Wyke Wanderers 1 Ilkley Town 4

Danny Bott scored twice as Ilkley Town returned to winning ways in Division One.

His goals capped an outstanding individual performance on a day when Town gave debuts to Pavel Matvejevs and Adam Fowler.

Initially the game had few chances, but James Hanna and Damien Smith switched wings halfway through the first half and both became more effective.

Wyke opted for a long-ball game as they played down the slope. Their dangerman was right winer Sam Digby who caused left back Dave Hancock numerous problems.

It was the home side who took the lead after 31 minutes. Ian Horrocks looked suspiciously offside as he ran on to a through ball and rounded keeper Matvejevs to score.

Ilkley now started to increase the tempo and equalised two minutes before the break.

Bott found space as he advanced, unchallenged to the edge of the penalty area before striking an accurate shot into the corner of the net.

The game’s major turning point came just before the half-time break when Hancock tangled with Digby.

For no clear reason, Digby kicked out and was sent off giving Ilkley a huge advantage.

The visitors started the second half brightly, dominating and moving the ball well as they drove Wyke back. This concerted press- ure continued and in the 55th minute resulted in a fortunate second goal for Bott.

He chased down a backpass which forced the keeper into a hurried clearance which hit him on the bottom and rebounded into the net, For the next 15 minutes Ilkley looked nervous and that allowed Wyke back into the game.

During this period play became stretched with a lot of spaces developing all over the pitch.

Wyke looked increasingly likely to grab an equaliser until the 70th minute when they were caught on the break.

The play developed quickly down the left-hand side and a great run and driven cross from new signing Gareth Pickup was slotted in by Damien Smith, for his tenth goal of the season.

From this point onwards Ilkley were in control and looked more comfortable both with and without the ball.

The afternoon was crowned with Ben Greenhow scoring his first goal for Ilkley, stooping low to head home from a corner.

It capped a good afternoon for Ilkley in which Sam Dexter, captaining the side for the first time, gave a fine performance.

New boys Matvejevs and Fowler gave good performances on their debuts and the victory has helped restore Town’s confidence after an indifferent spell.

Pool, who beat Ilkley Town 3-2 in their previous game, suffered a 3-0 away defeat against Old Modernians at Cookridge.