Ilkley Youth.......5

Bradley................2

FOLLOWING their hard-earned point at Barrowford United the Guyson-sponsored Ilkley Youth team returned to winning ways with this comfortable victory over Bradley Reserves.

At the outset this was potentially a difficult fixture for Ilkley as their opponents had proved to be something of a bogey side in previous encounters. On a perfect day for football Ilkley made the best possible start. From the Bradley kick-off good pressure by Jordan, Crowther and Trimnell won possession and fed McCullow who streaked past his marker and crossed for Smith to finish neatly.

The early sharpness in Ilkley's play continued as they dominated possession and were able to pass the ball comfortably. The lead was doubled when Rishworth again found McCullow surging forward and his pass to Smith took out the flat Bradley back line. Smith's attempts to round the 'keeper were thwarted when he was tripped. Smith stepped up and calmly converted the spot kick to notch his eighth of the season.

Unfortunately for Ilkley Jordan damaged a hamstring during the early exchanges and had to be replaced by Carl Dodd, a disappointing time for an injury to occur as Jordan was showing signs of improvement in his play and confidence in recent weeks.

With a 2-0 lead and only ten minutes gone Ilkley took their foot off the gas. The urgency in the early play lapsed and the crispness of passing and movement was replaced by a much slower tempo. This suited Bradley and they soon found that they were able to gain more possession in midfield and play more balls forward. Solid defending by Beaumont, Sayers and Brightman thwarted any attacks and goalkeeper Taylor was only called upon to clear up through balls.

As the half progressed Ilkley weren't troubled by Bradley as they consistently did enough to win possession. However, with their passing not up to its usual standard the Youth team failed to create many good quality chances.

Too often players were caught in possession taking an extra touch instead of stretching their opponents. That said, Richardson, Rishworth and McCullow all saw efforts miss narrowly and Dodd's header from a corner was cleared off the line.

After the break Ilkley began brightly. Trimnell and Rishworth competed well in midfield allowing Crowther and McCullow to run in the wide areas. Wherever possible full-backs Brightman and Richardson joined up to increase numbers in attack. The renewed vigour in Ilkley's play was rewarded after 55 minutes when Rishworth and Trimnell won the ball in midfield and fed Smith, who touched the ball on for Dodd to spring in between two defenders and beat the 'keeper.

Jon Keith replaced Crowther and soon found space to cross for Smith, only for the 'keeper to make a good save.

With 20 minutes remaining Ilkley's resolute defence was broken when a Bradley attacker was allowed a free header at a corner which looped over Keith on the line. Worse was to follow when two minutes later more sloppy defending failed to clear an innocuous looking cross. The resulting shot was deflected in by Graham Richardson. A timely reminder to the Youth team who had gone to sleep for ten minutes and allowed their opponents back into the game. It will be important in future games that Ilkley compete for the full 90 minutes.

The response from Ilkley was to score two goals in two minutes themselves. Firstly, Trimnell collected a Taylor clearance inside his own half and demonstrated his strength and determination to round two defenders and the goalkeeper before finishing from 25 yards at an acute angle. Then Keith rounded off his comeback when he latched onto a Beaumont through ball and held off his marker to finish from a similar position.

Ultimately a comfortable win for Ilkley who were rarely troubled except for five minutes of madness in the second-half, yet never managed to completely dominate the game. Paul Rishworth was Man-of-the-Match

On Saturday Ilkley travel to Lothersdale Athletic.