Wirral 0 Ilkley 15

WELL, it was certainly worth the wait ! After so many near misses, the Dalesmen came up with a performance that warmed the heart on a bitterly cold and damp day in the Wirral.

The Cheshire men had simply no answer to Ilkley’s well-organised and courageous defence, as the 15-0 scoreline suggests.

The nil part of this score is important as much-fancied Wirral threw the kitchen sink at Ilkley for the first 20 minutes, eschewing kicks at goal as the penalties went their way, but were simply unable to breach the visitors' line.

With the scoreboard operator seemingly redundant after the initial onslaught, the hosts seemed to lose concentration and gradually, Ilkley got back into the game.

Both sides were using the kicking option a tad too often and not always well, but playing in the opposition half is the name of the game – not always pretty, but usually effective.

Joe Rowntree had a penalty attempt from 40 metres drift wide and Ben Magee was playing his usual counter-attacking game, ably assisted by a strong Lewis Johnson.

The ball was ping-ponging between the two halves of the pitch as both sides sought to clear their lines.

The claggy pitch and damp weather didn't help the players and Pat Power couldn’t build up a sufficient head of steam to capitalise as he would have wished after a smart interception.

His incisive play did force another penalty but Rowntree was off target from two yards inside his own half.

When Wirral decided to break out from the resulting drop-out, a knock-on followed by a transgression at the breakdown yielded another penalty and it was third-time lucky for Rowntree as he edged his side ahead.

The remainder of the half saw Ilkley maintain their momentum and the lead.

The weather took a turn for the worse at the start of the second half and for 20 minutes, it looked as if Ilkley’s slender lead was going to be enough.

The Dalesmen continued to look the better side and a touch of fortune saw them extend their advantage.

A scuffed drop-goal attempt from Charlie Morgan hit the base of the left-hand post. Wirral’s mesmerised defence failed to cope and there was evergreen prop Josh Cockerham to snap up a poacher’s try. Rowntree’s conversion made it 10-0.

The home side were looking well out of contention and so it was to prove.

Charlie Morgan’s confidence had improved as the game progressed and when he drilled a great kick into Wirral’s 22, the home defence had to clear. Ilkley won the line-out and went from right to left and then back again with some slick passing before Morgan crashed over to give his side an unassailable lead.

The conversion was missed, but there was no stopping Ilkley now, as they finished the game much the stronger side, with clever kicks and time-consuming forward play

Referee Matthew Riley played a good five minutes extra time, but to no avail from a Wirral perspective.

The win ended Ilkley's harrowing run of seven defeats and lifted them a place in the National Three North table to eighth.

All credit to the coaching staff and the commitment of the players in training hard to lift this monkey from their backs.