Report by: Evan Seaman

ON a cold Saturday afternoon, a draw seemed a fair result in the end when Ilkley hosted Bacup Borough in a game where both sides had chances to seal victory.

Inside the first ten minutes, striker Kevin Gonzalez opened the scoring for the hosts when he took a shot on from outside the box and the keeper Mason Walker let it slip underneath him before hitting the bottom corner.

The Baht’atters were now fully in control of the match and were dominating possession after the first half an hour.

But there was to be a late twist just before the break when Bacup’s Alex Mellor headed it home from close range after some poor defending from Ilkley’s point from view which made the scoreline all square again at half time.

The second half started brightly, as Bacup had an attempt at goal cleared off the line by defender Josh Parker to keep them at bay.

Then at the other end of the pitch, Ilkley played some nice football when Alfie Dean passed it to skipper Harry Brown, but his shot goes straight into the palms of Walker.

Towards the end of the game, both teams huffed and puffed, and Ilkley had another chance to clear off the line as they tried to push for that all important second goal, but they couldn’t manage it in the end.

The result means Ilkley have dropped down to 10th as they currently languish in mid-table, whereas Bacup move up to third in the playoff places, but it is still hard to gauge the table because there have been so many postponements.

Next up for Ilkley is a trip to Shelley on January 20, and they beat them comfortably earlier in the campaign so they will be hoping for a repeat.