Guiseley boss Bower ready for Forest Green test

[FF News]

After Saturday’s draw with high-flying Grimsby Town, Guiseley return home for a similarly difficult challenge with the visit of Forest Green Rovers.

Oliver Norburn’s strike was cancelled out by Padraig Amond at Blundell Park but Mark Bower’s side held firm to claim a hard-earned point following a dismal 3-0 defeat to Gateshead earlier in the week.

The Lions sit five points clear of the drop zone but second-place Rovers will offer a stern test as Ady Pennock’s men seek to close the gap on leaders Cheltenham.

Guiseley were beaten 3-0 on their trip to The New Lawn in October but Bower says his side will take confidence from their battling display at Grimsby.

“It’s been a testing time and we had that poor second-half performance against Gateshead but the lads stepped up on Saturday and the performance was really pleasing,” said the Guiseley boss who could have Ben Parker and Rob Atkinson pushing for a return to the squad.

“It’ll be good to get back home and the lads will take a lot of confidence from Grimsby. A performance and a result like this gets us out of the little rut that we’re in.

“But we have to kick on and start turning one point into three and put in a similar shift against Forest Green next week. It’s the league we’re in, it’s always going to be tough.”

After the visit of Rovers this weekend, the Lions are in FA Trophy action against Dulwich Hamlet before rounding off the month with visits to Kidderminster Harriers and Lincoln City.

And Bower feels his side have got the bulk of the more difficult fixtures in the division out of the way as they prepare for their first home league game since late November’s win over Bromley.

“You look at the fixtures we had at the start of the season and they were relatively kind and we managed to open up a bit of a gap to the bottom four but recently we’ve had some really tough fixtures,” he added.

“But we’ve got a lot of the tough fixtures out of the way now, we’ve done Grimsby away, Cheltenham away, Forest Green away, Tranmere, Wrexham and Dover. So barring Eastleigh, they’re probably the six toughest places to go and to have them out of the way is a real positive.

“Panic can set in but we’ve got to keep our heads and try take advantage of fixtures coming up. Our home form has been good.”

Source: Guiseley AFC

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