Ilkley Town hit Knaresborough for six

ILKLEY Town hit Knaresborough for six as they registered their third West Yorkshire League Premier Division win of the season.

Knaresborough came into the game with two wins from their first four matches and hoping to build on their solid start.

From the off Town were dominant moving the ball well and making their opponents work hard out of possession.

This led to early pressure as Knaresborough struggled in the opening exchanges.

With their first corner of the game Town took the lead. Joe Garside whipped the ball to the back post where Darren Munday was there to meet the ball and bundled it over the line.

The goal set the tone for the next 30 minutes as Town took the game to their opponents.

Tom Fleming worked tirelessly winning a header defensively before driving forward with the ball and playing a perfect through ball for the run of Toby Harris.

Harris found himself one on one, steadied himself and then fired into the top corner.

Town looked hungry for more and eager to put the game beyond their opponents.

Another corner was cleared before the ball found its way back to Garside who once again picked out Munday at the back post who headed into the roof of the net to make it 3-0.

The fourth wouldn’t be far behind and was almost a carbon copy of the third but this time the cross picked out James Wilson who calmly headed home, making the score 4-0 at half-time.

The challenge after such a dominant first-half performance was to maintain a high standard and continue to work hard.

Town started the second half on the front foot and within five minutes of the restart were further ahead.

Possibly the move of the match saw the ball moved around quickly with real quality before Tom Fleming played a reverse flick pass into the run of Nick Hewitt, who took a touch before finding the bottom corner.

Knaresborough enjoyed their best period of the game, gaining both possession and territory as they began to put Town under more pressure.

This led to a Knaresborough corner being delivered to the back post and a consolation goal for Tom Lowry.

Town were extremely disappointed to have missed out on a clean sheet and it really demonstrated the importance of staying switched on for 90 minutes.

Town finished the game in a positive fashion as they began to take control once again.

Following good build up play, substitute Jordan Boxall-James found himself on the edge of the penalty area with the ball under his feet.

He quickly adjusted and without any backlift toe poked the ball beyond the unsuspecting Knaresborough goalkeeper and into the corner of the net.

Overall this was a fine performance from Town with some real positives.