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Ilkley Town's Joe Horn

Horbury Town 3

Ilkley Town 3

Given the conditions, credit must be given to both teams for seeking to play passing football and, having trailed 3-1 with 20 minutes remaining, Ilkley Town were unfortunate not to claim a victory after a rousing finale.

With both teams still vying for third place in the West Yorkshire League Division One, neither side wanted to concede an early goal and give their opponents an advantage.

However, and typically in a season littered with sloppy defending, Ilkley allowed Horbury to score after just five minutes. A routine kick by Horbury goalkeeper Wain was misjudged by Tim McTigue in midfield allowing the ball to bounce in front of the static Ilkley defenders, leaving Griffiths to flick the ball into the path of Greenwood who guided a looping shot over Dave Grainger in goal.

For the next ten minutes, Ilkley players struggled to contain the home side who were quicker to the ball and, in Griffiths and Armitage, had players who created problems for Ilkley with their direct and pacy running.

Armitage in particular posed a severe test for Graham Richardson who was grateful for the assistance of teammate Allen Hey.

Despite having territorial dominance and with the slope advantage, Horbury found it difficult to create clear scoring opportunities as Nick Smith and Andy Bloom competed well in and around the penalty area. Smith helped his centre-back partner when he made a last-ditch sliding tackle and Grainger handled well from two inswinging corners.

Gradually, Ilkley began to gain and maintain possession with McTigue and Ian Briggs suppressing the influence of Ferguson and Young, and Jim Hannaford finding space on the right.

A combination by Hannaford and Mark Houlston saw the latter evade Mills' challenge and drill a low cross into the six yard box where Wain made a brave diving save.

However, Wain could do little with Ilkley's equaliser after 25 minutes when Houlston beat Hill to another Hannaford through pass and lobbed the ball over the advancing Wain where Joe Horne applied the finishing touch as Young sought to clear from the goalline.

The equaliser led to a period of good Ilkley possession in the first of the snowstorms and Hannaford's low cross was deflected away from Hey at the far post by Mills before a battling run by Horne forced a corner.

A 1-1 half-time scoreline would have been acceptable for Ilkley after the poor start and playing up the slope, but this was to be shattered by a Ronaldo-like free-kick by Armitage after 40 minutes.

A dubious foul was awarded against Briggs 40 yards from goal and Armitage declared his intention by taking a long run-up and firing the ball like a shell past the despairing dive of Grainger. A wonderful strike at any level of the game and hard to take for Ilkley players who had battled to get back in the game.

A 2-1 deficit at half-time was not insurmountable for Ilkley, especially with the slope advantage and the visitors were helped by the early substitution of Armitage who had received a knock in the first-half.

This allowed Ilkley more space in the left wing position where Richardson and Hey were to become more prominent in attacking moves.

Despite an increase in possession, Ilkley found it difficult to penetrate Horbury's back four and change was needed to alter the course of the game. A double substitution saw Steve Hall join Briggs in midfield and Darren Munday move into the defence allowing Andy Bloom to move forward to join Houlston and Horne in a three-pronged attack.

Initially, this created some imbalance and man-of-the-match Smith made another marvellous tackle to deny Griffiths on the edge of the penalty area and a drifting shot by Ferguson clipped the bar before Horbury pulled further ahead.

Ineffective challenging allowed Greenwood to wriggle along the by-line and Ferguson back-flicked his low cross past Grainger from six yards.

It was a hammer blow for Ilkley after building some attacking momentum and Hannaford's wasteful shot from the kick-off revealed the growing frustration amongst the Ilkley players.

Thankfully, this frustration was converted into determination and Ilkley forced three corners in close succession and pulled a goal back when Horne's near-post flick was headed goalwards by Hall only for Greenwood and another defender to dive to save the ball with their hands on the goal-line.

As Ilkley players appealed for a penalty, Bloom pushed the ball into the goal and the referee avoided the big' decision by awarding the goal and taking no action against the Horbury players.

Galvanised by this goal, Ilkley introduced Stockdale to maintain the forward surge and he created problems immediately with his dribbling skills, setting up Hannaford inside the penalty-area who twisted inside Mills and saw his low shot tipped to safety by Wain who was then grateful to see Brigg's deflected shot hit the post.

Penning Horbury back with a stream of attacks, the equaliser came after 80 minutes when Bloom played Houlston behind the full-back and the Ilkley player's low cross was heading for a tap-in by Hall only for Young to unavoidably deflect the ball into his own net.

Houlston's low left-foot shot forced Wain to make another fine diving save, then Bloom and Houlston headed wide from crosses by Stockdale and Richardson, and Ferguson made a brave challenge to deny Hannaford at the far post when the Ilkley player seemed destined to score.

At the end of the game, Ilkley were unfortunate not to take all three points and once again will look back and rue the two instances of sloppy defending.

10:38am Thursday 27th March 2008

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