STONES LET IT SLIP AS LIONS KEEP PROWLING
GUISELEY arrived at the Gallagher Stadium with only one win all season, but thanks to a 90th-minute penalty from substitute Frank Mulhern they left with a point in a match which never burst into life.
“I was chuffed with the boys as I thought we deserved at least a point out of the game,” said Guiseley boss Paul Cox. “But I cannot keep waiting for the consistency to come, I have got to do something about it.
“I have been here seven games now and there is only one game where we haven’t turned up and that was Maidenhead away. It is in both boxes that we are letting ourselves down.”
The Lions came within inches of taking the lead with just a minute played. Mike Fondop-Talom ran into space on the left side of the box and from a tight angle, hit a low shot which Lee Worgan did well to divert behind using his hand.
But it was the Stones who opened the scoring on 12 minutes. Jack Richards ran down the left and drove a cross into the box, where the Guiseley defence made a mess of trying to get it clear and the ball dropped to Zavon Hines, who took a nice touch to round Jonny Maxted before finishing from close range.
Both sides were struggling to get into any rhythm, but the Lions soon had a chance to equalise; Worgan couldn’t gather Connor Brown’s cross inside a crowded box and the ball fell to Rob Atkinson, who had an open-goal to shoot at and his effort deflected just wide.
The Stones then had a goal ruled out when Jack Richards was adjudged to have been in an off-side position and in the second half the visitors nearly scored just before the hour mark – John Rooney’s corner was met by Rob Atkinson, but Worgan managed to claw the ball off the line. But Guiseley did finally take an opportunity to level with the game in its final moments. Reece Prestedge tripped Will Hatfield inside the box and Frank Mulhern stepped up to take the penalty, sending a confident finish past Worgan to give Guiseley the share of the points. “It was disappointing to concede so late and from a penalty as at that stage you might think we had done the hard work and the game was won”, said Maidstone manager Jay Saunders. “Guiseley are a big team. They constantly try to turn you and you have to stand up and defend which for 89 minutes we did until we switched off.”