Vanarama North: Guiseley 3 Brackley Town 1

OLI Johnson filled the 'super sub' role to perfection as Guiseley overturned a first-half deficit to beat a resilient Brackley Town and climb up to third in the table.

The former Norwich City man came on minutes before the hour mark and netted the equaliser almost immediately, and was later felled in the area for the penalty that put the gloss on a good home win.

Brackley’s Roddy Collins had given the visitors the lead with a very good finish after a 36th-minute breakaway, and when the teams turned around at half-time, Town were very good value for that scoreline.

Johnson netted the leveller after a very good run, and the contest turned on its head as Nicky Boshell put the Lions in front just over a minute later. When Frank Sinclair mistimed his challenge on Johnson with three minutes remaining, Boshell stepped forward to bag his brace from the spot.

Sinclair headed just wide at an early corner, and Collins and Sam Whittall both brought saves out of Steve Drench as the visitors were on top in the first half.

There were few chances for Brackley after the break but Drench made a good save to keep out a near-post header from David Moyo as they threatened to double their lead at the start of the second half.

Delighted Lions boss Mark Bower said: “I’m pleased to get the win and, under the circumstances, I would say it’s our best win of the season.

“Some of those lads shouldn’t have been on the pitch but we’re down to the bare bones, and OJ has been rushed back having barely completed a training session.

“Any team can beat any other on their day in this league, and that’s been said before, but they (Brackley) were certainly capable of doing that today – but when OJ came on we got the goal and didn’t look back really.

“His introduction gave us that spark, and I’m pleased because after that we were very good and restricted them to very little.

"It was a risk because OJ could have been rusty but he has the quality to produce, and fortunately for us he has done that a couple of times and it’s made the difference between scraping an equaliser or even losing to gaining a good three points.”