Ilkley Town 0 Horbury Town 1

A drab end-of-season game was settled by a fluke goal mid-way through the first-half.

Neither side fashioned a clear goalscoring opportunity in the entire 90 minutes as passes were misplaced and any tempo was halted by frequent fouls.

This was a disappointing final home game of the season for Ilkley who have won nine of 14 games at Ben Rhydding.

The opening 20 minutes saw both sides struggle to develop any sustained possession or pressure.

Ilkley goalkeeper James Hirst showed good handling from a range of long crosses and was grateful to see a distant and narrow-angled cross from Jones slide across the crossbar.

At the other end, Ilkley struggled to maintain possession in the attacking third as striker Adam Davey, returning from a long absence through injury, took time to adjust to the pace of the game.

Fellow striker Liam Blenkhorn battled well to contest some lost causes as passes were frequently over hit and James Winward provided two excellent crosses that eluded the Ilkley forwards.

The only goal came after 30 minutes when a cross-field pass found Smith who volleyed the ball towards the penalty-area and sank to his knees in amazement when it soared beyond Hirst and lodged in the far corner of the net.

A complete fluke and one that should have been countered five minutes later when Davey raced clear after a determined challenge by Alan Stockdale but was unable to direct his low shot past 'keeper Liversedge.

Ilkley dominated the second-half territorially without ever generating any sustained pressure as both sides struggled to control the ball on the lively surface.

Tom Higman and Danny Henderson were introduced after 60 minutes. Both had missed the previous four games through injury.

A series of Ilkley corners and free-kicks were repelled as the clock ticked down before Blenkhorn headed over from from Henderson's inswinging corner.

In the final moments, Ilkley were denied a chance to equalise when Darren Munday broke free in the penalty-area only for the referee to blow for full-time as the Ilkley midfielder was about to pull then trigger.

A draw would have been a fair result .

On Saturday, Ilkley play the first of three away games to complete the season with a visit to Swillington Saints (2.30pm).