Ilkley Town 1 Old Centralians 0

Ilkley entertained Old Centralians in their first home game of the season. Both conditions and the pitch were perfect, meaning an excellent platform for good football.

Old Centralians started the game with a high level of energy, pressing high and in numbers. For the first ten minutes it was very scrappy, but Ilkley competed well and began to get a foothold in the game. Man of the Match Matt Tolleson now began to see more and more of the ball and the home side grew in confidence. Ben Dexter took a positive first touch and then struck a long curving pass for the run of Damien Smith, who using the momentum of the ball attempted to lob the onrushing goalkeeper. Unfortunately it landed in the hands of the opposition goalkeeper.

The final 20 minutes of the first half was dominated by Ilkley, whose midfield trio were finding more and more space and the whole team began to play simple football.

After 35 minutes this approach led to the opening goal. The ball was fed to Adam Fowler's feet, he turned and played the ball wide right to Danny Bott, who took a touch and whipped the ball in with his left foot.

Damien Smith just missed the ball at the front post, fortunately new signing Lu Ndovi was on hand to tap in at the back post, 1-0.

The second-half message was straightforward, keep playing simple football and in the final third try to play quicker and do things at pace.

If Ilkley had carried this out the scoreline may have been much more comfortable, unfortunately they lost their rhythm during the and the game became more of an even contest.

Ilkley defended well throughout and the opposition rarely threatened in the 90 minutes, but some gloss could have been put on the result as Lu Ndovi raced clear, only to see the goalkeeper save his dinked effort.