Guiseley 3 Leigh Genesis 1

Seventh placed Guiseley maintained their play-off ambitions by managing to claim what was eventually a comfortable victory over an unusually below-par Genesis side.

On a sand pit of a field that might have been more at home in Lilford Park than the Nethermoor Park ground in Leeds, Genesis boss Lee Merricks was hit by a setback in the warm up when centre back Ben McHugh pulled out through injury. This meant substitute left back Kris King being promoted to the starting line up, with Richmond Botchey switching from left back to right back, and Chris Page partnering Alex Cunliffe at centre back, having originally been intended to play at right back.

Leigh found themselves a goal down with as few as seven minutes on the clock when the referee originally ruled that Botchey had completed a legal tackle on Guiseley striker Adam Muller, only for the referee's assistant to controversially signal a free kick, a call that the referee changed his mind to agree with, despite being arguably in a better position than his assistant.

With ex-Genesis full back Jerome Fitzgerald (pictured below) lining up to take the free kick, there was almost an air of inevitability as the former Leigh skipper delivered a terrific set piece that gave goalkeeper Danny Morton no chance, though Fitzgerald was forced to withdraw from the action just five minutes later with an ankle injury.

Jerome Fitzgerald; goalscorer against his former club

Although Morton was called upon to make a couple of smart saves from long distance, it was Genesis that finished the half stronger on a particularly Yorkshire afternoon.

First, Andy Heald latched on to a wonderfully stroked through ball and sent a dangerous low cross in to the six yard box that was cleared by Guiseley wide man Dave Merris when Leigh front man Chris Thompson was waiting to pounce before Thompson did well to beat goalkeeper Piotr Skiba to a left wing Heald cross, only to head the ball over the crossbar.

Within thirteen minutes of the restart, Genesis found themselves back on level terms when Thompson did superbly to find his way to the by-line, laying the ball off to the edge of the area for Andy Heald (below) to redeem his red card in the midweek defeat to Kendal Town and smash home his first goal in his third spell with the club from twenty five yards, albeit with a Karl Brown deflection proving hugely vital.

Andy Heald; on the scoresheet after a dogged performance

Unfortunately, the lead was to last only seven minutes when centre back James Cotterill was afforded far too much space at the back post to head his side back in to the lead from Chris Davey's left-sided corner kick.

Leigh's livewire striker Phil Marsh, scorer of a hat trick in last weekend's 4-2 win away to FC United of Manchester, had a golden opportunity to immediately level the scores but fired over the crossbar when clean through, aggravating a hamstring injury in the process that saw him replaced by youngster Dale Whitham.

With sixteen minutes remaining, Leigh's fate was sealed when a left wing cross was headed back across goal by Simeon Bambrook for Adam Muller to nod home Guiseley's third goal of the afternoon, though the drama wasn't to end there with Genesis goalkeeper Danny Morton taking a heavy blow in the midst of conceding the third goal and eventually leaving the ground in an ambulance, with his place in goal being taken by reserve goalkeeper Dean Porter.

Leigh had a chance to halve the deficit late on when captain Steve Settle sent a half-volley inches over the crossbar after Thompson had neatly headed down a Heald free kick, but it wasn't to be Leigh's day and they will now look to recover when they take on Ossett Town in a UniBond Premier League encounter at Ashton United's Hurst Cross ground on Tuesday (24th February) evening with a 7:45pm kick off.

Leigh Genesis; Danny Morton (Dean Porter), Richmond Botchey, Kris King, Andy Heald, Alex Cunliffe, Chris Page (Scott Sephton), Kyle Lambert, Karl Brown, Chris Thompson, Phil Marsh (Dale Whitham), Steve Settle