North West Counties League Premier Division: Silsden 1 Cammell Laird 1907 2

THE outlook is bleak for the Cobbydalers after their latest loss left the basement outfit five points from safety with just six games remaining.

An injury to Kev Ryan in the warm-up led to manager James Gill reprising his playing career but the change to the line-up at such short notice affected the side, and Silsden found themselves 2-0 down to mid-table visitors Lairds after just 17 minutes.

The deadlock was broken in the seventh minute when Danny O’Brien curled a free-kick into the top corner of Ed Hall’s net.

Silsden’s keeper was then beaten again when Dan King was allowed to carve his way through the flimsy Cobbydalers defence.

Lairds’ Steve Kerrigan came up for a corner and should have headed his side three goals in front but was just off target.

The Cobbydalers halved the deficit soon after the half-hour when Danny Forrest netted the rebound after a Joe Mitchell shot had come back off a post.

But even that brought problems for the Cobbydalers as Forrest – Gill’s talismanic striker and assistant manager – injured himself in the act of scoring and had to be replaced.

However, the home side rallied after the break and should have earned a share of the spoils.

A foul in the area led to a penalty in the three minutes of time added on, and Chris Wademan took the responsibility but his spot-kick was too close to visiting keeper Michael Langley.