WELSH URGES ROARING LIONS TO BE FEARLESS
ANDY WELSH has told his Guiseley squad to have no regrets as they chase a NPL Premier play-off berth.
The Lions beat leaders Radcliffe in a 4-3 thriller last weekend despite playing most of the game with ten men following Jameel Ible’s red card.
Victory kept Welsh’s side in the thick of the top five race with a game in hand.
And the former Bury boss says the players shouldn’t only take confidence from the three points.
“I probably go the other way with it and say to the lads, which we have done, is don’t let it be a oneoff,” Welsh told The NLP. “Performance wise, those against Macclesfield and Radcliffe were the same. Result wise they weren’t.
“Against Macclesfield you can say we deserved something but we didn’t pick anything up so it means nothing. In the second one (against Radcliffe), we did pick all three up and deserved it. So let’s back it up.
“On Tuesday we played Ossett in the cup and made quite a few changes but we’ve won the game. So coming into the weekend, again, back it up with a performance but, most importantly, it’s the time of the season where results matter.
“We’re more looking at that consistent mentality that it doesn’t matter whether it’s Radcliffe or whoever, we need to pick the results up to stay in that race.”
Welsh, who took Bury AFC to promotion from
Step 6 in the club’s first full season, took over at Guisley at the end of October.
At the time he said he was coming into one of the toughest, as well as most competitive, divisions around and nothing has changed that view since.
While he says they’re not the finished article by any stretch, Welsh has been pleased with how the group have taken on board their new ideas and style of play.
And he believes Guiseley fans are gripped by their side again.
“One of the biggest things is you speak to some fans and they are just enjoying games being exciting,” Welsh added. “The Macclesfield game, it was end-to-end, we hit the post and the bar, had a couple of shots cleared off the line. We could have won the game but Macclesfield did.
“We beat Bamber 2-0, it was a good game and a couple of great of great goals but some preferred the Macclesfield game, even though it was a loss, because it was so exciting.
“Guiseley have been through some tough times over the last few years. Wherever I’ve been as a manager I always like to play exciting football and try to score goals. Sometimes that means you concede goals but that’s the level we’re at as well. You rarely see 0-0.
“It’s like Bern and Johnno (joint-manager Bernard Morley and Anthony Johnson) at Radcliffe, they’ve really gone for it this year and are top scorers. Fair credit to them because it takes balls to do that.
“Not just because I was a wide player myself, but there’s nothing better than wide players picking the ball up and going, ‘I am going to run at you’.
“You’ve got to be adaptable and not just say, ‘This is the way we play, we ain’t going to change for anybody’. We went down to ten men against Radcliffe and we had to adapt.
“We’re in a good position so we’ve got to give it a go. It’s that time of the season where I’d rather go for it rather than sit back and play for a draw.”