Guiseley 2–0 Witton Albion

Five days after losing 2–0 at home to Hednesford Town and having two players sent off, Witton Albion travelled to Guiseley, who were top of the Northern Premier League Premier Division. The score on Saturday 30 August 2008 was the same, but the club's own report took a very different view of the performance, and headlined it accordingly.

Background

Nigel Deeley was without two of his most experienced players. The captain, Brian Pritchard, and the winger Ben Thornley were both injured, and Scott Willis was not fully fit and did not play. Daniel Schwarz came into the defence beside Liam Coyne, with Gary Scott and Paul Donnelly either side of them, and Rod Thornley led the attack with Kieran Lugsden.

Guiseley were a familiar obstacle. The sides had met twice in the spring, drawing 1–1 in Yorkshire before Witton won 1–0 at Wincham Park, and Piotr Skiba, who had kept goal for Guiseley in that April match, was in goal again.

The match

Witton came through the first quarter of an hour without alarm and then conceded from their own mistake. Chris Gahgan lost the ball to Steve Burton, whose cross to the far side of the area was met by Mark Whitehouse, running in to score.

Gahgan nearly made amends two minutes later with a powerful shot heading under the crossbar, which Skiba turned over. The goalkeeper also saved a drive from Steve Smith shortly before half-time, and at the other end Greg Smith pushed away an effort from Burton.

Early in the second half Witton had their best spell. A Mark Drew corner was only half cleared and Steve Settle's shot was blocked in a crowded area, and Settle then headed wide from a Gahgan cross.

The second goal, on 63 minutes, owed something to luck. Donnelly was booked for clipping the heels of the Guiseley striker Adam Muller 22 yards out, the only caution of the afternoon, and Whitehouse's free kick took a heavy deflection off the wall on its way past Greg Smith. Soon afterwards Smith made a double save at close range to keep the score down.

Deeley sent on Darryl Proffitt, who had rejoined the club, for Drew, and later Tejal-Ross Thaker for Lugsden. Thaker's cross two minutes from the end found Settle, but again there were too many defenders in the way.

Aftermath

The club's report singled out Greg Smith in goal, and noted how much Schwarz and Coyne had improved on the previous game.

Witton won their next match, at home to Ilkeston Town three days later, but the autumn was hard. A run of nine successive league defeats cost Deeley his job on 2 November 2008, and Gary Finley returned as manager.

Guiseley finished fourth and reached the play-offs. Witton finished twentieth and were relegated; see the 2008–09 league table and the fixtures and results archive.