Ilkley Town 0 Whitkirk Wanderers 2

ILKLEY suffered their second defeat on the trot and deservedly so at the hands of Whitkirk Wanderers.

Weak and limp would be an accurate description of the overall team performance on a day no one will want to remember.

Ilkley started the game well, passing the ball and finding opportunities in the final third. Unfortunately the crucial pass or the decision making quite simply wasn’t good enough.

Whitkirk were direct and keen to run in behind the back four. They almost scored when Eric Seed found space in behind, but was unfortunate to see his lob clear the crossbar.

Ilkley didn’t learn from this early scare. In the 16th minute Seed made a diagonal run which wasn’t picked up and slid the ball past James Hirst.

Confidence and quality drained out of Ilkley’s game and they didn’t have the stomach to match their more aggressive opponents.

Before long, Whitkirk had doubled their lead. A free-kick was conceded on the edge of the penalty area. It was a sweetly dispatched into the top corner of the net by Martin Dixon to make it 2-0.

The second half started very much like the first with Ilkley lacking quality on the ball, as was their desire off it.

With 30 minutes remaining all three substitutes were sent on and a change of formation introduced. With this Ilkley started to have more of an impact.

A Darren Munday effort from a free-kick saw the opposition goalkeeper pull off a great save.

Ilkley started to push more and more, with Whitkirk always looking likely on the break.

There was no further addition to the scoreline and Whitkirk recorded a fine and deserved away win.

Ilkley are at home to Swillington Saints on Saturday.