Silsden

NWC Div One 11th P42 W20 D2 L20 F83 A77 GD6 Pts62

IT WAS a difficult season for the Cobbydalers following their relegation from the top tier of the Hallmark Security League (North West Counties League) but it ended in promising style with a top-half finish in Division One.

Like most of the lower-league clubs, Silsden’s season began with an FA Cup tie on the first Saturday of August.

The extra preliminary round took the Cobbydalers to Bridlington Town.

James Gill’s men earned a very creditable 1-1 draw against a Brid side from a step higher on the football pyramid, but they lost the replay 3-1 at home just three days later.

The Cobbydalers bounced back with a thumping 6-0 league win at Ashton Town but three consecutive defeats followed.

There were a lot of new challengers for Silsden, and not just because they had dropped down a division as five new clubs were welcomed into the NWC League.

Two of the three losses on the bounce were to newcomers Charnock Richard and Prestwich Heys.

The new clubs were buoyant and built momentum, with Charnock Richard finishing as runners-up and gaining automatic promotion, while Sandbach United ended in the play-off places, with Prestwich just outside the top six.

Silsden didn’t acclimatise to their new surroundings quickly enough for some, and following an second qualifying round exit in the FA Trophy - a 4-3 home loss to Hall Road Rangers - and a run of five consecutive league defeats, Gill was surprisingly dismissed.

Ironically his last game in charge was an 8-2 win in the League Cup at Premier Division outfit New Mills, who had just dropped out of the Evo-Stik League.

That result was deemed inconsequential by the club’s committee and they turned to former Bradford City and Guiseley striker Danny Forrest, who had begun the campaign as Gill’s right- hand man.

Forrest’s first three league games in charge in November all ended in defeat but a 6-1 West Riding County Cup win over Armthorpe Welfare lifted spirits, and the Cobbydalers beat FC Halifax Town, another of Forrest’s former clubs, in the third round before a quarter-final defeat at Tadcaster Albion, who went on to reach the final.

League results were still hit and miss but Forrest brought in some good loan signings, and the improving squad climbed the table.

There were faint hopes that they could make the play-offs but their outside chance evaporated and they had to settle for an 11th-placed finish, just inside the top half.