Rawdon Old Boys 1 Ilkley Town 2

ILKLEY Town reached their third-successive Wharfedale & District FA Cup final after a well-contested semi-final at Hanson's Field.

An 11am pitch inspection deemed the soggy surface to be playable and the two teams knew that the going would be tough as the conditions deteriorated as the game progressed.

Rawdon are having another fine season in the Harrogate League and had defeated Ventus/Yeadon Celtic, who Ilkley beat in last season's semi-final, in the previous round.

Rawdon had the ideal start when they scored after three minutes when Ilkley lost possession in the middle of the park. The ball was fed to the Rawdon right winger, who drove inside committing two players before sliding the ball through to his striker who took a touch and smashed the ball past James Hirst.

The pitch, as predicted, proved a difficult surface to play on with players losing their footing and misplacing passes throughout. Ilkley struggled to find a rhythm, while Rawdon played some neat and tidy football without carrying a real cutting edge.

It wasn't until the 40th minute that Ilkley produced their first moment of real quality. Danny Bott won the ball in midfield and dropped it into Dave Hancock who played the ball forward quickly to Isaac Crown.

Crown turned his man and accelerated into the space before moving into the penalty area. Despite the efforts of two defenders to close him down, Crown crossed low and hard to the far post where Adam Fowler was on hand to tap in.

The second half, much like the first, was not a great spectacle. Ilkley did compete a lot more and were given a significant advantage with 25 minutes to go.

Jack Murray ran at his man on the right and was upended. The Rawdon full back was adamant that he won the ball and in his frustration foolishly threw the match ball away.

Subsequently he received his second yellow of the game from referee Graham Morris and Rawdon were reduced to ten men.

Ilkley started to dominate with their one-man advantage but at times they overplayed and caused their own problems.

With eight minutes remaining, Ilkley were awarded a free kick on the right of the penalty area. Bott swung the ball in, which was met by Andy Bloom at the back post.

A fine double save by the goalkeeper denied him, what surely would have been the winning strike. Fortunately the deciding goal wasn't far away.

Another free kick was awarded on the edge of the penalty area when the assistant referee spotted the goalkeeper handling outside his area.

Bott once again stepped up and found the right hand corner of the net with a sweetly struck shot. .

Defeat was disappointing for Rawdon who can now focus on their bid to win the Harrogate League title.