Moors fell to their first defeat of the pre-season campaign as Guiseley ran out 1-0 winners at Nethermoor Park on Saturday afternoon.
Lions captain Liam Tongue’s first half goal was enough to separate the sides on an afternoon when Moors were once again made to work hard.
There was early setback when Ben Pollock went down with a knock which brought his afternoon to a premature close as he was replaced by Michael Ledger.
And it got worse for Moors on ten minutes when the ball fell kindly for Lions skipper Liam Tongue who let fly with a powerful strike which took a deflection before flashing into the net via the underside of the bar.
Jamie Chandler’s men recovered their composure fairly quickly and began to enjoy more possession, Glen Taylor getting in behind to drill a shot just wide before being flagged just offside.
The front man was even closer on 23 minutes when his powerful free-kick from the edge of the box was well parried by the Guiseley keeper before Lebrun Mbeka just failed to force home the rebound.
Taylor was causing problems for the home defence though and he escaped in behind again just before the half-hour mark but this time his curling effort from the left of the area grazed the post on its way wide.
Tongue could have doubled his tally and extended Guiseley’s lead as half time approached when he unloaded again from long-range but this time his drive flashed too high to trouble Michael Roxburgh.
Moors started the second half well and substitute Will Harris could have produced an equaliser after going through down the right-hand side but his backheeled effort lacked the power to trouble the keeper.
Taylor earned himself another sight of goal with a clever piece of play on the left corner of the penalty area, but his low drive was held by the Guiseley shot-stopper.
Harris was denied by the keeper once again when his powerful drive was pushed away, while at the other end Michael Roxburgh had to make a smart save to stop Tongue’s free-kick finding the top corner.
Reece Staunton sent a deep cross to the far post where Taylor knocked it back across for Rob Ramshaw but again the Guiseley keeper reacted quickly to deny Moors a leveller.
Danny Greenfield’s hanging cross from the left almost embarrassed the home keeper at is looped down toward the top corner, but he just about got back in time to push it over the bar.
Full Time: Guiseley 1 Moors 0
Moors: Roxburgh, Mbeka, Curtis (Staunton 83), Pollock (Ledger 7 (McKeown 46 (Gallacher 88)), Ferguson (Doherty 70), Staunton (Ledger 70), Anderson (Greenfield 66), Ross (Fielding 66), Shanks (Harris 46), Ramshaw, Taylor.
Subs not used: Johnson, Mouat.
Referee: Jack Hall.
