ILKLEY Town reclaimed their position of second in the league after a comfortable 3-0 win over Robin Hood Athletic on a wet and windy Saturday afternoon at Ben Rhydding Sports Club.

Straight from the whistle, Ilkley exploited their traditional ‘playing through the thirds’ strategy to its full potential, finding gaps in the visitors' defence.

This resulted in numerous chances for Tom Smith, including a deft shot into the bottom corner that was disallowed for offside, and a spectacular double save from keeper Lee Wood.

Following on from the double save, Ben Greenhow headed the ball past Wood, but it was cleared off the line by Chris Brown.

After Ilkley’s dominant spell throughout the first 20 minutes, the game became a cagey encounter, with plenty of fouls, including a yellow card for Alfie Heaton.

The resulting free-kick for Robin Hood was headed onto the post by Matty Hambleton, whilst the rebound was saved by goalkeeper Adam Montague-Millar.

In the 60th minute, a touch of class from full-back Joe Garside gave Ilkley their deserved lead. James Nightingale threaded a neat through ball towards the byline into the path of Garside, who showed superb skill to beat the defender.

After his low cross into the six-yard box, centre-back Brown nudged the ball past the keeper into his own net, taking most of the pressure off of Ilkley.

Having regained their confidence, Simon Armstrong’s men continued to pressurise Robin Hood, forcing them to panic and subsequently make mistakes.

This was evident in Ilkley’s second goal when captain Tom Bull guided the ball home through Wood’s legs, following a lengthy goalmouth scramble.

The hosts were now in control of the game, having scored two goals in 10 minutes.

Ilkley’s third and final goal came as a result of a lapse in concentration from Robin Hood, and substitute Jordan Boxall-James pounced on Wood’s heavy touch and, by the time he realised his mistake, Boxall-James slotted the ball into the empty net from a tight angle, to round off a convincing performance by the hosts.

This result is Ilkley’s seventh win in a row and boosts their position to second in the West Yorkshire League's Premier Division, with the best goal difference as well as the most goals scored, proving that an entertaining Ilkley side are indeed strong enough to be fighting for promotion.

MATTHEW LAMBE