Goole 27

Ilkley 10

Ilkley's top four aspirations took a knock as Goole continued to claw their way back to League One safety.

A lazy northerly wind cut across the Westfield Banks pitch and seemed to freeze the Dalesmen after a bright opening five minutes.

Two superb flowing movements set up by the forwards and finally across the back line put Sean Gilbert in for a try and an early 5 0 lead.

There was little further to warm the large Ilkley support until late in the second-half when it was too late to make a turn round possible.

Simon Smith was put clear down the left wing after Barley had carved out the opening. Both Brendan Kelley's conversion attempts were frustrated by the strong wind.

The Dalesmen were beaten up front where problems in the scrum meant that the ball was not controlled at the back. When they did win their put in the attack was on the back foot.

They were also unable to win quality lineout ball and found themselves in unfamiliar circumstances defending or clearing up loose ball from their own line-outs. Goole managed to disrupt too many Ilkley line-outs for comfort.

This unfamiliar environment had a knock-on effect, in that the back row were lured into joining rucks and mauls from the wrong side.

They fell foul of Mr Ryan's whistle too many times. The penalty count against the Dalesmen was probably three times that of penalties against Goole. Their game was mistake ridden with ball being spilled or turned over too many times.

Coach Richard Midgely must be wondering what happened to change a side that could do no wrong only a couple of weeks back.

After Ilkley scored their opener they spent the next ten minutes defending their line but, having held up the Goole onslaught three times, they became just too stretched out wide.

Full back Rhumann going in for a good try which his brother converted. That was 7-5 and Ilkley never really looked like putting their game back together.

A penalty in front of goal on the 22 allowed Rhumann to make it 10-5 after 20 minutes. The rest of the half was spent with Ilkley soaking up some good and persistent Goole pressure.

In fact they defended well and at half- time, with only five points in it and the wind on their side for the second-half, the Ilkley faithful thought they had just about done enough to take the game back to Goole.

However, it was Goole who came out looking more determined and, furthermore, it was apparent Ilkley had not learnt anything about the refereeing of Mr Ryan who continued to penalise them for offences similar to those he had blown up for in the first-half.

Two penalties allowed Goole straight back into the Ilkley 22. A tap and drive saw number eight White force his way over to make it 17- 5.

Soon after Ilkley were caught cold again as Goole set up another score out wide from a move initiated on half way.

Great handling allowed the ball to find its way to flanker White, lurking out on the wing, for a touch down. At 22-5 and only firing on three cylinders it seemed too big an ask for the Dalesmen to come back.

They did begin to recover some composure as both Vincent and Smith had good runs held up close in. The forward momentum was rewarded with penalties in Ilkley's favour but these were squandered by unnecessary infringements and Goole escaped. Smith went in for his try to make it 22-10 with ten minutes to go and a glimmer of hope shone for a couple of minutes, but when more penalties, and scrums lost against the head twice in succession, the flame died as Goole scored their final try through substitute Neal.

This leaves Ilkley in sixth place as Keighley who have got their season back on track edged ahead with a win over strugglers Dinnington, and next week's opponents at Stacks Field, Bridlington, won a tightly fought contest over Old Crossleyans.

The bottom two clubs in the league both lost making the wrong end of the table that bit more remote, but Wheatley Hills edged another two points away in second place.

The Dalesmen have home fixtures against Bridlington, Pontefract and Huddersfield YMCA and away games at Keighley and Wheatley Hills to come so there is still plenty to play for.

Coach Midgely will have to concentrate on shoring up the front five for the tough run in to the end of the season.