No home advantage for Guiseley says Kittrick (From Ilkley Gazette)

No home advantage for Guiseley says Kittrick

11:52am Thursday 7th June 2012 in Sport By Bill Marshall

Guiseley manager Steve Kittrick wants the Blue Square Bet Conference to look at the way they arrange the end-of-season play-offs.

He believes that his team were disadvantaged by having to play the away leg of their semi-final in midweek whereas their home tie was on a Sunday.

The Lions finished second in the league 13 points clear of Nuneaton who came fifth and beat them 2-1 over the two legs.

Kittrick feels that any advantage went to the Midlanders, He explained: “It is part-time football, and our lads have to get up at 6am and go to work, and probably knock off early in order to get the team coach to Nuneaton.

“We then play the game and the lads will probably get to bed at 2.30am.

“For the tie at our place, the Nuneaton players could finish work on the Friday, have Saturday to rest up and play the game on a Sunday afternoon before getting home not too late on the Sunday evening.

“Where is the advantage there in us staging the second leg at home?”

Kittrick was also frustrated that his team played nine games in March and another nine between the start of April and May 6 but only five in September and four in October when the weather was good enough to have played a sequence of Saturday and midweek fixtures.

He said: “Why can't we play more matches early in the autumn and really get into the season that way?

“At one point we were three matches behind champions Hyde and were playing catch-up after that.”

The Football Conference have confirmed that, barring any unforeseen issues, the fixtures for the 2012-13 season will be released to clubs on Monday, July2, and shortly after that to the media.

The Blue Square Bet North and South divisions will start on Saturday, August 18, a week after the Conference proper, which will begin on Friday, August 10 with a match that will be shown live on the Premier Sports channel.

Following the resig- nations of Kettering and Darlington from the Football Conference, the Lions will tread new ground next season when they visit Southern League Premier Division play-off winners Oxford City and champions Brackley Town.

The other newcomers include old foes Bradford Park Avenue and Chester, who met Guiseley in a first-round FA Cup tie when the Cheshire club were still in the league.

The long journeys to Gloucester and Bishop's Stortford remain, while Hinckley United have been reprieved from relegation.

Blue Square Bet North clubs 2012-13: Altrincham, Bishop's Stortford, Boston United, Brackley Town, Bradford Park Avenue, Chester, Colwyn Bay, Corby Town, Droylsden, FC Halifax Town, Gainsborough Trinity, Gloucester City, Guiseley, Harrogate Town, Hinckley United, Histon, Oxford City, Solihull Moors, Stalybridge Celtic, Vauxhall Motors, Worcester City, Workington.