Guiseley 1 Spennymoor Town 1.

Spennymoor manager Jason Ainsley was happy with a point from their trip to FA Cup giantkillers Guiseley on Saturday.

Guiseley looked a good attacking side when they beat Cambridge last week in the FA Cup, but Moors didn’t allow them the same freedom, and without being at their best picked up a good point which keeps them well in contention near the top of the table.

Moors have now lost just once in their last seven matches to put them in good shape for the home Trophy tie against Halesowen this Saturday.

However, Ainsley was far from happy with the dismissal for two yellow cards of defender James Brogan, who will miss that game because of a one match suspension.

“We didn’t play very well when we had the ball,” he said. “Guiseley are a good side, they had a lot of energy, and you could see that they were on the crest of a wave after last week when they beat Cambridge. Maybe the fortnight’s break from match action affected us a little bit.

“We didn’t create a big deal, although there was one moment in the game when we were 1-0 up and James Curtis maybe should have scored, and there was another when Glen Taylor had a shot cleared off the line.

“But I don’t think they hurt us really.  We got stronger in the second half, and after James missed that header, it took a mistake on our part for them to score. I thought we defended resolutely apart from that. I was disappointed with the goal, but I was really pleased with the effort and desire of the players. On the balance of play, Guiseley had more of the ball in the second half, but we looked more of a threat. Overall though, I thought a draw was a fair result.

“I wasn’t happy about the decision to send off Stephen Brogan. He’d been booked already for a foul, and then the referee decided to book him when the ball hit his hand when they were playing the ball down the line.

“And yet we got a penalty in the first half for handball, and the referee didn’t give their player a yellow card for that.”

The game started brightly enough, with both teams full of confidence and Glen Taylor was just denied a header at goal from a right-wing cross by a defender’s intervention.

Will Hatfield missed a good chance for Guiseley, who forced the first real save of the game out of Moors keeper Matthew Gould, who stopped Lewis Walters after he had broken through.

Gould denied Walters again a few minutes later, but it was Moors who broke through four minutes before half time.

Taylor tried to flick the ball on in the area, but the ball struck the hand of full back Cliff Moyo, and the referee immediately pointed to the spot.

Taylor then stepped up to tuck the ball into the bottom corner and claim his 11th goal of the season.

Moors were on top at the start of the second half, and they could have gone further ahead six minutes after half time when Curtis hit the bar with a close range header from a Mark Anderson corner.

But Guiseley got back into the game on 59 minutes when Rowan Liburd got away, and slipped the ball past Gould.

Moors nearly sneaked back into the lead when Taylor’s left foot shot was saved by Guiseley keeper Jon Worsnop, but they had to play with ten men for the last six minutes after Brogan was shown his second yellow for handball, a decision which Moors hotly contested, considering that Brogan was so close to the ball as the Guiseley player tried to play the ball forward.

Despite dropping two points, Moors moved up a place in the table to fourth, because Kidderminster and Chester both lost, although Telford overtook them into third.

Spennymoor: Gould, Hibbs, Brogan, Chandler, Atkinson, Curtis, Johnson (sub Boyes 79), Thackray (sub Henry 69), Taylor, Ramshaw, Anderson (sub Tuton 65).