ILKLEY Town will look to continue the club's successful season when they take on Shelley FC in the semi-final of the West Yorkshire League Cup next Wednesday.

And Ilkley manager Simon Armstrong is looking forward to the match, even though his team will have not played a match for three weeks.

"We've had time to rest and heal, so I pretty much have a full strength squad to choose from," said Armstrong. "It's fortunate in that respect that we've had a break."

But he also added that he hopes the lack of match practice over this three-week stretch will be a "challenge in itself" for his players

Ilkley, who finished fourth in the West Yorkshire League's Premier Division, have played all 30 of their league games, but many of the other teams have been finishing out their schedule.

"Since we play on the 4G artificial surface at Ben Rhydding, there have been two or three Saturdays this season where we've been the only club in the division who has managed to get a game on.

"This was an advantage during the season of getting games played, but it's disadvantage at the end of the season if you are still in the cups."

Armstrong said that Ilkley Town have tried to organise a friendly match to keep his players sharp, but to no avail.

"Everyone's season is coming to an end, so it's been difficult to get a friendly," he said. "We've tried four or five teams, but they can't accommodate us because they want to have a rest."

Armstrong is expecting a tough match from Shelley, who joined Division Two of the West Yorkshire League this season.

"They've earned promotion to Division One, so they will be a strong outfit and this will be a tough game," he said.

"This is essentially Shelley's reserve team, as they first team plays in the North West Counties League."

And although Armstrong has no injury worries for next week's game, he did say that should Ilkley advance to the final three of his players are schoolteachers and would miss the cup final on May 29 because it it half term.

The cup semi-final between Ilkley Town and Shelley will be held at Woodlesford FC, on Fleet Lane, Leeds, the headquarters of the West Riding County FA. The match kicks off at 7.30pm.