Guiseley 2, Lowestoft Town 0

GUISELEY moved back to the brink of the Vanarama Conference North play-off places with a hard-fought win over Lowestoft, whose resistance waned once they went down to ten men.

The game was still goalless with 20 minutes remaining when Sam Gaughran brought down Adam Boyes. That earned his second yellow card and the inevitable red – and the punishment was doubled as Wayne Brooksby's free-kick went in via a deflection off the wall.

The Lions had signed Shane Killock on loan the day before the game and the Harrogate Town defender, who scored against Albion Sports midweek in the West Riding County Cup, was in the starting line-up.

Boyes was again the focal point of the Guiseley attack and a good early effort from him was palmed away for a corner.

Brooksby headed wide, Oli Johnson had a shot saved, Danny Lowe sent a free-kick over the target and Gavin Rothery saw a shot deflected for a corner as the hosts edged the chance count in a goalless first half.

Johnson and Boyes both had chances to open the scoring before Brooksby's 70th-minute deflected free-kick – and it was Johnson who sealed the victory with Guiseley's second goal just minutes after they had breached the Lowestoft defence.

Delighted manager Mark Bower said: "It was a good performance, and obviously the win was what we were looking for, but it was nice to keep a clean sheet.

"It was a pleasing afternoon because they started at a really high tempo, put us under a lot of pressure and made it difficult for us to play. But the longer the game went on, gaps started to open up and we started to exploit certain situations.

"It was important that we didn't concede in that early spell and then once we opened them up we created chances for fun and that led to the sending off and we ran out worthy winners after that.

"Shane came in and settled in there as we expected because he is a quality central defender at this level.

"Danny Ellis did well coming back in from injury and Dan and Shane looked solid and laid the foundations for a good win."