REGARDLESS of them tripping up at home to Hednesford Town last Saturday, Guiseley's players will not be lacking in motivation for their next two Vanarama Conference North matches.

Both are at Nethermoor – against sixth-placed Boston United on Saturday and next-to-bottom Bradford Park Avenue on Tuesday – and three added incentives are that the Pilgrims defeated the Lions 5-1 as recently as January 24; Avenue is a derby, and that Guiseley (on the back of United's 3-0 defeat at AFC Fylde on Tuesday which bumped Boston back down to sixth) now have the pressure of occupying the last play-off place.

The Lions' notable 3-1 home victory over Fylde a week last Tuesday was their first match in 17 days, and that had a knock-on effect in the tame 2-0 setback at home to Hednesford five days later.

Ordinarily, playing Saturday and Tuesday would not be a problem, but with Fylde being their first match for two and a half weeks and the pitches generally being heavy, Guiseley manager Mark Bower said: "Fylde are a good side and it did take more out of us than we first thought.

"If you look at the sides who like to get the ball down and pass it around, such as ourselves, Fylde and Solihull Moors, they can tend to struggle on heavier pitches – but you have to be able to adapt.

"Hednesford (who are fourth) are a good side and pressured us from set-pieces and throw-ins. They deserved their win but we paid the penalty for trying to be too direct and giving the ball away.

"We changed the formation just before half-time, and we were better in the second half and got more into the game, but both goals were deflected. The first one meant that we were chasing the game, and the second with 20 minutes to go killed any momentum that we had built up."

With the Boston defeat happening so recently, Bower added: "No-one likes to lose any match, but especially by a margin like that, and we have some skilful players, we have trained well this week and the lads are determined to put it right."

Although the Lions are also at Solihull Moors at the end of the month, Avenue generally signals the start of contests against teams in the bottom half of the table.

They are at Worcester City on March 3, face basement boys Hyde away and at home within the space of days, and also face Brackley Town and Lowestoft Town – games that will give Guiseley the opportunity to cement their play-off berth.

Saturday's match at Nethermoor will be Guiseley's first since the death of former commercial manager Debbie Charlton last Saturday in a car accident at Triangle, near Halifax. There will be a minute's silence in her memory before kick-off.