Silsden 1

Holker Old Boys 2

Silsden's run in the FA Cup and dreams of a home meeting with Conference North high-flyers Harrogate Town are over after they went gung-ho for a victory in last night's first qualifying round replay.

A bumper crowd of 520 turned out at Cougar Park to cheer on the home side on but they were left as disappointed as the club's manager Andy Geary. His side were 2-0 down after just 34 minutes and found it too big a deficit to overturn.

"We were extremely poor defensively in the first half, a bit nave. It was just kamikaze stuff," said Geary.

"Try as we did after half-time we just couldn't break them down, despite having most of the possession. The crowd was fantastic and I hope we won a lot friends with our second-half performance.

"The lucrative home tie with Harrogate Town has gone now but I hope we see a lot of the people who came along many more times over the season."

Holker got the crucial breakthrough after just quarter of an hour when Dale Cleese raced clear and beat Martin Foulger. Silsden then committed too many men forward in another attack just after the half-hour and the visitors broke away again, Paul Southward netting the second.

The home side's Adam Ackroyd went close with two headers early in the second half and several corners were forced as Silsden pushed forward.

With 14 minutes to go Holker had a man sent off, Matt Dewey overstepping the mark with his comments to one of the assistant referees.

That increased the pressure on their defence but it was not until Jamie Longley's 85th minute 20-yard thunderbolt that Silsden felt they could force extra-time.

But, despite a late onslaught against the Cumbrians' ten men they failed to craft an equaliser.