Guiseley boss predicts brighter outlook
Guiseley boss predicts brighter outlook after victory in friendly clash
Buy this photoMark Bower sees brighter times ahead
Mark Bower has lost all his four matches as Guiseley's player-manager but he feels his team are turning the corner.
A 3-2 behind-closed-doors friendly win at home to Halifax Town on Tuesday was a start, and that has been added to by the news he has a greater pool of players available for Saturday's Skrill North encounter at third-placed Altrincham.
Bower said: "Centre half is a position that we are struggling with at the moment.
"Danny Ellis, Matt Clarke and Rhys Meynell have all picked up injuries while Jameel Ible was suspended after being sent off. Thankfully, Matt Clarke came through the midweek match all right and will be available for selection this weekend."
Bower added: "We gave players who needed game-time an opportunity against Halifax, plus one or two new players, and for the first time I have a selection headache.
"There are more than 11 who want to play for Guiseley this weekend and some of them are going to be disappointed."
Bower, who has so far drawn blanks against Bradford Park Avenue (twice), Boston and Hednesford, said: "We have had a very tough run of fixtures but I have generally been pleased with how we have played, apart from silly errors.
"We have had chances that have been equal to the opposition's, like when we played Avenue, and, credit to them, they have stuck them away and we haven't taken ours."
Bower, who has ruled himself out of playing this weekend, added: "People will call Saturday's match against Altrincham a home banker but if we go there and perform like we can and do not give gift-wrapped goals away, we have a chance to win there."
One thing Bower's troops will definitely not want to do is let former Lions striker James Walshaw score. He faces them for the first time since his summer move.
"We will never hear the last of it if we do," said the former Bradford City stalwart. James is a prolific Tweeter.
"We can keep him quiet for 89 minutes and he will score in the 90th.
"The same can be said of fellow striker, the experienced Damian Reeves "You can come off the pitch and he will have scored twice, and you will be thinking 'How did that happen?' "But we have some players in our defence who know James well, as does our keeper Steve Drench."