite the result, Ellis did praise his side’s defending at points in the game, saying: “I thought we defended really well as a back line, I thought we dealt with the aerial threat that they had and we kept them relatively quiet.”
Ellis’s mood would then quickly switch in regards to the goal his side conceded, saying: “I’m so disappointed with the goal, it was so clumsy.”
”They had men arriving in the box at the back stick and there could have been three of them bundling it over the line, but yeah I’m just disappointed” he continued.
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Final Thoughts:
This result sees Guiseley’s momentum from the previous four matches come to a screeching halt, with the team now having to re-group ahead of both their Emirates FA Cup tie against Avro FC this Saturday, as well as next Tuesday’s title contender VS title contender battle with South Shields.
Meanwhile, this result sees Bamber Bridge pick up back to back wins for the first time this season, a big momentum boost as they head into their own FA Cup campaign and the coming league fixtures.
