Lions made to suffer by rivals Avenue

BRADFORD PARK AVENUE delivered an emphatic performance to stay top of the table by beating local rivals Guiseley 5-1 at Nethermoor.

Afterwards, Avenue boss Mark Bower – the former Guiseley player and manager – said: “This is a marvellous win for my group of players, it wasn’t just the result, the performance is everything I asked from them.

“Jake Beesley has got a hattrick, we’ve defended well – I’m ecstatic.”

Meanwhile, Guiseley jointmanager Russ O’Neill pulled no punches.

“We were rubbish, from minute one to ninety, we were not good enough, they wanted it more than us,” he fumed.

The leaders dominated from the off, with former Guiseley forward Oli Johnson scoring with just two minutes gone.

It got even better for the visitors when Jake Beesley followed up his 19th-minute opener with another goal eight minutes later to make it 3-0.

Beesley recorded his hattrick with a 55th-minute penalty before Conor Branson headed home four minutes later.

Guiseley got one back in the 64th minute when Alex Purver poked home, but that was as good as it got on a forgettable day for the hosts.

There was little to cheer for York City when they returned home from their trip to Darlington on the back of a 5-1 defeat, the Minstermen already 4-0 down before they got on the board through Jake Wright.