Ilkley 27 Wirral 41

AFTER the heroics of the previous week at Birkenhead Park, the Dalesmen suffered another blot on their shaky home record against a side lying second in National League Three North.

Ilkley’s cause was not helped by some lamentable refereeing decisions, but to lose to a side as good as this is no disgrace.

Wirral’s first of seven tries came shortly after kick-off, when after a blatant forward pass was not seen and some flaky defence let full back James Annetts in for a try.

A penalty against the Ilkley pack got the visitors going again and from a catch and drive, the ball was flashed out left for Ali Baker to touch down.

With a deficit of ten points, Ilkley seemed to come to life and a penalty from Joe Rowntree opened their account.

More pressure from the restart saw Wirral hooker Stuart Granton yellow-carded for interference at a ruck and Rowntree popped over his second penalty.

This success was short-lived though as Ilkley failed to deal with the kick off and Wirral skipper Craig Harvey took full advantage to go over under the posts with Annetts adding the extras.

Ilkley did their best to get some possession, but following a whistle-concerto from referee Peter Caunt, the returning Nick Carolan saw yellow for entering a maul from the side and then a clever move by the visitors resulted in Annetts scoring his side's bonus-point try.

Ilkley clearly had a mountain to climb at 22-6 down in the second half and the foothills were duly traversed when skipper Josh Kimber took advantage of some sloppy defensive passing in the Wirral 22 to intercept and run in under the posts. Rowntree’s conversion gave them hope.

This however proved to be illusory, as another dubious pass was adjudged good in broken play and centre Danny Harvey capitalised to make it 27-13.

It came as no surprise when the mounting pressure led to prop Dan Lawrence getting a yellow card for not releasing in the tackle.

Ilkley were defending manfully but could not prevent centre Sam Broadbent scoring a try which Annetts converted to put Wirral out of sight.

New boys Louis Jerome and Sam Rowntree put in some good work and joined a spirited attack, which unfortunately broke down in the opposition 22 when Wirral flanker Rob Pearl crash-tackled Steve Nolson.

After some remedial work by the physios, Pearl departed, but then Ilkley lost possession and excellent handling led to a length of the field second try for Baker, converted by Danny Harvey.

Back came the Dalesmen and they were nearly rewarded when the pack twice drove over the line, but were held up on both occasions. Justice was seen to be done though when Nico Nyemba emerged from another maul on the right wing to score. Rowntree’s magnificent kick sailed over the bar for the two extra points.

Suitably encouraged, Ilkley worked their hearts out for field position and tackled like demons when they had to. Ed Brown was judged to have deliberately knocked on when tackling his opposite man and Ilkley’s third yellow card was flourished.

The home side had the last of the day’s tries though, when despite losing their own line and 50m, Wirral knocked on. Advantage was played and Carolan broke free. He swapped passes with supporting centre Elliot Morgan who scored a fine try which Rowntree converted.

This was a gutsy performance by a young Ilkley side who never gave up, despite being up against a very good outfit.