Horbury Town 3 Ilkley Town 1

Ilkley Town’s hopes of making further progress in the West Yorkshire League Cup were ended in a hard-fought encounter.

Both sides have punched above their weight in progressing this far in the competition, with Ilkley having defeated two Premier Division teams en-route to this clash, and the significance of the game and difficult playing conditions meant this was not a game for the football purist.

In cold and breezy conditions on a dry and bumpy surface, neither side developed any sustained possession or tempo, as bobbles and bounces affected the quality of passing and control.

Having weathered the initial 20 minutes, during which time James Hanna hobbled off injured having rolled his ankle on the rutted surface, Ilkley conceded a sloppy goal when a low corner towards the near-post was missed by two defenders allowing Lee Geraghty to sidefoot the ball past James Hirst from five yards.

Hirst then did well to punch clear from another corner and scrambled to gather Luke Griffths’ free-kick as the home side exerted a period of pressure through set-pieces.

Gradually, Ilkley began to develop some attacking momentum through Adam Davey and Phil Thommesen.

It was this combination that almost forced an equaliser when Davey twisted inside the box and was clipped from behind as he went to shoot, the loose ball broke to Thommesen whose shot was deflected inches beyond the far-post.

A clear claim for a penalty went unheeded by the referee before the visitors drew level. Davey turned past his marker and played a diagonal pass behind the Horbury defence for Adam Fowler to stride forward and place his left foot shot beyond Andrew Liversidge and into the far-corner in the 35th minute.

Having worked hard to equalise, Ilkley gifted Horbury a second goal on the stroke of half-time.

Lee Mills ghosted behind the back-line and prodded the ball past Hirst as the defenders vainly appealed for offside.

The second-half mirrored the first with the Horbury players fired-up and crashing into tackles as Ilkley tried to break in wide positions.

The game lacked shape and flow with set-pieces and mistakes more likely to reap reward.

Ilkley should have drawn level for a second time on the hour when Thommesen’s close-range attempt from Joe Hendrie’s corner hit the base of the post and somehow the ball was scrambled off the goal-line.

Needing to force a breakthrough, and with Ross Hutchison being another casualty to a twisted ankle, Ilkley introduced Andy Bloom and Danny Henderson and reverted to three defenders.

The plan backfired when Danny Jones broke through three weak tackles and was allowed to advance towards Hirst before pushing the ball past him for a third goal. A disappointing end but Ilkley continued to challenge until the final whistle and the players can be very proud of their efforts to reach this stage in the competition.

On Saturday, Ilkley Town return to league action at Altofts (2.30pm).