GUISELEY successfully appealed against John Rooney's red card against Halifax on March 20 but their joy quickly turned to frustration as their star midfielder was then hit with a four match ban for his on-field reaction to that dismissal.

The Lions were incensed with referee Andrew Miller's original decision and video footage seemed to suggest that their man had not committed any offence during a melee between both sets of players.

However, the FA ruled that Rooney's comments towards the referee and fourth official in the aftermath of that dismissal were unacceptable and that they warranted a ban regardless.

The suspension meant that the 27-year-old missed both of Guiseley's Easter fixtures and he will still be absent when they face two crucial home games against Maidstone and Dagenham & Redbridge, on Saturday and Tuesday respectively.

Manager Sean St Ledger claimed that, while the loss of Rooney was not ideal, others have shown him that they can step up to the plate in the midfielder's absence.

He said: "It's a blow because since John's come in he's been fantastic. He's notched a couple of goals as well.

"But on the flipside of that, we've got good players in the squad that have come in and made an impact. You look at Kevan Hurst coming on at half-time (against Hartlepool on Monday) who has been out of the squad.

"We've got some so many games now that we need to use the squad and make sure that when those players come in that they're ready."

St Ledger also expressed his gratitude towards the more experienced players in his side, like Hurst and Marcus Williams, claiming that their impact cannot be understated.

He enthused: "They've got know how. That experience will help the younger lads and whether or not they're playing, or whether they're on the bench, they're fantastic to have around on the coach going to away games."

Guiseley played poorly on Good Friday, crashing 3-1 at home to Leyton Orient. They underwent a resurrection of sorts on Easter Monday though, notching a fine win against Hartlepool through Dayle Southwell's late winner.

"The performance on Friday wasn't good enough. The players knew that. They knew that they had to respond and they did that.

"That's the level of performance and work ethic (against Hartlepool) that we're going to need from now until the end of the season."

St Ledger had a simple message for his players regarding their two home games in the coming week.

He said: "The minimum requirement at the moment is to win football games. Whatever way we can do that, we'll do that.

"If it's a bad performance and we win then so be it.

"I don't think it matters what the other teams do at the moment, we have to concentrate on what we do.

"It starts with the game against Maidstone. We'll approach it trying to get three points and then we'll go from there."