Workington’s three match unbeaten run was ended at Borough Park by a Guiseley side battling to escape the drop zone with the Cumbrians.
A single goal after 41 minutes was enough to take the points back to Yorkshire and leave Reds boss Billy Barr reflecting on his first defeat since being appointed manager.
It wasn’t a performance in the same mould as the last one at home which produced the win over Hyde, or failed to match the gritty draw from a losing position at Rushall.
Indeed it was a display which greatly disappointed Barr who is now expected to step up his efforts to bring in fresh faces, hopefully in time to face rejuvenated Warrington Town on Saturday.
Guiseley arrived at the ground 40 minutes ahead of the scheduled kick-off which was then delayed a further quarter of an hour.
Workington were expected to make a fast, energetic start to capitalise on that but it didn’t happen. They didn’t look after the ball well enough, too many passes going astray with the result they rarely threatened the Guiseley goal.
Skipper Steven Rigg worked as hard as usual, but too often was ploughing a lone furrow and not enough questions were asked of goalkeeper Joseph Cracknell.
He looked uncomfortable on the couple of occasions he had to deal with high balls into his box but did not have anything to save until time added on at the end of the game.
On such a poor night for the Reds it was perhaps fitting that the goal that lost them the game was as soft as they come.
Will Longbottom’s right wing corner actually bounced in the six yard box, struck the far post and went in with nobody getting a touch.
Guiseley, after two draws under new manager Ian Roberts, were neat and tidy in possession but they were similar in not being able to pose a serious threat to the home defence in which Jordan Little and Tyler Magliore were stand-out performers.
Although to be fair they did create a couple of decent opportunities in the second half which were squandered by poor finishing.
Reds did force some late corners as they looked for an equaliser; Cracknell didn’t look comfortable but when called upon at the death he held onto an effort from Hayden Atkinson.
Barr had to select his side without three absentees – Dav Symington (illness), Jack Dickinson (ear infection) and Josh Galloway (hamstring).
Two of them should be back in contention for Saturday.
But fans will be hoping that Barr can produce another gem like Magliore if he’s able to land a new recruit in time to face in-form Warrington who have gone from bottom five to top five with six wins out of seven games.
