Guiseley joint-manager Russ O’Neill hails ‘unbelievable’ FA Cup upset

Posted Monday, November 12, 2018 by PA

Guiseley’s thrilling 4-3 FA Cup first round win over Cambridge certainly was not for the faint-hearted, according to joint-manager Russ O’Neill.

Will Hatfield, Cliff Moyo, Kaine Felix and Kingsley James all scored to put the National League North side in dreamland but roared Cambridge back, with Jabo Ibehre notching twice while George Maris was also on target.

However, Guiseley did enough to put themselves in the hat for the second round for the second successive season at the expense of their League Two opponents.

“I’ve never known anything like it. I didn’t know whether my heart was going to stop or not,” said O’Neill.

“At 4-0, I thought we were going to make it 5-0 and then before you know it, it was 4-3. Unbelievable – what a performance.

“I’m just so glad there wasn’t another minute or two because you don’t know what could have happened but I’m really buzzing for everyone.”

Cambridge head coach Dunne thought that the hosts rode their luck, with Moyo’s attempted cross looping into the net past David Forde, but praised Guiseley’s spirit.

“We had to consolidate and match their spirit and commitment, and they had a couple of early shots but I thought we just started to control the game when they scored an FA Cup goal from the edge of the box,” said Dunne.

“After that a mis-hit cross goes in, and it is really tough to take and after that, it was a bit of a grind.

“That goal straight after half-time (from Felix) near enough killed the tie for us.”